Golden Knights heading home up 2-0 on Stars

The Vegas Golden Knights are coming home with a 2-0 lead.

The Golden Knights defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas in Game 2 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Vegas, the defending Stanley Cup champion, finished in the second wild-card playoff spot and is the eighth seed, while Dallas was first overall in the Western Conference and is the No. 1 seed.

Despite that, the Golden Knights won the first two games of the series on the road.

Defenseman Noah Hanifin scored to break a 1-1 with 1:07 left in the second period. Jack Eichel added an empty-net goal with 34 seconds remaining.

Jonathan Marchessault got the other goal for Vegas. Logan Thompson, meanwhile, made 20 saves. 

Jason Robertson scored for the Stars, and Jake Oettinger stopped 23 shots.

To make matters worse for Dallas, it finished the game without forwards Mason Marchment and Radek Faksa, who had both left with undisclosed injuries.

Game 3 is Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas at 10:30 p.m. ET.