Stars, Golden Knights Advance To Western Conference Final

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – It took three tries this week, but both the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights have finally advanced to the NHL’s Western Conference finals. The Stars are this far into the postseason for the first time since 2008, while the Golden Knights are in the conference final for the second time in their three-year history. Rookie Joel Kiviranta completed his first NHL hat trick 7:24 into overtime to give the Stars a 5-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Kiviranta also provided the tying tally with 3 1/2 minutes left in regulation, just 10 seconds after Vladimir Namestnikov put the Avs ahead.  Kiviranta had played in just two other postseason games and scored one goal in 11 games during the regular season. Alexander Radulov provided the other Dallas goals, and Anton Khudobin stopped 40 shots. Colorado was trying to win the series after dropping three of the first four games. The Golden Knights put away the Vancouver Canucks with a stifling 3-0 victory. Robin Lehner needed to make just 14 saves for his third shutout of the series. Neither team scored until Shea Theodore netted a power-play goal with 6:08 remaining. Alex Tuch and Paul Stastny added empty-netters for Vegas, which dropped the previous two games before earning a meeting with the Stars.