The Dallas Stars held a 2-1 lead before allowing two consecutive goals in a 3-2 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

Stars lines

• Robertson – Johnston – Bourque
• Bunting – Duchene – Benn
• Steel – Hryckowian – Blackwell
• Bäck – Hyry – Bastian

• Lindell – Heiskanen
• Harley – Lundkvist
• Bichsel – Lyubushkin  

• DeSmith
• Oettinger

Scratches: Petrovic, Capobianco, Erne, Myers, Hintz (injured).

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My favorite part of hockey. And another far less important but still love of mine.

My favorite part of hockey is the brotherhood. The room. The boys.

There’s nothing like the chirps, the fist bumps, the butt slaps, and the hootin’ and hollerin’ as you get set to take the ice. Here is a clip of Dallas doing just that in Minnesota, which got me thinking about all this.

I picture myself standing in the tunnel before coming out for our State Championship game my senior year. Prudential Center in Newark was packed and rocking, we could see the opposing fans taunting us on the far side, and the nerves and excitement were running wild.

But, for me at least, the nerves fade when you are getting fired up with your teammates. It makes the room feel lighter.

And that brotherhood is not just for fun before games. It bleeds into having each other’s backs on the ice. Between and after whistles. And it means being there for each other off the ice, no matter what. And that has proven to be true on every team I have played on.

I played six sports growing up, three through high school, and two in college. For whatever reason, nothing came close to the team camaraderie of hockey. It’s why it was always my favorite sport to play, watch, and now cover as a member of the Stars media.

Very grateful for all this sport has brought to my life, and I love watching these NHLers enjoy the same things. Ask any of them what they miss most once they retire… They are almost guaranteed to give the same answer… The room. The boys.

My other, less serious favorite part of hockey is the gear.

I always loved gear. Loved getting a new stick or pair of gloves or even some shinnies. But when I played goalie early on, I especially loved the goalie setup. And I still do to this day.

Jake Oettinger broke in a new mask in his home state on Saturday, and it is a beauty.

The mask Otter has gone through cycles of playful, cute, a bit angry, PhenomenOetter, Ottzilla, and now this ferocious mouth gaped Otter that reminds me of Curtis Joseph’s trademark Cujo masks back in the day.

I love it, can’t wait to see it in person.

Live game notebook

Period 1

• I was curious whether this game would be open and sloppy because both teams played yesterday and Dallas looked a bit gassed at times. Well, so far, it is wide open and sloppy.
• Brayden McNabb, of all players, went 3/4 of the ice and beat Miro Heiskanen to the middle to open the scoring off the rush. What a weird sentence.

• Shortly after the next draw, Wyatt Johnston knocked a waist-high saucer pass from Mavrik Bourque out of mid air, it landed flat on the ice, and he ripped a wrister off the bar from the right circle. Then Vegas nearly scored again. Anything goes right now. Razor called it “Turnover city.”
• Johnston didn’t break the franchise power-play goal record in Minnesota yesterday — Which would have been fitting since the current record holder, Dino Ciccarelli, did it for the North Stars — But he did it today. In true Johnston fashion, he blasted a puck past the blocker of Adin Hill after perfect high-to-low, tic-tac-toe passing to him in the bumper. Yet another record for Johnston.

• Very cool seeing the AAC give Johnston a standing ovation. Wasn’t he just on his nine-game tryout?
• The game continues to be wide open. Both teams rushed and had chances, and eventually, Colin Blackwell’s shot hit Justin Hryckowian in front, and he buried it low on the forehand into a yawning net to give Dallas its first lead. Nightmare scenario for a goalie by the way. Just no clue where the puck is.

• Heiskanen and Lindell have looked slow and tired, which makes sense. They play a ton of minutes. One benefit last year once knowing their playoff seeding was some time off for the big minute guys. Could see them doing the same this year.
• Heiskanen got drilled at the end of the period.

Stars 2, Golden Knights 1

Period 2

• Casey DeSmith has been really good tonight.
• Not sure if DeSmith directed this rebound on purpose, but he telescoped out to stop Rasmus Andersson and pushed the rebound straight out in front of him and away from the Vegas forward to his right. He and Andersson will meet again.
• DeSmith with another good save, dragging and pushing his left skate out in front of him to stop Reilly Smith from dragging the puck across the front of the crease and scoring easily.
• Ivan Barbashev roofed a power-play goal after a nice cross-crease pass. Good effort by Lian Bichsel to try to get down and block it. Remember how good Barbashev was when they first traded for him out of St. Louis? Fun game so far. Now tied at two.

• Jack Eichel looks to be yelling at Bourque for diving or embellishing a high stick. Yet, it’s a double minor for a cut on Bourque’s lip. Not sure what Eichel is even arguing about? Regardless, it’s a four-minute power play for Dallas.

• No shots for Dallas on the double minor. Still stuck on nine shots in the game. Yikes.
• It really hasn’t been a bad game for Dallas. They have just not gotten interior on Vegas, and lately, they have barely dipped into the Golden Knights’ zone.
• The Stars will have a big penalty to kill to start the third.

Stars 2, Golden Knights 2

Period 3

• DeSmith killed the penalty all on his own. First, he made an unbelievable glove save sprawling to his left. He went for the poke on a cross-crease pass, missed it, but still got across on Andersson and did some break dancing at the tail end of it. Wow.

• Andersson can’t beat DeSmith again, this time on a scramble rebound to the left of the crease. DeSmith has been on it tonight, showing off his athleticism over and over.
• Hill’s turn to go scorpion, as he kicks his leg up to keep a bouncing puck out. But I love Hryckowian’s patience with the puck to take his time on the wall, hold onto the puck, and eventually throw a bank pass off the end wall onto the tape of Colin Blackwell.
• Vegas has continued to push hard, now outshooting Dallas 30-15.
• OOOOO, we nearly had a 2014 Jamie Benn moment, but his snapper off the rush just missed wide from the top of the left circle.
• Shift after shift, Vegas is dominating. Dallas is holding on by blocking shots and getting saves from DeSmith. The ol’ lay and pray.
• Finally, Smith gets a rebound and makes it 3-2. I mean, this was coming for about 10-12 minutes here in the third. Dallas just couldn’t get a whistle and reset. Now, they have to dig deep to find some offense in the final few minutes.

• Spoiler alert! They didn’t do it.
• Dallas will need an Utah win tonight to secure a spot in the playoffs. Obviously, that is just a formality at this point unless they don’t win a single remaining game and everyone else wins them all. Could happen.

Final: Golden Knights 3, Stars 2

All the love and prayers in the world to Jessi Pierce and everyone around her and her family. A horrible tragedy.