Mark Stone's return sparks Golden Knights to 4-3 win over Stars

In a series between two teams that many think are both capable of winning the Stanley Cup, the Vegas Golden Knights came out the winner in Game 1.

The Dallas Stars had the most points in the Western Conference to earn the top seed, and the Golden Knights are the eighth seed as the second wild-card team.

Vegas captain Mark Stone returned after missing 26 games with a lacerated spleen, suffered on Feb. 20,  and scored the game's first goal. The Golden Knights held on for a 4-3 win in the opener of the first-round playoff series on Monday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

The loser of the series obviously won't win the Cup this season. But even after advancing, the eventual winner of this series will likely be at a grave disadvantage in its quest to capture Lord Stanley. That's because this is likely to be a long and physical series between two heavyweights. 

When it's over, there's a great chance that whichever team is left standing won't feel like it won but like it survived. And it is not hard to imagine a squad in that situation not having enough gas left in the tank to win three more rounds.

On Monday, Vegas jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Stone's power-play goal just 1:23 into the contest and Jonathan Marchessault's marker 8:27 into the first period.

Three goals came in the final 3:53 of the opening period.

Jamie Benn answered for Dallas at the 16:07 mark, Tomas Hertl gave the Golden Knights a 3-1 lead on a power-play goal with 2:09 left. But the Stars Jason Robertson made it 3-2 with 1:31 remaining in the opening stanza.

Brayden McNabb stretched Vegas's lead to 4-2 in the second period, and Mason Marchment scored for Dallas in the third period for the final margin.

Game 2 is Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET at the American Airlines Center.