DALLAS (AP) — Jack Eichel and defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas got exactly what they anticipated, and withstood that early hard push in Game 2 by the desperate Dallas Stars.

The Golden Knights didn’t settle for a split while starting the first-round series on the road.

“We expected them to come out and push hard that first five, 10 minutes and they did,” Eichel said. “We responded. We were able to come in here after the first period and it’s all tied. ... They gave us all we could handle.”

Eichel assisted on the tying goal by Jonathan Marchessault late in the first period before adding an empty-netter late, Noah Hanifin scored the tiebreaker with unassisted goal late in the second period and the Knights won 3-1 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Las Vegas.

“We’re in a good spot, but there’s still a lot of hockey left to be played,” Hanifin said. “We’re happy to get back into our building and have that momentum on our side. ... Just got to keep doing what we’re doing, chipping away at it and play our game.”