The Stars sacrificed home-ice advantage in Game 1 against Vegas. Now what?

The NHL and NBA were on a historic run over the past three days, as the first 14 home teams to play Game 1 of their respective series won. Edmonton made it a perfect 15-for-15 late Monday night.

But the Stars ultimately spoiled the home team sweep.

Dallas became the first home team to lose Game 1 of a series but joined Boston, which dropped Game 2 Monday night against the Maple Leafs, as the Golden Knights took the series lead in a 4-3 finish.

The Stars worked all season to capture home-ice advantage through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They won the Western Conference regular-season title to do so for the first time in eight years, only to sacrifice that advantage to the eight seed on the first night of the playoffs.

“Not the ideal start,” Stars goalie Jake Oettinger said.

That’s for sure.

The Stars will need to play from behind entering the remainder of the series, just as they did Monday night after sacrificing the series’ first goal just 1:23 in. They’ll need to steal a win on the road at T-Mobile Arena — a stadium especially difficult to play in during the playoffs.

But based on their recent history, the team isn’t worried.

In fact, the home teams’ performance this weekend came as a bit of a shock. Last year, home teams had a record of 41-47 in the playoffs. The Stars were solid at 6-4 at the American Airlines Center. Vegas was even better at 9-3. But it was the league’s road teams that shined in the toughest environments.

The Stars had home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of last year’s playoffs against Minnesota and Seattle. They dropped Game 1 in both. On the road in Vegas in the Western Conference finals and in Calgary in 2022, they also suffered Game 1 losses. Their last series-opening win was in the Stanley Cup finals in the NHL bubble in 2020 — a series that they, of course, lost.

“We’ve been here before,” Oettinger said. “It’s not the end of the world.”

Vegas was also a demonstration of that last year. It lost 5-1 to Winnipeg in Game 1 of the playoffs before winning the next four to claim the series and going on to win the whole thing.

“It’s all about your response,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “If you’re going to win this time of year, you’ve got to respond.”

While the Stars showed some promising signs in Game 1 and hung with the Golden Knights until the very end, they will need to respond. As the series favorite, they can’t afford to be the underdog in each game and must jump out to early leads.

If not, they could risk dropping another game at the American Airlines Center. While one may not be cause for concern, two would be near disastrous.

Should the Stars win four of the next six games, they’ll restore that home-ice advantage in a second-round series against Colorado or Winnipeg. And if they reach seven games in this one, DeBoer has said home-ice advantage on those nights is the most important of all.

Based on the engaged and chippy AAC crowd that showed up Monday — one that booed Vegas captain Mark Stone every time he touched the puck — it could very well provide some edge for the Stars if they’re able to take advantage of it.

“We need them, and they’ve been great for us all year, and they were great tonight,” Oettinger said.

Twitter: @lassimak

Knights out: Photos from Dallas Stars' Game 1 loss to Vegas