DALLAS — For a second straight postseason, the Dallas Stars will be tasked with trying to climb out of a 2-0 first-round series hole against the Vegas Golden Knights.

A 3-1 loss Wednesday in a Western Conference quarterfinal game at the American Airlines Center left the Stars searching for answers against a team they’ve failed to beat in six straight games and in nine of their past 11 regular-season and playoff games.

“I think we had our chances, played good enough to win again,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “We just didn’t do it.”

One of the challenges the Stars have faced in their recent encounters against the Golden Knights was falling behind early. It happened again in Game 1 on Monday when the Golden Knights scored the first two goals to set up what was an eventual 4-3 victory.

Game 2 saw the Stars score the first goal against the Golden Knights for the first time since Game 2 of the Western Conference finals last season.

Stars forward Jason Robertson scored a power-play goal with 3:13 left in the first period. But the lead lasted less than two minutes when reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault tied the score with 1:51 remaining.

From there, it was about what team could find a firm enough grasp to take control of a game that constantly felt out of reach.

Dallas felt that frustration in the second period when Wyatt Johnston won a puck battle that allowed him to play a quick pass to Logan Stankoven, who then delivered a back-door pass to Robertson, only to have Robertson’s shot gradually rise over a gaping net.

Vegas felt that same frustration as well. There was a 4-on-4 in the second period that saw Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo fire off three shots in eight seconds that were all stopped by a sprawling Jake Oettinger.

“I mean, that’s hockey. It goes both ways,” said Robertson, who finished with a goal and two shots while logging 20:22 in ice time. “They’ve had the same thing, but you just gotta stick with it and try and bear down and get that puck. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities throughout the game to bear down and get it. We gotta do more of that.”

The Golden Knights took control when Nicolas Roy created traffic at the net front. He threw a shot on net that was deflected but made its way to Noah Hanifin, with the defenseman launching a wrist shot that went over Oettinger’s glove for a 2-1 lead with 1:07 left in the second.

Even with a 58.5% shot share, the Stars mustered only five shots on net in the third period and two high-danger scoring chances. Stars coach Peter DeBoer pulled Oettinger with 1:51 remaining to get an extra-skater advantage.

It’s just that the Stars could never really get settled in the Golden Knights’ zone. That led to the Golden Knights clearing the puck before Eichel scored an empty-net goal with 33 seconds left that gave the Golden Knights a 3-1 lead and a 2-0 series advantage.

“I loved our first period, and we made one mistake at the end of the first. … You come out of the first with nothing to show for it,” DeBoer said. “I think that was probably a momentum swing. Then, we gotta find a way to score 5-on-5. We generated some chances. You’re not going to get a ton against them just like we’re not going to give up a bunch.”

Last season saw the Golden Knights take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals before the Stars rallied to force Game 6. The Golden Knights closed out the series with an emphatic 6-0 win before advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they beat the Florida Panthers in five games.

Reaching the conference finals further cemented the argument that the Stars were in a championship window. They used the offseason to strengthen their roster by signing another top-nine forward in Matt Duchene while keeping much of their roster intact.

They used the trade deadline to add defenseman Chris Tanev, which bolstered a team that would go on to win 52 games and finish second behind the New York Rangers in the Presidents’ Trophy race with 113 points.

Winning the Central and having the best record in the Western Conference set the stage for the Stars to become the top seed in the West. But it also meant their championship aspirations would present another encounter with the Golden Knights.

After losing the first two games, DeBoer was asked if it felt like the Golden Knights have the Stars figured out.

“They’re the Stanley Cup champions. They’ve got everyone figured out,” DeBoer said. “They figured out everyone last year, too, right? We’re not alone in that boat.”

Although they lost in the conference finals, the Stars’ first two defeats of the series were decided in overtime. A year later, they find themselves in another 2-0 series deficit that’s once again been defined by the tightest of margins.

Is there anything DeBoer feels the Stars learned from last year’s conference finals that could possibly help this year?

“I thought last year, they probably carried the play even though we found a way to scratch out some wins,” DeBoer said. “I don’t think that’s the case this year. It doesn’t feel that way, anyway. It feels a lot more evenly matched.”

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe called it “unbelievable” what Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand was able to do in the visiting Bruins’ 4-2 win in Game 3 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series on Wednesday.

Keefe was asked about an apparent non-call for interference that happened in the first period, when Marchand tripped up Leafs’ forward Tyler Bertuzzi before Boston forward Trent Frederic tied the score 1-1. Boston went on to secure a victory and take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series.

“He gets calls,” Keefe said of Marchand. “It’s unbelievable, actually, how it goes. You’ve got to play through that stuff. I don’t think there’s another player in this series who gets away with taking out Bertuzzi’s legs the way that he does. It’s an art and he’s elite at it.”

Marchand was a significant factor throughout the contest for Boston, finishing with two goals and one assist and depositing the winner midway through the third period.

Toronto took a 1-0 lead when rookie Matthew Knies scored his first goal of the series in the first period. Frederic’s salvo appeared to be aided by a lack of an interference call on Marchand against Bertuzzi, and Knies acknowledged how the Leafs must adjust to manage Marchard’s presence.

“He wants to get under our skin,” Knies said. “He wants to influence the refs, so I think we’ve just got to be composed and not kind of get into that bulls—. Just play hard and make him [not as] effective.”

That’s easier said than done. Marchand also drew the Leafs’ ire when he took down forward Auston Matthews behind the net without a call. And Marchand got involved again with Bertuzzi in the offensive zone right before pocketing the empty-netter to seal Boston’s win.

It was a bitter end for Toronto in multiple ways. The Leafs fell behind in the second off Jake DeBrusk‘s third score of the series. Toronto’s Morgan Rielly responded to knot the score at 2-2 in the third, but just 28 seconds later Marchand fired home his go-ahead dagger.

“You’ve got to recognize he’s a world-class player, both in ability and how he plays, in the gamesmanship and everything,” Keefe said of Marchand. “It’s world class, and he’s been in the league long enough, as you can see. … We have to manage our way through that, avoid putting ourselves in situations where he can put us in those spots. And as far as his game is concerned, I think we’ve managed that pretty well, for the most part. Obviously, tonight, we make a mistake at a key time that allows him to get the winner.”

Now it’s on Toronto to respond when the two sides meet again in Game 4 on Saturday. The Leafs have lost five straight playoff contests at home. Another defeat at home means they could face elimination in Boston in Game 5.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A sparse afternoon crowd at Angel Stadium gathered enough voices to produce a surprisingly loud “safe” chant as Wednesday’s contest neared its conclusion, hoping to prolong a game that still seemed undecided. The news, relayed from home-plate umpire Hunter Barksdale, disappointed them:

Replay review of an initial out call on Jo Adell‘s attempted steal of second base, which would have put the tying run in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, was not overturned. The Los Angeles Angels‘ late comeback hopes had fallen just short. They absorbed a 6-5 loss to the visiting Baltimore Orioles, their sixth defeat in seven games. And afterward they lamented what could have been.

“I was in there,” Adell said. “That call goes our way, we have [Luis] Rengifo up with a runner on second and we’re ready to tie the game.”

The Angels, seeking their first series win since the start of April, trailed 6-0 midway through the sixth but had cut their deficit to two by the time Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel took the mound for the ninth inning. A two-base error and run-scoring groundout made it a one-run game with two outs, then Adell worked a full-count walk and took off for second on the ensuing pitch from Kimbrel, who is notoriously slow to the plate.

At least one camera angle appeared to show Adell’s right foot touching the edge of second base before Henderson’s glove touched the top of his right leg, but second-base umpire Nic Lentz called him out. The Angels challenged the call, triggering a long delay.

“We’re all looking at the picture, we’re watching the video,” Adell said. “Where my foot hit and where I got tagged were two totally different spots.”

But the umpire reviewing replay at Major League Baseball’s headquarters in Manhattan, New York — in this case Carlos Torres — disagreed. He ruled that the call “stands,” which means there was not enough evidence to overturn it.

“After viewing all relevant angles, the replay official could not definitively determine that the runner touched second base prior to the fielder applying the tag,” read an MLB statement from its replay center.

Angels manager Ron Washington said he was “very surprised” by the call.

Mike Trout, who hit his major league-leading 10th home run while hitting leadoff for the second straight day, echoed those sentiments.

“I thought he was safe,” he said, “but obviously New York didn’t think so.”