Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen injured after big hit in 4-3 win over the Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Defenseman Miro Heiskanen was injured in the third period of the Dallas Stars' 4-3 overtime victory over Vegas on Tuesday night after taking a big hit from Golden Knights captain Mark Stone.

Stone fell toward Heiskanen's left knee and thigh after getting tripped.

Dallas coach Pete DeBoer, who coached Vegas from 2019-22, said he didn’t have an update on Heiskanen.

Stone was assessed a 2-minute tripping penalty.

“I coached Mark Stone,” DeBoer said. “He’s not a dirty player. He’s not trying to hurt anybody. I know that. That doesn’t mean they can’t call a 5(-minute major) or at least look at it. That was my argument.”

Stone said he wasn’t trying to take out Heiskanen.

“I go to reach to try and angle him out and, not sure who it was, tripped me kind of as I was falling forward,” Stone said. “I really hope he’s all right. But I was just trying to make a play and got tripped into him.”

There was a brief clash between the teams while Heiskanen was sprawled on the ice.

“He's their best defenseman,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He goes down and never looks good. He's a great player. A ton of respect for the way he plays. But the way we saw it, Stoney got tripped and lost his balance. We're not out there trying to take out good players in the league.”

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Freelance writer W.G. Ramirez contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

Mark Anderson, The Associated Press