SteveMarcus
Vegas Golden Knights left wing William Carrier (center) celebrates with Vegas Golden Knights defensemen Alec Martinez (23) and Alex Pietrangelo (7) after scoring against the Calgary Flames in the third period of an NHL hockey game in at the T-Mobile Arena on Thursday 2 February 23 2023.
Saturday June 3, 2023 | 2 am | Saturday June 3, 2023 | 2 a.m
The Florida Panthers secured their second Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history when their superstar scorer scored a game-winning, crucial goal in the closing seconds of regulation time.
The Vegas Golden Knights secured a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in franchise history when two fourth-tier players that casual hockey fans had never heard of scored two early goals in a resounding win.
Both were reasonable finishes in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Finals, respectively, based on the Panthers’ and Golden Knights’ performance throughout the postseason. Florida has had more spectacular individual performances; Vegas has relied more on an ensemble cast.
“It’s the mentality we’ve got this year: if it’s one guy who performs in one game, maybe it’s another guy in the next game,” said Jonathan Marchessault, Golden Knights forward. “I think that’s the strength of our team. It can be any guy any night.”
Ultimately, the dichotomous philosophies, and which one works better, will play a major role in deciding how the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals will play out after Game One begins today at 5:00 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.
According to the historical tales, the Golden Knights could be in trouble. If you look back at past Stanley Cup winners, almost all of them have either a standout skating talent who upped his game when it mattered or a world-class goaltender who was unstoppable for two months.
The Panthers each have one.
Forward Matthew Tkachuk enters the Stanley Cup Finals with a surge that includes 21 points from 16 playoff games and four game-winning goals, including the aforementioned near-buzzer-beater that led to the Panthers’ victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky comes into this year’s playoffs with an 11-2 record and a .935 save percentage, returning him to the form that saw him win two Vezina Trophy earlier in his career.
There’s no one in the Golden Knights who clearly fits either criteria, but they’re not worried. And it shouldn’t be, either, because it’s largely intentional.
Coach Bruce Cassidy believes Vegas’ greatest advantage lies in their evenly distributed ice age, and their defensive system has proven to keep opponents out and limit dangerous chances for their goalie.
He doesn’t mind adjusting his strategies — and admits he made some big changes midway through the Golden Knights’ second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers — but he’s in no rush to do so, either.
“We’re going back to our play-off-man mentality,” Cassidy said of the Stanley Cup Finals plan. “We will roll all four lines.”
Cassidy must have been tempted to break that mentality in the Western Conference Finals last week, when the Dallas Stars clinched back-to-back wins to instill at least some fear in the Golden Knights. The series was tied 3-2 in favor of Vegas, who returned ahead of Monday’s sixth game in Texas.
Instead, Cassidy stuck to his principles and was rewarded for it. Full-back William Carrier was listed in the sports books as 40-1 for the opening goal but, in the words of team-mate William Karlsson, “set the tone” by beating Stars goalie Jake Oettinger with an early backhand.
Carrier then continued to play ‘amazing’, in the words of goalkeeper Adin Hill, repelling a pass late in the first period to set up linesmate Keegan Kolesar’s goal to make the score 3-0. He single-handedly sucked all the energy out of American Airlines Center as the Golden Knights clinched a 6-0 series win.
The praise Carrier received from Karlsson and Hill was remarkable, as the duo are among a handful of players who can claim to be the Golden Knights’ most valuable player this postseason. And for them to be involved in the conversation is pretty incredible in itself.
Hill was a career backup earlier in the season, added to the lineup after Laurent Brossoit was injured in Game 3 of the Edmonton series. Karlsson, a third, has nearly as many goals this postseason — 10 in 17 games — as he has all of the regular season and 14 in 82 games.
Karlsson scored twice in an overtime win in Game 1 against Dallas when Hill conceded three. But Hill stayed strong with a Game 2 win in overtime as the offense struggled for much of the game.
As Marchessault said, one night it’s one guy, the next another.
“That’s why we’ve come this far,” Karlsson said.
The balance in Game 6 of the Conference Finals was particularly clear. Cassidy pointed out, and even seemed surprised, that none of Vegas’ six goals involved Jack Eichel, Mark Stone or Chandler Stephenson.
Stephenson was Vegas’ only all-star forward in the regular season but suffered a drop in performance in the playoffs. Stone was arguably the Golden Knights’ best player since joining the team via a trade four years ago, but he was more valuable this postseason as captain, leader and constant presence on the ice.
Eichel has best lived up to the hype among Golden Knights frontline attackers with an 18 playoff point lead, but hasn’t fully embraced games like Tkachuk. He didn’t need it.
Eichel’s willingness to play within Cassidy’s system and not selfishly push for more makes the bad reputation he carried into the season seem even more absurd.
“He’s not asked to carry the team on his back,” Cassidy said of Eichel near the end of the Edmonton series. “No one has on our team. I think that’s a big part of the story here. The team that plays the best usually wins.”
That should give the Golden Knights the most confidence for the latest best-of-seven series. There were a lot of better players in the playoffs, but no better team.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer. Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or
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