KNIGHTS’ STORYBOOK SEASON SHOWS NO SIGNS OF ENDING
It’s obviously a long way from striking midnight for hockey’s Cinderfellas.
The Vegas Golden Knights dispatched the Los Angeles Kings in a week because they were faster and deeper, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who is the unofficial captain of a team with no ‘C’ on a jersey, was four saves better than counterpart Jonathan Quick over four games and, as one longtime NHL scout said, “they play all 12 forwards. If you’re dressed, you play. That means playing their fourth line against (Anze) Kopitar with eight minutes left and up by a goal.”
Winning the first round legitimizes what they did from October to April 7, when the regular-season ended and they had 109 points. A sweep, even if all four games were one-goal wins ... let the fairy tale continue. When they finished it off, the players were excited, but they didn’t treat it like it was the Stanley Cup final because that’s the way they are. Have fun, win, rinse, repeat.
They’ve gone from 500-to-1 odds to win the Cup last fall to 4-to-1 at some Vegas sports books because the Golden Knights are not only fast, but they have the courage to skate through heavy sticks. Like the Pittsburgh Penguins the last two years.
In the last week of the regular season before a game in Edmonton, coach Gerard Gallant was preaching from a dog-eared prayer-book.
“We’re not changing anything going in the playoffs,” he said. “We all know the intensity goes up another five per cent, but we’re a fast, quick team. Let’s go do it.”
Now they’re onto the second round, with minimal interruption from the regular season.
“Five months ago, we weren’t talking about the playoffs at all, but we got an ‘x’ and a ‘y’ (denoting ‘clinched playoffs’ and ‘divisional winner’ in the standings, respectively) beside our name going into them,” said Gallant. “After our first 10 games of the regular season, I know people were saying ‘ah, they’re going to fall’ and I probably said the same. But it didn’t happen.
“Halfway through the season, the players were believing in themselves.”
Now the whole hockey world is sold, with a caveat.
Will all these players who’ve had career years — William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, Erik Haula — do it again next year? Career year is usually singular, as in don’t count on it.
That said …
“They’ve got lots of finishers, more than most teams, and they (GM George McPhee, assistant Kelly McCrimmon and his pro scouting staff ) knew exactly that when they picked those guys,” said an NHL coach. “They’d studied those guys and knew if they moved up one notch (in the lineup) what they could do. Lots of smart, career hockey minds running their program.”
Vegas knew the league was getting faster, and they acted accordingly at the expansion draft.
“Lots of speed up front and only two slower players, (David) Perron and (James) Neal,” said the coach. “They make plays off the rush because of their skill, plus their defence is way bigger than people realize. Big and mobile. And Fleury sweeps up the messes.”
Having Fleury, who’s played 119 post-season games over his career, allows the players in front of him to just go play. They can do their jobs without any trust issues with the man between the pipes.
How good was Fleury? So few times he was beaten that one can clearly remember the Kings players who scored and how in the series: Kopitar, on a deflection of Oscar Fantenberg shot; Alex Iafallo, off a goalmouth feed from Kopitar that went to video replay; Paul LaDue, on a screened 50-footer. They were the only shots out of 130 that got by him.
What was surprising was how good the Golden Knights’ defence was, no panic at all.
“Somebody better give (assistant coach) Ryan McGill some kudos. He looked after that defence, and they got better and better (as a group),” said a scout who marvelled at their cohesiveness.
What the Golden Knights remind me of is the 1988 Canadian Olympic team before they added the NHL players (Andy Moog, Brian Bradley); the best player going in was goalie Sean Burke with a group of well-defined players (Merlin Malinowski, Ken Berry, Serge Boisvert) who knew their jobs. No stars and no glaring weak links. That Canadian squad beat the mighty Soviets twice before the Olympics.
The Kings tried hard, but Kopitar couldn’t carry it alone. Jeff Carter wasn’t the powerful skater he usually is, never really recovering from his ankle tendon surgery following his return to the lineup in late February after missing 55 games, and Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson got nothing done.
“The Kings can bulk you around, but couldn’t get separation (from checkers),” said a scout who watched the series. “Carter was probably at 70 per cent. He’ll need a whole summer until he’s back to his foot speed.” This ’n that: Vegas gave up a first-, second- and third-round draft pick to acquire Tomas Tatar from the Detroit Red Wings but didn’t play him the last two games when Perron returned from sick bay. Coach’s call, and McPhee was fine with it. Tatar covers their bases in case Perron, who is due to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, moves on. Tatar offers cost certainty, a contract for three more years at US$5.3 million ... The six defencemen the Golden Knights played against the Kings — Nate Schmidt, Brayden McNabb, Jon Merrill, Deryk Engelland, Colin Miller and Shea Theodore — make $7.925 million in total annually. Drew Doughty makes $7 million per season in L.A . ... Vegas is so deep they didn’t dress forward Oscar Lindberg, who played 12 playoff games for the New York Rangers last year, for even one game.