National Post (National Edition)
Knights’ sights fixed on Stanley Cup
SAN JOSE, CALIF. • The crew of castoffs that carried the expansion Vegas Golden Knights to a division title and two rounds of playoffs wins in a reality-defying season are more than just a feel-good story.
They’ve proven themselves to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.
Marc-Andre Fleury was his usual brilliant self with 28 saves as Vegas advanced to the Western Conference Final with a 3-0 victory over San Jose on Sunday.
“It’s a bit crazy thinking about it for sure,” defenceman Brayden McNabb said. “But we’re here to win. We’re not going to get caught up in we shouldn’t be here or whatever. We’re here to win.”
The Golden Knights have done that all season despite being thrown together at the expansion draft last June among players deemed expendable by their former teams. They won eight of nine games to open the season to take the league by a bit of shock, posted 109 points to win a Pacific Division filled with playoff-tested teams and then went 8-2 in the playoffs with a first-round sweep against Los Angeles and a six-game series win over the Sharks.
They became just the third team in NHL history to win multiple series in its first season. The Toronto Arenas won the Stanley Cup in the first post-season in league history in 1918 and St. Louis won two rounds to win the all-expansion West Division in 1968.
The Golden Knights’ recipe for success has been speed, tenacity and depth more than luck.
“We made ourselves a good team,” Fleury said. “We had great chemistry right from the start. We keep improving throughout the season. I feel like we’re using everybody in the lineup to get wins. That’s what’s made us successful.”
Fleury has been a big part of that, capped by his fourth career series-clinching shutout, one shy of Chris Osgood’s NHL record.
William Karlsson scored 43 goals in the regular season and had the overtime winner in Game 3 of this series. Jonathan Marchessault is tied for the team lead with 11 points this post-season, including the first goal in the clincher against the Sharks. Even the fourth line played a big role Sunday by controlling the puck and hemming San Jose in the defensive zone.
“We’re having a lot of fun in this room,” Nate Schmidt said. “I think that we’ve done a lot more than we thought we were capable of, but we continue to set the bar to new heights with our group. We continue to just set new expectations for yourself. This group believes in each other and that’s more than anything you can ask for.”