Vegas heading to final
Fleury, misfits prove to be golden this year
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Vegas Golden Knights are going to the Stanley Cup final — with a chip on their shoulder.
“Everybody on this team has something to prove,” former Penguin Ryan Reaves said. “We call ourselves ‘The Golden Misfits’ for a reason. We’re doing a good job of proving everybody wrong.”
Reaves scored the winning goal, ex-Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves and the Golden Knights beat the Winnipeg Jets, 21, Sunday to wrap up the Western Conference final in five games.
“It’s insane,” said defenseman Deryk Engelland, another former Penguin, who grabbed the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after the final buzzer. “Your goal is always to make the playoffs. But if I were to guess I would be sitting here doing this right now, you would be a little skeptical at the time.”
Alex Tuch also scored for the Knights. They lost Game 1 in Winnipeg before winning four in a row to become the first expansion team since the 1968 St. Louis Blues — when the six initial expansion teams were put alone in the West — to get to the final.
“It was their time,” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said. “They’re just playing really well.”
Vegas will meet Tampa Bay or Washington in the final. Tampa Bay leads the Eastern final 3-2, with Game 6 set for Monday night in Washington.
The Knights, whose jaw-dropping inaugural 109-point campaign included a Pacific Division crown, swept Los Angeles in the first round, and knocked out San Jose in six games in the second.