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Vegas Golden Knights: Defense And Goaltending Led To Victory Over Kings

By Richard Cardinale

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 17: Brayden McNabb #3 of the Vegas Golden Knights battles in front of the net as Marc-Andre Fleury #29 holds the crease in Game Four of the Western Conference First Round against the Los Angeles Kings during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Staples Center on April 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 17: Brayden McNabb #3 of the Vegas Golden Knights battles in front of the net as Marc-Andre Fleury #29 holds the crease in Game Four of the Western Conference First Round against the Los Angeles Kings during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Staples Center on April 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Vegas Golden Knights played the way the Los Angeles Kings wanted, and they still came out victorious.

At the beginning of the season, it was tough to see what kind of team the Vegas Golden Knights were going to be. But as the season went along, the club adopted a fast-paced transition game. That’s how Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant wanted them to play in the regular season, and they succeeded.

All of the defensemen on this roster always pitched in and helped out offensively even if it meant giving up a chance the other way. And because of that, the Golden Knights earned many of their goals off the rush and on odd-man chances. However, the veteran coach somewhat deviated from his style of play in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings.

Going into the series against the Kings, you knew it was going to be a nasty and physical battle. Gallant knows one of the Kings major strengths is in goal with Jonathan Quick. So rather than show LA how they’ve played all year long, he tweaked his game just a bit as his team didn’t take a ton of offensive scoring chances.

Let’s face it; the Golden Knights didn’t muster a ton of scoring chances on the LA Kings. As a matter of fact, the team only scored seven goals in the entire four-game set. However, that proved to be just enough as the team advanced to round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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Sure the defense had some rough patches in this series, most notably on the road, but they weathered the storm on multiple occasions. And whenever the blueline faltered, Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury picked them up with a huge timely save when the team needed it. Take a looks at some of these insane numbers the Flower put up in round one:

In the series against the LA Kings, the Sorel, Quebec native went a perfect 4-0 with just three goals allowed. He made 127 saves on 130 shots in 275:01 total time on ice. That’s good for a save percentage of .977% and a 0.65 GAA with two shutouts.

The 33-year old has never looked better in a playoff series. It’ll be tough to replicate that kind of performance in round two, but at least the Golden Knights know their goalie will come up with the big stop when they need it as long as he keeps playing like this. As for the defense of the Golden Knights, they were simply lights out.

The team held the Kings first line of Dustin Brown- Anze Kopitar- Alex Iafallo to just four points in four games. The threat that line posed top the Golden Knights top unit was terrifying. But the defensive pairing of Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb held the Kings top line at bay.

And the same went for the Kings “that 70’s line” that consists of top scorers such as Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson except they were way worse. In the four-game series, not one player on that unit scored a single point. That right there is the story of the whole series.

The team held “that 70’s line” to just 36 shots on net, and they failed to generate any offense on the Golden Knights stingy defense. The trio finished as -2 rating in the four games.

Next: Vegas Golden Knights Hit Jackpot And Sweep The Los Angeles Kings

All in all, the Vegas Golden Knights did score some key goals at crucial times. However, if it weren’t for the Golden Knights defensive play and Marc-Andre Fleury, we would still be playing the Kings. Instead, we set our focus to round two as the Golden Knights prepare to take on the San Jose Sharks.

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