Vegas Golden Knights: Three Storylines to watch in Dallas contest
Postseason hockey begins tonight for the Vegas Golden Knights.
After knocking off some rust in an exhibition win against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, the Vegas Golden Knights will get down to real business against the Dallas Stars later today.
In what is the first of three round-robin games to dictate seeding for the actual Stanley Cup Playoffs, there will be a lot riding on this game for both the Golden Knights and the Stars.
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Currently the third seed, the Knights could steal the top seed and therefore a more favorable matchup in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs if they run the table, although the Stars, the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues will provide tough opposition.
Regular season rules will apply to these games so 3-on-3 overtime and then a shootout will be played if required after regulation.
And, if there is a tie in the standings after these round-robin games, then points percentage will be used to decide final seeding for Round 1.
In terms of the game against the Stars, the Vegas Golden Knights will be without veteran forward Max Pacioretty while Robin Lehner will get the start in goal.
Let’s go over some storylines to watch out for…
Storyline 1 – Opportunity Knocks
As covered here, Max Pacioretty still hasn’t entered The Bubble in Edmonton due to a minor injury, although he is progressing well according to Head Coach Peter DeBoer.
Pacioretty played arguably some of the best hockey of his career during the regular season, recording 66 points (32 goals, 34 assists) in 71 games.
So there is no doubt that the veteran is a big miss for Vegas, so it will be up to others to fill that void for now.
We saw on Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes that Chandler Stephenson got the luxury of playing on a line with Mark Stone and William Karlsson.
They did okay but Stephenson failed to record a single shot on goal and that can’t happen if you are a top line player.
With no concrete timeline on when Pacioretty will be able to hit the ice again, DeBoer will be looking to see who can step up and fill that sizeable void and provide some real offense until one of their most potent weapons can return.
It looks likely that burden will fall on Stephenson again today and he will need to be a lot better in the offensive zone against the Stars if he is to be relied upon in a significant role throughout the postseason.
Storyline 2 – Intensity
While both the Golden Knights and the Stars have played an exhibition game inside The Bubble, this will be the first real contest with anything riding on it for both teams.
As a result, it will be interesting to see which team adapts to the new normal in the NHL the quickest.
After all, there are no fans and nowhere near the same type of atmosphere you would expect in a Playoff game in a normal year.
However, there are games that still need to be won and whoever can motivate themselves first and dial themselves in will probably come out on top.
It is an over used cliché but whoever wants it more will probably come into play a lot more this year.
Storyline 3 – Depth Scoring
One area the Golden Knights really struggled in during the regular season was generating offense outside of their explosive top six.
It is hardly a secret that in order to be successful in the postseason you need contributions from up and down your lineup, and that will be the case for Vegas this year.
One huge bugaboo was the third-line which was a constant hinderance to the Golden Knights throughout the regular season, prompting Peter DeBoer to tinker with a new combination on Thursday against the Coyotes.
Nick Cousins (1 G, 2 A), Nicolas Roy (2 A) and Alex Tuch (1 G, 1 A) meshed perfectly and that could be an exciting line to keep an eye on going forward.
But the Golden Knights will also need offense from their fourth-line and the likes of William Carrier and Ryan Reaves will need to chip in too along the way.
Next. Lehner to get start against Stars. dark
If those role players can make an impact on the box score against the Dallas Stars today, then that should fill DeBoer with plenty of confidence heading into Round 1.