Vegas Golden Knights: Three kinks to iron out for Western Conference Finals
There are three main flaws the Vegas Golden Knights need to eradicate prior to facing the Dallas Stars.
We are down to the final four in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Vegas Golden Knights facing the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals.
The Golden Knights need four wins to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in three years, but it won’t be easy.
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After all, we saw some weaknesses exposed during the Second Round against the Vancouver Canucks, which went the full seven games.
From a blunted offense to a stagnant power play that has struggled all postseason, the Golden Knights have some problems they need to deal with prior to faceoff against the Stars.
They will be coming up against good goaltending once again, in addition to a roster that is getting contributions from up and down the lineup.
Dallas is also loaded and they have enough star power to be able to defeat any team, as proved in the Second Round when they took down the Colorado Avalanche in seven games.
As such, this isn’t going to be an easy or straightforward series and it could well go the full seven games again.
And, with a huge prize on offer at the end of this series, we mapped out the three kinks the Golden Knights will need to iron out if they are to beat the Dallas Stars and advance through to the Stanley Cup Final.
Let’s delve right in…
1. Fixing the Power Play
The Golden Knights need more from their special teams.
Both the power play and the penalty kill has been inconsistent throughout the postseason so far, but it is the PP that concerns me the most.
When you are as loaded as the Golden Knights are and are able to stack both units with potent weapons, then the man advantage should be doing a lot better.
As we begin the Western Conference Finals, the Vegas power play is ranked 8th in the NHL, operating at a 20.4% tilt.
That isn’t nearly good enough.
They went a combined 5/23 on the power play in the Second Round against the Vancouver Canucks, including a poor 1/10 in the final three games of that series.
While it didn’t ultimately matter against the Canucks, similar struggles on the man advantage against better and more postseason-hardened teams could prove costly for the Golden Knights.
How they go about fixing the PP is a good question given that they already have all the pieces there, including an elite power play quarterback in Shea Theodore and a plethora of stars who can really exploit the open ice.
But Head Coach Peter DeBoer will need to spend extra time on special teams and on the power play in practice if the Knights are to have a chance against the Stars.
And, with Dallas ranked 10th on the penalty kill (82.3%) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there is an opportunity for the Golden Knights to really feast out on the power play if they can figure this thing out.
2. The Faceoff Circle
The Golden Knights have struggled in the faceoff circle so far in the postseason.
There is no other way to put it.
They are ranked 23rd in that department, winning just 43:75 of their draws and they also struggled in the dot in the regular season, winning 50.0 percent of their draws.
Now, while you can have an argument over whether success in the faceoff circle translates to wins or not, you would expect an elite team such as the Golden Knights to be winning more than 43:75 percent of their draws.
Again, the Pittsburgh Penguins won more games than any other team between 2010 and 2017, putting up an impressive .659 points percentage yet they lost more face-offs than they had won.
But, on the flip side, winning face-offs correlates to puck possession and we know Vegas is one of the best in that department.
Their whole game is built on puck possession but, eventually, losing draws will have a negative impact on their ability to control play and keep hold of the puck.
Judging faceoff wins and losses is not a perfect art no matter the swathes of data available to dissect, but it is obvious that the Golden Knights need to tighten up in that area if they are to keep getting success from controlling the play.
Vegas only has two players with a faceoff win percentage over 50.0% (William Carrier and Max Pacioretty), with draw specialist William Karlsson struggling in the dot with a win percentage of 40.64 percent.
Compare that to the Stars who have six players recording a win percentage of 50.0 percent or better inside the faceoff circle.
3. Spark up the offense
What is going on with the Vegas Golden Knights offense inside The Bubble?
While they rank 6th in the NHL in Goals For Per Game with an average of 3.27, they have really endured a slump in the last few games.
Vegas scored just one goal combined in Games 5 & 6 against the Vancouver Canucks in the Second Round, laying a goose egg in Game 6.
Granted, they generated 91 shots in those two games but that doesn’t tell the whole story on its own.
One of the most worrying aspects of the series against the Canucks was the fact that the Golden Knights struggled to produce another dangerous shots to really trouble Thatcher Demko.
And, when they did they couldn’t generate enough second chances in front of the net which is going to lose you hockey games.
The Golden Knights have struggled with deflecting shots on goal, which doesn’t help, and you have to get traffic to the front of the net if you want to win hockey games.
That’s just a simple fact of life.
The Knights have struggled to generate offense at 5-on-5 as well, scoring just one goal at even strength in the last 160 minutes.
The power play hasn’t been much better, which we covered in a previous slide, but there is no excuse to be laying goose eggs when you have the likes of Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith in the line-up.
On the flip side, it would be stunning if these offensive woes continued given the amount of potent weapons that the Golden Knights have at their disposal, but you get what you deserve.
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And, going into this series against the Stars, the Golden Knights will need to work harder and they will need to work smarter if they are to break out of this funk and get back to being an offensive juggernaut.
If they don’t, well then this could be a short series.