Wednesday Knight Wisdom: Bruce Cassidy Is Gambling

1. Is It More Than Bad Decisions From Bruce Cassidy?

Game 5's shuffle wasn't the first time Bruce Cassidy changed the lineup in the series. Tomas Hertl was bumped off the second line and moved to the third line for Game 3. He hasn't been seen since that move. Brett Howden took his place on the second line, where he didn't do much in his own right. Such gambling has burnt Cassidy all series, with Golden Knights fans starting to notice the mishaps.

Everything will go back to Cassidy shuffling the lineup too much if the Golden Knights are eliminated by the Dallas Stars. It messes with the chemistry and causes players doing great to suddenly stagnate. With questionable decisions come observations of Cassidy being outcoached by former Golden Knights head coach, Pete DeBoer. How has DeBoer taken command of the series?

The Stars' head coach has relied on his offense attacking the Golden Knights at every turn. That led to Dallas controlling the neutral zone and creating more high-danger chances, wearing down Vegas. While DeBoer's "spray and pray" strategy might seem like a desperation attempt, it's been effective at breaking the Golden Knights down. That's what happened in Game 3, where Vegas was too worn out to muster an offensive front in overtime. Dallas having an xGoals% (expected goals percentage) of 64.05% entering Game 5 proves that.