Preview: Golden Knights vs Stars – 3rd Round – Game 3
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Tonight, the Vegas Golden Knights look to take the lead in the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Stars. Dallas won a low scoring affair on Sunday evening and Vegas dominated the action Tuesday.
After game one, there was concern amongst the Vegas faithful. Dallas played stronger, and Vegas was not able to use their speed across the center of the ice. Vegas did not seem to have a lot of high-quality scoring chances. There was a “glass is half empty” feeling after game one.
Vegas righted the ship and dominated game two. It seemed like forever ago since VGK had an offensive explosion. Vegas got their much-needed blast in the second period by getting four goals (three that counted) on goalie Anton Khudobin. As a result, Khudobin was pulled in favor of goalie Jake Oettinger for the third period.
Now there is a “glass half full” perspective on game one. A 1-0 loss simply means your team was two shots away from winning the game. Sure, VGK struggled without Ryan Reaves. Reilly Smith fanned on a couple of shots that he usually makes with his eyes closed. Dallas got a lucky rebound off a blocked shot that led to their ONLY goal.
If I had to compare each team’s game by game performance I would say that in game one Dallas was at near-peak performance and Vegas was around seventy-five percent. Game two Dallas was around eighty percent and VGK was closer to ninety percent.
What can we expect from both clubs in game two? I’m thinking more of the same from VGK. Most likely the same lineup, injuries pending, of course. That includes Robin Lehner making consecutive starts and getting the net in game three. But after the last two games, does it really matter who the goalie is? Marc-Andre Fleury and Lehner have been stellar in this postseason. Dallas suddenly has the “glass half empty” perspective. They were lucky to win despite only getting a single goal on Sunday and were dominated on Tuesday.
Dallas also lost their composure.
Alexander Radulov was headhunting. He punched Mark Stone (and tried to make it look like an accident) and was awarded a double minor for high sticking Brayden McNabb. John Klingberg attempted to take out the big bad wolf (Reaves) early in the game, which put him in the penalty box and left Reaves smiling ear to ear. Dallas will look to clean things up and maybe toss their lines in a blender in hopes of finding a spark.
VGK had fun on Tuesday night. When the boys are smiling out there, that means good things are happening. Confident hockey is good hockey, and there will be no loss of confidence after Tuesday’s performance.
The New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning had a wild one on Wednesday night. Tampa pulled off the victory with the game-winning goal by Nikita Kucherov with just nine seconds remaining in the third period. Tampa now leads the series two games to zero. Teams that win games one and two in a best of seven series advance eighty-six percent of the time.
In this postseason five teams have jumped out to a two games to zero lead and all five teams have advanced. Tampa finished Wednesday’s game with just nine forwards. They dressed seven defensemen for the contest. They lost Brayden Point for undisclosed reasons and Alex Killorn due to receiving a one-game misconduct for boarding. Islanders coach, Barry Trotz, is going to have dig deep to get his club out of the hole they’re in.
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Dallas Stars series and T.V. schedule:
Game 1 – Stars 1, VGK 0
Game 2 – VGK 3, Stars 0
Game 3- Thursday – 5 p.m. (NBCSN)
Game 4 – Saturday – 5 p.m. (NBC)
*Game 5 – Sept. 14 – 5 p.m. (NBCSN)
*Game 6 – Sept. 16 – 5 p.m. (NBCSN)
*Game 7 – Sept. 18 – 6 p.m. (NBCSN)
*If necessary
The Golden Knights magic number to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup is at 7!
GO KNIGHTS, GO!
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-Chris Gawlik – Franchise Sports Media
