That was a masterclass in how to shut down the most potent superstars in the league. Despite getting utterly torched on multiple occasions, the Vegas Golden Knights wrapped up their series against Connor McDavid and the Oilers in style as they cruised to a 5-2 Game 6 win to reach another Western Conference Finals.
The Golden Knights are stealthily the most well-run team in the Western Conference, right?
Despite having yet to reach a decade of stay in the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights are heading to their fourth Conference Finals in the last six years as they humbled Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 6 to win the series 4-2. And, apart from a flurry of goals in the opening 5 minutes, the Golden Knights were unchallenged by this Oilers team.
Well, another year of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and another year without a Canadien team winning the Stanley Cup. I know the Oilers ended up outshooting the Golden Knights 41-22 and outhitting them 45-22, which generally points to a dominating performance, but the Oilers were playing desperate, reckless hockey rather than actually dominating the play against the Golden Knights.
Those first few minutes of the game that saw Connor McDavid (1 G, 0 A, 1 PT, 0 +/-) score an absolute snipe from the faceoff circle and Warren Foegele (1 G, 0 A, 1 PT, 0 +/-) bury a one-timer from the slot to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead were more of a mirage of the Oilers offensive potential than a reflection of the game.
Las Vegas was simply sensational after those chaotic opening minutes as they successfully trapped the neutral zone (quite literally as they had three guys attacking the puck side whenever the Oilers entered the zone) and forced the Oilers to constantly turn the puck over, which stifled all the offensive upside out of the most dangerous attack in hockey.
As I said in the intro, Bruce Cassidy’s gameplan was a masterclass in how to defeat teams with stars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (0 PTS, -4 +/-) as the Golden Knights simply denied them the room they so desperately crave to create their highlight reel goals.
So, when Jonathan Marchessault (3 G, 0 A, 3 PTS, +3 +/-), one of the remaining stars from that 2018 Stanley Cup Finalist “misfit” team, went on a tear by scoring a hattrick and single-handedly destroying the Oilers lead, all Vegas had to do was sit back, let McDavid and Draisaitl tire themselves out with pointless circles around the net, wait for them to turn the puck over once they got too tired/frustrated, and then counterattack against an extremely weak Oilers defense.
And that’s something I thought this team just simply didn’t have the defensive fortitude to do.
Honestly, I have to apologize to the Golden Knights (and their defense, more specifically) as I thought the Oilers powerplay and offense was going to be too much for their defense to handle, thus bailing out their suspect defenders and goaltending.
I mean, that’s exactly what happened in Game 2 and 3 as the Oilers pumped the Vegas defense of Alex Pietrangelo (0 G, 1 A, 1 PT, +4 +/-), Alec Martinez (0 G, 1 A, 1 PT, +2 +/-), Zach Whitecloud (0 PTS, 0 +/-), Shea Theodore (0 G, 1 A, 1 PT, -1 +/-), Nick Hauge (0 PTS, 0 +/-), and Brandon McNabb (0 PTS, 0 +/-) for 10 goals.
Yet, to my surprise, the Golden Knights defense dramatically improved, while the decision to turn to Adin Hill, who was spectacular last night with 40 saves and a .950 SV%, ensured the Oilers offense was never going to cover up their obvious defensive deficiencies.
Nevertheless, I’ll get into the problems the Oilers have and how this team needs to fix them at a later date as I need to praise one more aspect of this Golden Knights team: Jack Eichel (0 G, 1 A, 1 PT, +4 +/-) and the offense.
Obviously, it’s an attacker’s job to score goals and win games for their team. Yet, when forwards can also defend at a high level and shut down the opposing stars from getting on the scoresheet, that’s more valuable than gold itself…as the Golden Knights fans found out.
Sure, Eichel, Mark Stone (0 PTS, 0 +/-), Chandler Stephenson (0 PTS, -1 +/-), and Marchessault (prior to this game) haven’t put up the eye-watering stats we’ve seen other superstars post this postseason, but the defensive work ethic these guys have displayed has been far more valuable than a few meaningless assists and goals.
Eichel’s shut down defense was instrumental in stopping McDavid whenever the pair were on the ice together (which was quite often), while Stone, Ivan Barbashev (0 G, 2 A, 2 PTS, +2 +/-), Stephenson, Brett Howden (0 PTS, -1 +/-), and William Karlsson (1 G, 0 A, 1 PT, +1 +/-) etc. completely stopped Draisaitl, Evander Kane (0 G, 1 A, 1 PT, 0 +/-), Zach Hyman (0 PTS, 0 +/-), and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (0 PTS, -2 +/-) in their tracks last night.
As I said, it was a masterclass of a defensive performance.
Their defensive contribution won’t be seen on the stat line, but it is most definitely visible on the scoreboard as the Golden Knights are now four wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals once again.
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