That was a much-needed drubbing for the Golden Knights. The Las Vegas Golden Knights have FINALLY knocked off the Stars with a crushing 6-0 Game 6 victory, setting the stage for the Stanley Cup Finals against the Panthers.
I don’t think the Golden Knights could have shown how annoyed they were in a harsher way.
The Vegas Golden Knights are heading back to the Stanley Cup Finals as they beat down a stubborn Stars team 6-0 in Game 6 to win the series 4-2, ensuring the Stanley Cup Finals will be a battle of the heat as the Golden Knights will face off against the Florida Panthers. And, even though I feel for Stars fans, I’m glad this series is finally over as it was a mismatch from the start.
I wasn’t rooting against the Stars at any point in the series (I really don’t care too much for either one of these teams), but I, along with almost everyone else in the league outside of Dallas, knew they had no chance of coming back to win against the Golden Knights.
Not only is it nearly statically impossible (as Celtics fans now know) for teams to come back from being down 0-3 (it has only happened 4 times in 100+ years), but this Stars team devoid of any real leadership was never going to rally the others and get it done. And it showed with the blowout loss.
Team captain Jaime Benn made his heroic return to the lineup last night after nearly decapitating Mark Stone in Game 3…and it went about as poorly as one could expect as he finished with 0 goals, 0 PTS, -2 +/-, and took a single shot on goal.
Meanwhile, the other leaders of Tyler Seguin (0 PTS, 3 SOG, -1 +/-), Esa Lindell (0 PTS, 0 SOG, -2 +/-), Ryan Suter (0 PTS, 1 SOG, 0 +/-), and Joe Pavelski (0 PTS, 1 SOG, -2 +/-) scored a grand total of 0 goals, 0 points, had a collective +/- rating of -5, committed four giveaways, and had just five shots on goal.
What a captivating performance from these leaders, right? Obviously not.
I’m not entirely blaming these elder “statesmen” (so to speak) for not being able to will this Stars side to victory in a third straight game as the actual superstars, such as Jason Robertson (0 PTS, 1 SOG, -1 +/-), Roope Hintz (0 PTS, 2 SOG, -1 +/-), Miro Heiskanen (0 PTS, 3 SOG, -3 +/-), Jake Oettinger (29 saves, .793 SV%, 6.00 GAA), Wyatt Johnston (0 PTS, 1 SOG, -2 +/-), and Max Domi (0 PTS, 3 SOG, 0 +/-) , were equally as pathetic, yet the complete meltdowns we’ve seen in two games now are all on them.
A lot of these players have played in and won Stanley Cups, yet they still oversaw two blowout performances in the two most vital games of the series (Game 3 and 6). Truthfully, these kinds of performances are what set Stanley Cup contending teams apart from the Stanley Cup pretenders, and that’s what the Stars have proven to be this year. Pretenders to the cup.
As for the Golden Knights, this was the performance they’ve been on the verge of having these last three games.
Led by Mark Stone (0 PTS, 3 SOG, +3 +/-), Jack Eichel (0 PTS, 3 SOG, +1 +/-), William Karlsson (2 G, 1 A, 3 PTS, +3 +/-), Alex Pietrangelo (0 PTS, 2 SOG, +2 +/-), and Adin Hill (23 saves, 1.000 SV%, 0.00 GA), the Golden Knights ruthlessly took apart the Stars this game by firing 29 shots on the Stars net, getting 6 goals past Oettinger, only allowing 23 shots on their own net, and utterly blitzing the Stars with 3 1st-period goals to wrap up this game in the opening 20 minutes.
Now, that may not seem too important, but the Golden Knights being unable to push the game out of the Stars reach is the sole reason why Dallas was able to win the last two games, even though Las Vegas scored the first goal in both fixtures.
Anyways, I have to say congratulations to the Golden Knights as they have shown good management mixed with a little chaos can work when done well, which has been evident in the Golden Knights now reaching their 2nd Stanley Cup Finals appearance in the franchise’s 6-year history.
Yes, the Golden Knights have reached the SCF more or at least as many times in the last six years than/as the Nashville Predators (1), the Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers (0), the Columbus Blue Jackets (0), the Minnesota Wild (0) the Arizona Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets (0), the San Jose Sharks (2), the Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers (2), the Anaheim Ducks (2), the Buffalo Sabres (2), the Washington Capitals (2), the new Ottawa Senators (1)…and the Florida Panthers (2).
Oh, and all of those teams are at least 21 years old, while franchises like the Capitals, Hurricanes, Sabres, and Coyotes all being 50+ years old.
I really think the Golden Knights have the edge over the Florida Panthers as they have more depth and better defensive forwards, but I’m not counting out the Panthers in this series. This series really is a coin toss.
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