Frank Seravalli was joined by Mike McKenna to discuss the Vegas Golden Knights' Game 6 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on the latest episode of "Daily Faceoff Live."
Frank Seravalli: Let’s start with the fact that the Vegas Golden Knights are advancing to their fourth Western Conference Final in their six seasons as an NHL franchise, by virtue of their 5-2 win over the Oilers on Sunday evening. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl go out like a lamp instead of a lion. And, Mike, when you take a look at this series, I think what stands out to me is that the Golden Knights were clearly the better team as it went on.
Mike McKenna: They were better for me pretty much the whole series, and so much of it just relied on 5-on-5 hockey. And look at how Vegas played, four lines, six D, they had to draw in Ben Hutton when Alex Pietrangelo got suspended. It pissed them off when Pietrangelo got suspended, and they played better in Game 6 because of it. And they got better goaltending.
So, did Edmonton do some things well? Yeah, on the power play and about one and a half lines were pretty serviceable, but Vegas just kept coming. They stayed to their game plan, and Bruce Cassidy did a great job in the series, especially for Game 5 he took Nic Roy to the third line, brought in Teddy Blueger, sat down Michael Amadio. That move really paid off and solidified their fourth line, and their system was just so tight in Vegas.
Eleven games in the playoffs so far and they’ve only twice allowed more than 10 high-danger chances at 5-on-5, Frank. That’s why they’re winning. At 5-on-5 Vegas is an absolute wheel and showed it against the Oilers.
Frank Seravalli: Yeah, and they’re also winning with their third goalie in net in Adin Hill. I don’t know if that’s fair or unfair to say, but if you look at the balance of the season, I would think that Logan Thompson is the top goalie if healthy. Laurent Brossoit started the playoffs; he’s out. Hill comes in, and after letting up two goals on the first two shots in Game 6, he was absolutely unflappable down the stretch for the Golden Knights.
Mike, I have to ask the question: There’s five teams still in the chase Lord Stanley’s prize; are they the best team still standing?
Mike McKenna: I guess it would be tough to take that title away from Carolina, and of course we still have to see what happens between Dallas and the Kraken. They’re getting contributions from everybody in Vegas. Their power play is OK, the penalty kill is very good but again 5-on-5 really well and I’ve loved Adin Hill’s game. He was good down the stretch. He got hurt, but he’s playing the most patient I’ve seen. A lot of what Vegas can do will boil down to whether Hill can keep up that level of play, if he stays healthy and these lines can keep going.
Jack Eichel has been even better in the postseason than the regular season; he’s been phenomenal for Vegas on a line with Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev. They had their fingerprints all over it last night in Game 6 with Marchessault having a hat trick.
You can watch the rest of the episode here…
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