The Chicago Blackhawks took full advantage of their chances in Edmonton as they advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but now the road becomes significantly harder as they take over the top-seeded Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.
The Golden Knights, who went a perfect 3-0 in round robin play against the other top three teams in the west, are a formidable squad with strong goal tendencies, a deep and talented forward group, and a blue line full of players ready and able offensive possessions ride as needed.
That target audience is headed by the two-headed monster of Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner, who is widely known to Blackhawks fans because he played 33 games in Chicago this season before being traded to the club in February. Golden Knights.
Lehner started two of the three games that the Knights play in round robin, and although Vegas head coach Pete DeBoer has not yet named a starter for the series, it would appear that Lehner has the inner track to beat his former team then. ‘ t the playoffs begin this week.
On the defensive side, the Golden Knights are a team with a lot of depth and talent, but the group is led by the players who can play plays on the offensive side of the ice. Nate Schmidt and Shea Theodore are two of the Golden Knights’ most prolific offensive players, and their ability to stretch the ice and keep pressure on opponents ahead can pass even the most talented teams as they attempt their misdeeds. to set up.
That high level of involvement by the blue liners provides many opportunities for the team’s forward team, and they have one of the deepest groups of forwards in the league, with players like Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone and William Karlsson all having a provide many excellent scores to the club.
The Golden Knights finished outside the top 10 in the league in both goals per game and goals per game allowed, but make no mistake: this is a group that can score goals in leagues and has the ability to keep on scoring by scoring of droughts from their top-tier players, as opposed to the top-heavy Edmonton Oilers squad that just chased the Blackhawks.
As for the weak points, there is one important area to keep an eye on for Vegas: its penalty kill. While the Oilers had one of the best punishing, ty-chilling units in the league this season, the Golden Knights had one of the worst, killing 80.8% of the power games they faced. In fact, only one team that was still eligible for controversy had a worse penalty a season than the Golden Knights, with the Toronto Maple Leafs still on Sunday against an elimination game against Columbus.
That could be an area where the Blackhawks could potentially do some damage, as they showed some ability at the power play in games 1 and 4 of their series with Edmonton. If Dominik Kubalik and Jonathan Toews can continue their strong play, the man advantage could be a major advantage for a Blackhawks squad looking for a big turnout.
That overtime could also have been helped by Corey Crawford, as the netminder played his best game of the postseason in Friday’s Win 4 over Edmonton. If Crawford, who is still recovering after most of training camp with the coronavirus missing, can find his form, then the Golden Knights could be in for a tough challenge, as the proven playoff performer could help his club giving a fighting chance in the postseason.
Finally, the Blackhawks have a rise up against these Golden Knights, who have been one of the NHL’s most notable stories in their short league history. The Blackhawks went 1-1-1 against Vegas in the regular season, and have battled Vegas throughout their entire series, going 1-6-2 in nine all-time meetings.
The NHL is expected to release the first-round schedule soon, and the Blackhawks will likely get late-night billing from the league. You can stay up to date with coverage on that announcement, as well as the entire series, here on the NBC 5 Chicago Hockey page.
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