ANALYSIS:

Golden Knights round into playoff form with second straight round-robin win

Winner of Saturday’s game against the Avalanche will earn western conference’s No. 1 seed

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Jason Franson / The Canadian Press via AP

St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington (50) looks on as the Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a goal during second-period NHL hockey playoff game action in Edmonton, Alberta, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020.

Fri, Aug 7, 2020 (2 a.m.)

If the Golden Knights sleepwalked through their first game of the NHL’s restart earlier this week, then the only way to describe their performance in Thursday’s second round-robin seeding contest was wide awake with an extra shot of espresso.  

The flatness that accompanied Vegas early in a win over Dallas was replaced with a liveliness against the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. The Golden Knights attacked the Blues like an alarm clock with a faulty snooze button from the moment the puck dropped in the Western Conference bubble in Edmonton, an fervor that ultimately led to a 6-4 victory.

“The two games were completely different,” Vegas winger Mark Stone said after the Blues win. “I didn’t think we brought it for the first 40 minutes against Dallas and kind of squeaked one out we really didn’t deserve. But tonight never really felt in doubt; I thought we played as good of a 60 minutes as we could.”     

Vegas’ wakeup was a beautiful sight for local fans to see. The Golden Knights had grown into an undeniable Stanley Cup contender before the NHL’s coronavirus pause in March, but it was hard to be certain the same high level of play would transfer out of an extended break.

There was reason for concern for most of the Stars’ game, as the Golden Knights looked disinterested at best before Stone broke them out of their stupor with a third-period goal to spark a comeback. Stone set the tone again against St. Louis, creating a number of first-period chances.  

Although none of them came to fruition and the Golden Knights went into the intermission trailing 1-0, they did so with the confidence that they were going to be fine if they kept the same energy going forward.   

“When you have four months off, that’s what you preach right from day 1 of camp: The only goal is to get a little bit better each night,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “You’re always looking to find that game we had prior to the pause, (when) we were really playing well seamlessly and working for support all over the ice. I thought tonight was the best I’ve seen for the longest stretch, which is a good sign going into the playoffs.”

Notice that DeBoer isn’t considering the round robin part of the playoffs and has done little to hide the fact that he looks at the three games as sort of a soft open. That should be comforting to Golden Knights’ fans — how much better can they be when DeBoer is doing less tinkering and even more committed to getting victories? — and interesting to see whether he changes his approach going into Saturday’s game with the Colorado Avalanche that’s now officially for the No. 1 seed.

Colorado has been more dominant than Vegas since the restart — beating the Blues 2-1 and the Stars 4-0 — and the Avalanche won both games against the Golden Knights in the regular season by a combined nine goals.    

“We came into Edmonton wanting to play our best hockey whether that got us three wins, got us no wins,” Stone said of the round robin. “So as long as we’re playing well, we feel confident against anyone.”

And they should. After the way they played against the Blues, there’s only one area that looks like it’s keeping the Golden Knights away from being a sizable favorite in the western conference — goaltending.

Marc-Andre Fleury continued his season-long troubles, letting in four goals on only 17 Blues’ shots including two where he was badly out of position. The Golden Knights only needed to look across the ice to see the importance of a goaltender in the postseason.

The Blues rode Jordan Binnington to the Stanley Cup last year, and nearly coaxed another victory out of him against the Golden Knights. The second-year player might have put on one of the best showings of any goalie to ever allow six scores.

A short list of his spectacular saves on Thursday included a slide-over to stuff one Chandler Stephenson wrister, a shoulder to stymie another and a glove-snare to end a Reilly Smith backhand on a breakaway. The Blues had no business being in the game, and yet Binnington kept them in it and even leading for most of the time until constant pressure finally wore him down in the third period. Stone tapped in the game-winner off of a pass from Brayden McNabb with 7:29 remaining.  

The Golden Knights are going to need Binnington-like nights throughout the postseason, and with the way he’s played for the last several months, Fleury appears incapable. Luckily for Vegas, they have an answer on the roster in Robin Lehner, but it remains to be seen if DeBoer and the organization will have the guts to bench the face of the franchise in the playoffs.

That’s a decision for another day, though, perhaps on Saturday after Lehner presumably gets the start against the Avalanche. DeBoer may not value the opportunity to earn the No. 1 seed in a neutral-site tournament much, but it’s no small feat that the Golden Knights are in that position.

They’ve been terrific for the last four periods dating back to the final frame of the Stars’ game, shaking off some dreariness to arise and peak on short notice right when it matters most.

“Our intensity level is very high,” DeBoer said. “These guys are here for business, to try to win the Stanley Cup. They’ve left family and kids and friends and put everything aside in order to make this commitment and come do this.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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