By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Vegas Golden Knights are a very good team. They are just not a championship team.
The Montreal Canadiens, which had 16 less wins during the NHL 56-game pandemic season then the VGK, knocked out Vegas from the Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday night. Montreal was seeded 16th out of 16 playoff teams, while Vegas had the second best record in the regular season.
For Las Vegas, at least there was much-hyped opening of the Resort World hotel-casino on the Strip this evening.
But in Montreal, a feisty crowd of 3,500 celebrated the Canadiens’ 3-2 win over Vegas in overtime. Montreal won the NHL Final 4 semis in six games.
Golden Knights forward Mark Stone, who did not register a point in the six games, summed up the feeling in the postgame locker room: “Pretty terrible feeling. . . We have to grow as a group.”
Here’s Robin Lehner, the VGK goaltender, summarizing the defeat:
He also tweeted this message to Montreal:
The Knights knocked off a rough Minnesota team in seven brutal games and took out Colorado in six after dropping the first two games.
But they encountered the rock-solid play of Montreal goaltender Carey Price, suffered through six games with an anemic power play and watched a star born in Canadiens newcomer Cole Caufield.
Caufield made a gorgeous move to get around reliable VGK defenseman Brayden McNabb, zoomed in on Lehner and wristed the puck into the upper right corner of the cage to give the Habs a 2-1 lead. Caufield scored four goals in the series. The entire group of VGK forwards scored four goals in the six-game series.
VGK defenseman Alec Martinez tied the score at 2-2 in the third period.
But the Golden Knights’ game, series and season ended on Montreal’s first shot in overtime.
Artturi Lehkonen scored 99 seconds into the extra session.
It’s a pretty empty feeling right now — VGK goalie Robin Lehner
“They were opportunistic,” VGK coach Pete DeBoer said after the game.
Montreal defeated Vegas three times this series by that same 3-2 score. After Vegas won the first game, 4-1, Montreal took four of the next five games.
Montreal is the first Canadian team to appear in the Stanley Cup Final in a decade. The Canadiens were the last team from north of the border to win the Stanley Cup in 1993.
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In period one, an Alec Martinez giveaway led to a power play goal by Montreal’s Shea Weber, who blasted a shot past Lehner to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead a little less than six minutes into period one.
But the Knights answered right back only 48 seconds later when VGK forward Reilly Smith snapped a nine-game goal-scoring slump by tipping home a shot by Shea Theodore. And just like that, the game was tied.
“There’s always room for improvement. We have to keep on pushing,” Smith said after one period. Smith noted the Knights come to the rink before every game thinking they will win the game. “We don’t like to think this is is an elimination game.”
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The Golden Knights committed 11 turnovers in the first period and it was a victory for VGK to come away with a 1-1 tie after the first 20 minutes.
When Smith scored in period one, it was only the fourth goal given up by Montreal in the first period during the playoffs. Giving up only four first period goals in 17 postseason games — a stat that explained why Montreal has played with the lead so often this postseason. Montreal defeated Toronto and Winnipeg to reach the semis.
Montreal has also killed VGK penalties quite effectively and has given up only three power play goals all postseason.
The Knights were 0 for 17 on the power play when they failed to notch a goal on a PP early in period two.
Montreal awaits the winner of Tampa vs New York Islanders Game 7 in Tampa tomorrow night.
Martinez noted the efforts made to realize a season during the COVID-19 pandemic: “The first thing that comes to mind is I’m grateful. A lot of people not just in our organization but in our league put in a lot of effort and did a lot of things during a strange time that allowed us to play this year.”
PSA