Vegas Golden Knights Playoff Day Preview: WCF Game 2 at Avalanche – Hockey Writers – Vegas Golden Knights

The Western Conference Final is underway. The Vegas Golden Knights built first blood by winning Game 1, stealing home-ice advantage and setting up the all-important Game 2. The team will look to put pressure on the Colorado Avalanche before the series shifts to Vegas. It’s time for the Golden Knights Playoff Day preview!

Golden Knights Playoff Day Game Preview: Game 2 at Avalanche (Vegas Leads, 1-0)

The Golden Knights’ Game 1 win showcased many of the qualities that have made them so successful thus far. Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden also scored. The team received deep scoring from Dylan Coghlan and Nic Dowd. Finally, Carter Hart continued his strong performance in net, making 36 saves. Hart praised his team following the win:

“It’s huge. I mean, coming out like we did, I thought we came out pretty good in the first half. We know they’re a good team. We know they have a lot of talent on their team, and we respect that. But you can’t respect them too much, and I thought we did a good job of defending and limiting their time and space. And I thought we blocked a lot of shots, we got a lot of shots tonight, and we had a lot of shots tonight.”

• Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Pavel Dorofeyev
• Brett Howden – William Karlsson – Mitch Marner
• Brandon Saad – Tomas Hertl – Colton Sissons
• Cole Smith – Nic Dowd – Keegan Kolesar
• Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
• Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson
• Ben Hutton – Dylan Coghlan
• Carter Hart/Adin Hill

Captain Mark Stone missed Game 1 with a lower body injury. His Game 2 status is unknown. He has started skating this morning.

Team Leaders

Marner continues to lead the Golden Knights with 19 points and a plus-13 average. Dorofeyev extended his team’s lead in goals by scoring 10 of the playoffs in Game 1. Eichel continues to lead the way with 15 assists. McNabb takes the lead with 19 penalty minutes.

In goal, Hart posts a 2.35 goals against average (GAA) and a .920 save percentage (SV%).

Storyline #1 – Pressure on Wedgewood

The Golden Knights scored three goals against Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood. It was a disappointing performance for Wedgewood, who came out of relief in Game 5 of Round 2. Wedgewood shut out the Minnesota Wild all the way, getting the win when the Avs were struggling to win. However, no such luck happened in Game 1.

Prior to this postseason, Wedgewood had played in one playoff game. He has looked good at times, but he has also seemed vulnerable. The Golden Knights need to see if Wedgewood can rise to the challenge. They should go into Game 2 prepared to gun him down. See if they can catch him one night. Make Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar consider another goaltending game, and maybe even in Game 3.

Storyline #2 – Continue to Close the Top Line

The Avalanche’s most dangerous line this postseason is their top line: Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, and Gabriel Landeskog. In Game 1, they scored only one goal, Landeskog’s late goal. The Golden Knights did a great job of containing the line, limiting their scoring opportunities. In the process, they ended MacKinnon’s six-game goal streak.

Closing this line is the key to Vegas’ victory. Bednar has shown concern about line dysfunction, changing lines late in the game. These are players they can’t contain forever, as Landeskog’s goal showed, but the key is to limit their chances. It’s a cliché in professional sports, but the Golden Knights shouldn’t let the Avs’ best players beat them.

Storyline #3 – Blocking lanes and Shot blocking

The Golden Knights had a solid way to shut down the powerful Avalanche offense. They blocked the neutral zone to limit Colorado’s chances in turnovers. In addition, they continued to line up their bodies, blocking 23 guns.

The Avalanche are a fast team. They do their damage with their speed. Closing skating lanes is a must in Game 2 and above. Even slightly disrupting their progression in the attacking zone can help create scoring opportunities. The Golden Knights have a strong offense, but their defense is the key to beating the Avalanche. It worked in Game 1, so they should go back to the same plan in Game 2.

How to watch

Game 2 starts at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. It can be viewed on ESPN.

Be sure to check back Hockey Writers to find out more.