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2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 Preview: Golden Knights vs. Canucks – Sportsnet.ca

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This series brings together two teams at different stages of development, but who we might discover aren’t so far separated from one another.

Two years ago, the Vegas Golden Knights were the league’s biggest surprise when they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in their expansion season. A return to the Final in 2019-20 would surprise absolutely no one. No matter which way you study this roster, they’re a formidable opponent.

Offensive stars like Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty headline a deep talent pool of big-game players like Alex Tuch and Reilly Smith, while a lockdown defensive core stifles opponents almost immediately upon entry, making them an incredibly difficult team against which to garner any sort of momentum – just ask the Chicago Blackhawks, who fell to the top-seeded team in Round 1.

The only real question mark above this club is which proven starting netminder will tend to the crease on any given night – both Marc-Andre Fleury and newcomer Robin Lehner are more than capable of backstopping this team to success, as they’ve proven through seven games so far.

Vancouver, meantime, is still building towards its peak, though a six-game series win against the defending Cup champion Blues feels like a defining moment. There was a lot of playoff inexperience on this roster, but they’ve so far shown the poise of a veteran lineup and no one should be surprised if they give Vegas a run for their money, too.

Here’s how the Canucks and Golden Knights match up:

From the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to the Stanley Cup Final, livestream every game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, blackout-free, on Sportsnet NOW.

ADVANCED STATS

Playoff 5-on-5 numbers via Natural Stat Trick

Vegas: 59.53 CF%, 59.46 GF%, 90.07 SV%, 9.65 SH%, 0.997 PDO

Vancouver: 45.69 CF%, 64.52 GF%, 95.69 SV%, 9.48 SH%, 1.052 PDO

POST-SEASON TEAM STATS

Vegas: 19.1 PP%, 86.4 PK%, 30 GF, 21 GA

Vancouver: 25.0 PP%, 80.0 PK%, 28 GF, 24 GA

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD

Vegas: 1-0-1

Vancouver: 1-1-0

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Vegas’ primary strength: Elite two-way play
The Vegas Golden Knights are shooting and scoring at a pace better than most of their peers, yet it’s not just their pure offensive firepower that sets them apart from the rest.

Take it from the coach they just sent packing.

“They have a lot of different elements to their team,” Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton told reporters after Tuesday’s series-ender. “They have some offensive guys who are dangerous whenever they’re on the ice, but for the most part a lot of them play a tremendous two-way game and that’s hard to play against.”

Few players embody Vegas’ elite combination of shutdown and sharp-shooting like Mark Stone. His ability to lock down the defensive zone, orchestrate plays from neutral zone, grind in the corners, and drive hard towards the net – all in just a few seconds – makes him a true difference-maker each time he’s on the ice.

“And then they have the depth guys who are able to tilt the ice and hold you down in your defensive zone and out-change you,” said Colliton. “They’re a physical team. They make you pay a price to make plays and they just come at you over and over again.”

Vancouver’s primary strength: Offence from the core
In a season all about trying to take that “next step,” the Canucks already surpassed expectations and have done it thanks largely to their young core. There was some question as to how young Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes would fare in their first playoff appearances, as well as how captain Bo Horvat would do in his first taste of the post-season, but they, along with JT Miller, have been Vancouver’s top scorers so far.

Entering Round 2, only one team has scored more goals at 5-on-5 than the Canucks and it happens to be their opponents. But their power play, which was a top-four unit in the regular season, has maintained consistency with a 25 per cent conversion rate in the playoffs as well. Vancouver as a team showed a lot of character in upsetting the Blues, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in Game 5 and jumping out to an insurmountable 4-0 lead in Game 6 thanks to key goals from lower in the lineup during those games. But this team is driven by its youngest players at the top of the lineup and this second-round matchup with an up-tempo Vegas team will present a much different challenge than the Blues offered. Can they keep up with the Golden Knights?

Vegas’ primary weakness: Power play
Let’s be honest: using the word “weakness” to describe anything about this Golden Knights squad is a pretty big stretch. They’ve been nearly flawless in the Edmonton bubble so far, going 3-0 in round-robin play to grab the top seed in the West and making quick work of the Chicago Blackhawks in Round 1.

While it’s tough to beat this club at five-on-five, Vegas’ power-play unit hasn’t exactly been known for its dominance. Though their 22 per cent power play conversion rate during the regular season — good for ninth in the category league-wide — can’t particularly be called a weakness, their performance with the man advantage this post-season has generally been lacking.

In 21 power-play opportunities through the round robin and first round, Vegas scored four goals — that’s a 19 per cent power-play success rate, which puts them in the bottom half of those rankings. Narrow the scope to just Round 1, and the Golden Knights’ power-play struggles were particularly evident, tallying just a single marker in 10 opportunities with the man advantage for a 10 per cent success rate — and that came late in the second period of the fifth and final game against Chicago.

We’ve seen how heavily special teams can factor into playoff outcomes. With so much playoff parity, it’s often these details that can give a team the edge.

Vancouver’s primary weakness: Allowing too many high quality scoring chances
No team left standing has allowed more high danger chances against at 5-on-5 than the Canucks, who have given up 23 more than any other. Jacob Markstrom, the team’s regular season MVP, has been their rock again in the post-season, with a league-best .905 high danger save percentage. They’ve been able to lean on Markstrom so far, but Vegas’ relentless offence is a couple steps up from what the Canucks’ prior opponents (Minnesota and St. Louis) could muster.

Vegas is all about puck possession and dominating scoring chances, with a 5-on-5 high danger scoring chance percentage over 60 in these playoffs that has led them to a dominating 7-1 record so far. The Canucks either need to improve on this defence, hope Markstrom stands on his head, or be able to match what they give up to Vegas at the other end of the ice. A tough challenge indeed.

Vegas Golden Knights X-Factor: Max Pacioretty
While the Golden Knights have played a very complete game throughout the lineup, we have yet to see a few of the club’s biggest stars really shine.

After leading the Golden Knights in goals (32) and points (66) in the regular season, Max Pacioretty has been relatively quiet so far in Edmonton. It’s not difficult to see why: he missed much of training camp while dealing with an undisclosed injury, sat out all three round-robin games, and was then thrown right into the intensity against Chicago. And while a goal and an assist through four games is nothing to scoff at – especially when teammates and noted playoff performers like Mark Stone, Reilly Smith, and Alex Tuch are there to power the team — his status, comfort level, and overall production will be worth keeping an eye on as the intensity rises. He was magic in Round 1 of last year’s playoffs, registering a handful of goals and 11 points in the seven-game series loss to San Jose. Now, Vegas will need No. 67 at his best once again if they’re to raise Lord Stanley’s chalice at the end of this.

Vancouver Canucks X-Factor: Contributions from the bottom-six
Whether it’s by generating more offence, or slowing Vegas’ forwards, the Canucks’ bottom-six forwards need to be a presence. Tyler Motte was a Round 1 hero, but it’s hard to continue counting on him as a goal scorer. None of the depth forwards have a Corsi percentage over 50 and all have been on the ice for more scoring chances against than for. Markstrom’s brilliance has helped bail them out, but as the competition ramps up there needs to be improvement and greater consistency at both ends.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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