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Golden Knights have best record in Playoffs despite no home-ice edge – NHL.com

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The Vegas flu used to be considered one of the keys to the success of the Vegas Golden Knights. The theory was that teams visiting Las Vegas, where T-Mobile Arena sits on The Strip, would, uh, not feel well for some reason.

Well, here we are in the time of COVID-19, when teams are living in Secure Zones and playing in arenas without fans in the stands in Edmonton and Toronto and look who has the best record in the bubbles: the Golden Knights.

Vegas, playing all its games at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the Western Conference, is 8-1-0 this postseason. The Golden Knights, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, went 3-0-0 in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers and defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 in the Western Conference First Round, and now they have taken a 1-0 lead against the No. 5-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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Video: Golden Knights shut out Canucks in Game 1 win

How do you explain that? Simple.

“I mean, this team is really good,” veteran analyst Pierre McGuire said with a laugh after listing some of Vegas’ strengths — physicality, defense, structure, depth — during the NBCSN broadcast of Game 1 on Sunday. And that was when the score was 1-0 in the first period. The final score was 5-0.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Tuesday (9:45 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS).

In theory, no team should be at more of a disadvantage under the circumstances than the Golden Knights, because they have had a huge home-ice advantage.

The Golden Knights have gone 75-33-11 in the regular season at home, fifth in the NHL in points percentage (.676) since they entered the NHL as an expansion team in 2017-18.

They went 7-3 at home in the 2018 playoffs, when they went to the Stanley Cup Final and lost in five games to the Washington Capitals. They went 2-1 at home in the 2019 playoffs, when they lost in seven games in the first round to the San Jose Sharks.

Their .692 winning percentage at home in the 2018 and 2019 playoffs combined was the best among teams that played at least eight games.

No place in the NHL is like T-Mobile Arena on game day — or at, as the Vegas calls it, “Knight Time.” The bass booms so hard that it thumps your chest and rattles your drink. Showgirls dance against the glass at the visitors’ end during warmup. A pregame show entertains the fans, some of whom come dressed in glittery gold outfits.

It is a spectacle all its own, and the place is loud. Reporters often ask players after a big win how much the atmosphere contributed to it.

The NHL paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, then created an unprecedented 24-team tournament in the Return to Play Plan — 12 Western Conference teams in Edmonton, 12 Eastern Conference teams in Toronto, no fans in the stands.

It hasn’t been the same, even though the NHL has used recorded crowd noise and music from each NHL arena. But that’s OK. After the game Sunday, this time a reporter asked about the Golden Knights creating their own energy.

“Obviously sometimes without fans it’s a little dead,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “So we’re just trying to stay alive on the bench, try to talk to each other between linemates. When somebody [makes] a good hit or a good play, we try to be extra positive. Yeah, we’re a team that likes to be alive on the bench for sure.”

Video: VAN@VGK, Gm1: Marchessault jams puck by Markstrom

Most important, the Golden Knights have given themselves lots of opportunities to be positive, because management has built such a strong team.

President of hockey operations George McPhee and general manager Kelly McCrimmon did a masterful job in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, when McPhee was GM and McCrimmon was assistant GM, not only assembling the initial roster, but stockpiling assets for future moves.

In their inaugural season, they recognized they were better than expected and went for it. They almost won the Cup. Still, they didn’t stand pat. They have made lots of changes and been unafraid to make difficult, controversial decisions.

They replaced coach Gerard Gallant with Peter DeBoer — the former Sharks coach who had eliminated them in the playoffs — Jan. 15 even though they were in a playoff spot. They acquired goalie Robin Lehner from the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 24, and now Lehner has taken the No. 1 job from Marc-Andre Fleury, the face of the franchise and a fan favorite.

That caused a dustup Saturday, when Fleury’s agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted an image of a sword in Fleury’s back labeled “DeBoer.” But Fleury met with McCrimmon and DeBoer and asked Walsh to take it down, and by Sunday night, even though Lehner shut out the Canucks and improved to 6-1-0 in the postseason, goaltending was not the story.

The story was Vegas’ dominance. This is a team with good chemistry despite turning over significantly in three seasons, a team with talent down the roster, a team that can win on The Strip or at a neutral site, a team that can ignore outside noise and make its own noise on the bench.

“We’re here for one thing,” DeBoer said, “and that’s to pursue a Stanley Cup.”

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

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Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres

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“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.

“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”

JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.

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“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”

Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.

Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.

“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”

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Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

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