Lawless & Order: The Blog | June 11

Friday, June 11, 9 a.m. PT
It's the morning after the night before which saw the Vegas Golden Knights slay one of the NHL's largest dragons in the form of the Colorado Avalanche in an historic Game 6 win at T-Mobile Arena.
This series was over after Game 1 and Colorado's 7-1 victory. I know because I was in Denver and I heard all the crowing and read all the glowing Avalanche reviews. Not to be. Colorado was better than Vegas in the opener, that's for sure. The rest of the series, save for stretches of Game 5 which ultimately fell to the Golden Knights in overtime, was a different story. A Vegas story. The remark was made early in the series that Colorado had more high-end talent but the Golden Knights were the better team. We'll stick with that in the aftermath.

Vegas out-schemed, out-checked, out-executed and out-willed the Avalanche rattling off four straight wins to send the President's Trophy winners home scratching their heads.
Colorado GM Joe Sakic has put together a talented group. It will be interesting to see how he reacts in an effort to get them over the top.
For Vegas, it's on to the Montreal Canadiens and a chance to win a trophy as the NHL announced on Thursday night the winner of the series between the North and West will be awarded the Clarence Campbell Bowl while the Central and East division winners will battle for the Prince of Wales Trophy.
The Golden Knights have now advanced to the NHL's final four in three of the club's four seasons. Four seasons of existence and three trips to the league semifinals.
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, team presidents George McPhee and Kerry Bubolz as well as GM Kelly McCrimmon have proven to be among the very best in pro sports ownership and management.
Foley is aggressive and involved and hands-off all at the same time. He sets a high level of expectation for both business and hockey operations. He has a seat at the table and he provides leadership and guidance. But he lets his people do their jobs. Bubolz has a mission to drive revenue so McPhee and McCrimmon can have the resources to get the finest players available and provide the coaches and players with best in class resources.
Certainly this franchise used the expansion process to build a strong foundation but McPhee and McCrimmon have been uber aggressive through free agency and the trade market in an attempt to continue to get better. Mark Stone, Chandler Stephenson, Nic Roy, Mattias Janmark, Alec Martinez, Nick Holden, Alex Pietrangelo, Zach Whitecloud and Robin Lehner are all adds management has made along the way to build a roster steeped in excellence and depth.
Head coach Pete DeBoer and his staff are among the best in the NHL. They won 40 regular season games and have now added two playoff series victories over elite opponents in Minnesota and Colorado.
Quick hits: Playoff Alex Pietrangelo is proving to be worth all the regular season salary cap strife Vegas had to endure. He was the best defender in the series between the Golden Knights and the Avalanche and that includes the very excellent Cale Makar.
DeBoer has now been to the final four in four of the last six seasons. Twice with San Jose and twice with Vegas. He's at the very top of the coaching pinnacle.
Marc-Andre Fleury outdueled fellow Vezina Trophy finalist Philipp Grubauer in this series. When Vegas needed a big save or for Fleury to shut the door late in games he did. And with three days off before Game 1 vs. the Canadiens he'll be fresh and in rhythm to begin the next round.
Nic Roy is better than the rest of the NHL knows. He was excellent against the Avs and logged big minutes, took key draws and chipped in with some offense. His line, with wingers Janmark and Alex Tuch could prove to be the X-factor for the Golden Knights as the playoffs move forward. Size, speed and a huge competitive motor makes them different and special.
Will Carrier's goal in Game 6 had to be a favorite in the Golden Knights dressing room. Carrier had an excellent series. He used his speed and cunning to get on top of the Avalanche blueliners and by the end of the series they wanted nothing to do with him. He forced turnovers, wore people down and was a big piece in the overall success of the Golden Knights.
Max Pacioretty spent 10 seasons in Montreal and was team captain before being traded to Vegas in a swap which included Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki. Big storyline in this upcoming series.
Montreal media has flocked to Vegas over the team's four-year existence due to all the French Canadian players on the VGK roster. Fluery, Jonathan Marchessault, Roy and Carrier add up for a strong Franco contingent in the VGK dressing room. At one point, Vegas was considered the province of Quebec's second favorite team. Not sure if that still holds true and it certainly won't for the next couple of weeks.