Lawless: Time to Respond

From the outdoor rink to the NHL it's the same thing. What is the response? Competition, at any level, is about response. How does a team or a player respond to what is being done to them.

The Edmonton Oilers have shown their ability to respond in this best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series. They lost Game 1 then came back with a superior effort and performance to capture Game 2 with a 5-1 beatdown of the Vegas Golden Knights.

And so, the biggest question regarding this series as it packs up and heads north to Edmonton is what are the Golden Knights willing and capable of doing about it?

"It's not the first time we've done this. We did it against Winnipeg just a week ago. So there's a little bit of that in us where we need to be pushed a little bit maybe punched in the face sometimes," VGK head coach Bruce Cassidy said Sunday morning. "And then someone has to drag us into the fight at times, not all the time but at times. That's what we're trying to build out of this group where we just get into the fight right away. And that's a little bit of, you know, what we are.

Can they? Will they? That's why we'll watch Game 3. Game 2, so far as we know right now, wasn't a trend. The series is tied 1-1. There's no advantage to one team or another.

Another flop from Vegas, however, and those statements will no longer be accurate. Cassidy, for one, thinks his team will be fine.

"We've had to deal with it. And it's to me, it's, you know, as I've learned this year, it's a response now, okay. How do we get out of that mode quicker, faster, hopefully in-game but definitely by the next game," he said. "So that's a challenge we have as a staff, and that's the challenge that's in front of our guys now. And typically they've handled it well. So I'll say that about our team. It's not a one off in terms of this happening to us. That's why we had a good regular season because typically we will get a response from our guys. It happens and you've got to be able to deal with it early and respond to it. We'll keep addressing it but now it's our turn to push back."

Edmonton is elite. They have the two best offensive players in the world. The Oilers power play is something we haven't seen in a long time in hockey in terms of creativity, confidence, skill and execution. And in Game 2 they proved wrong any doubters who would question their ability to defend.

They'll be out to replicate their last performance. It's a winning formula.

Was Game 2 about Edmonton being the better team? Or was it about Vegas not playing its own game? Was it 50-50 between these two concepts? 60-40? 90-10? No one can decode that riddle just yet. That's why it's a best-of-seven and not a best-of-one.

From a Vegas perspective, they did everything a team can't do if it intends to beat Edmonton. They lost races and battles and took penalties. Game over.

Series over? Far from it.

In fact, it's just getting interesting.