The late Tom Petty said it best. The waiting is the hardest part.

For fans, players, coaches and management - the gap between Round 1 and Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs seems interminable and is tough to take.

But if a team can properly use the time off between rounds - it can press its advantage

In the case of the Vegas Golden Knights - their Round 2 opponent is also in between gigs. The San Jose Sharks wiped out the Anaheim Ducks in four straight just one day after the Golden Knights swept away the L.A. Kings.

So, both teams will be rested and ready when the NHL sets the schedule for the next round and the games begin sometime next week.

"It just feels like a long time. We're used to playing pretty much every day, so it's a little different. I guess it's good to get a little break," said Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. "It's good to be home a little bit. Rest the body. Got a little bit of time to watch some hockey on TV. But it's a lot of practice. It's okay, we've done it all season long. But the games are always fun. It's always lots of adrenaline. Loud buildings. Intense games. It's fun to be a part of it."

VEGAS (April 20, 2018) - Vegas Golden Knights Chief Marketing Officer Brian Killingsworth announced today that the Vegas Golden Knights have launched their own channel on Twitch, the popular online video platform for viewing and streaming digital broadcasts. Fans can follow the team by searching VGKTwitch or by visiting https://www.twitch.tv/vgktwitch

"We are always looking for unique, innovative ways to connect with our fans," said Vegas Golden Knights Chief Marketing Officer Brian Killingsworth. "VGKTwitch will be home to fun and engaging content that you will not be able to find anywhere else. Through the interactive features offered by the Twitch platform, our fans will not just be viewers of our shows, they will be a part of them."

William Karlsson has had a brilliant NHL season for which he is now being recognized.

Karlsson was announced as a finalist for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy along with Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers and Ryan O'Reilly of the Buffalo Sabres.

The Lady Byng Trophy is an annual award given to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the end of the regular season.

Karlsson scored 43 goals and 78 points this season while totaling just 12 minutes in penalties.

Offical Announcement Here

NEW YORK (April 20, 2018) - Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson  and Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly are the three finalists for the 2017-18 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability," the National Hockey League announced today.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted ballots for the Lady Byng Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 20, during the 2018 NHL Awards™ presented by Hulu at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

After two days away from the rink, Vegas Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant reconvened practice and began to prep his group for a second round series against the San Jose Sharks.

The series schedule has not yet been set by the NHL but it will begin in Vegas next week. Stay tuned to all official team social channels for schedule information.

Gallant put his team through a fast-paced skate before a crowd of 1,000 or so at City National Arena.

Fans broke into "Go Knights Go" chants throughout the session. Gallant used the same lines and defense pairings on Thursday as he did in Games 3 and 4 of the opening round. Vegas swept the Los Angeles Kings in four straight games and the Sharks did the same to the Anaheim Ducks.

VEGAS (April 19, 2018) - Vegas Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz announced today, April 19, the on-sale information for tickets to Vegas Golden Knights home games during their second-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks. The dates and times for the playoff games will be determined by the National Hockey League once the matchups for the second round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs are set.

Please note this information pertains to the second round. If the Golden Knights were to advance past the second round, a Western Conference Final ticket information brief would be distributed when appropriate.

Vegas Golden Knights full season members will receive detailed information on second-round playoff ticket pricing, additional second-round ticket purchase options and parking today (Thursday, April 19) via email from their Membership Services Account Executive.

Gerard Gallant's hockey team won 51 regular season games as well as the Pacific Division banner and is now enjoying the afterglow of sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. So don't expect Gallant to begin reinventing the wheel all of a sudden. His way works. It's also the only way he knows how to do things.

"Turk is Turk," he said earlier this season. "I've been doing it this way since I started coaching. It's the way we do things and it's the only way we know."

Gallant was asked about his emotional state right now and if satisfaction had begun to creep in after an unexpected regular season had now translated into similarly unexpected playoff success.

"The funny thing is, until you said that question, I was really excited after the game and I was really excited the next afternoon," said Gallant. "But it's forgotten now. It's in the past and now you're thinking about the San Jose Sharks. Yesterday, getting ready to watch that game I was thinking who our next opponent was going to be. San Jose or Anaheim? It wasn't even about enjoying winning that series against the LA Kings. There was nothing about that. That lasts for about 24 hours and then you move on."

Balance will meet balance in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs as the Vegas Golden Knights meet the San Jose Sharks.

Both teams have depth up front and on the blue line, have elite goaltending and are well coached. Both teams zipped through the opening round and will be rested and healthy when the puck drops to open the series.

Vegas would appear to have one edge and that's home ice advantage. Other than that, this is a very tight series.

Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and San Jose netminder Martin Jones were both brilliant in the opening round. The Sharks did generate more offense scoring 16 goals in their sweep of the Anaheim Ducks. Vegas put seven goals past the Los Angeles Kings en route to a four-game brooming.

The trade deadline addition of Evander Kane to the Sharks added speed and finish to their top line. On the back end, Brett Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic provide an elite one-two punch.

Vegas came up against the team with the lowest goals-against average in the first round and got balanced scoring from all over the lineup. Reilly Smith, James Neal and William Karlsson led the way offensively.

Following a 4-0 sweep of the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, players and coaches with the Vegas Golden Knights took Wednesday off.

The team made GM George McPhee available and here is the transcript from his availability.

Thoughts on the series…

I thought it was a very good series. Two teams that played with some real good structure. Very good defensively, and you have to be good defensively if you want to advance and get to the playoffs. I thought the games were really entertaining. They were low scoring, but very entertaining. There wasn't much of a difference between the clubs. Excellent goaltending.

Thoughts on the choice to choose Marc-Andre Fleury in the expansion draft…

We're happy with a lot of our decisions. As you know, we really worked hard at it. We wanted to be as good as we could be. We would see where that would take us. To get a player like that, that can play the way he plays and to provide the leadership that he brings was something that we had to have. As the great Jean Beliveau had said, leadership is number one and everything else is number two. He brings leadership.

Thoughts on the validation of making it to the playoffs…

I don't know. We're just trying to be as good as we can be. I don't know what kind of validation we need. We're just trying to be a good hockey club. We didn't know what to expect with the season or with the playoffs. Nobody knew we were going to win this series and it would be a four-game sweep, either way or go seven games. That's the beauty of the playoffs. You don't know. No one knows what exactly is going to happen. We think we're a pretty good club, but we'll keep trying to do what we're doing and see where it takes us. We haven't really looked at the season in its totality before it started, or the playoffs totality. It's 'what do we have to do to win the first period or the first game of the season' and go from there. That's what we're going in the playoffs. Whatever we have to do to win the first period or the first game in the first round and go from there. Here we are.

Marc-Andre Fleury is on a run. And it dates all the way back to last season's Stanley Cup playoffs.

Fleury was virtually unbeatable against the Los Angeles Kings as the Vegas Golden Knights swept their Pacific Division rivals.

"I give Fleury a lot of credit, he was unbelievable. But the other guy in the net was incredible, too. Fleury, to give up three goals in four games and play the way he played, he just shut the door and he looked solid the whole way through," said Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant. "He was huge for us and at key times. To me, LA put some pressure on us the last two nights. They had a lot of good chances to score, but he just shut the door. He was solid and he's our leader. 

But for close watchers of the 33-year-old Fleury, it was really just more of the same dating back to late last season.

Fleury was the subject of trade and expansion draft rumors for much of last season. Once it became clear he wouldn't be traded but would be exposed in the expansion draft, the afforded clarity allowed Fleury to focus on stopping pucks and rather than his hockey future.

The result was brilliant play. Fleury was relaxed and strong down the stretch post trade deadline last season. And in the playoffs he was brilliant winning two rounds for the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins while posting a .924 save percentage and a 9-6 record in 15 games started.