The same passion that pushes a team’s faithful to delirium when things are going well can also drive folks a little crazy when the score isn’t to their liking.
Fan is short for fanatic. A team’s tribe, if it’s worth its salt, is passionate.
Legendary play-by-play broadcaster Dennis Beyak used to tell Shane Hnidy and myself, “It’s the passion that pays us all,” when a fanbase was riled up about one thing or another.
So far, this first-round series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild is a reminder of what the playoffs are all about. And a look into why the Golden Knights are such a dangerous team at this time of year.
Vegas finished first in the Pacific Division and set high expectations. Minnesota dragged itself into the postseason as a wildcard team but got healthy just as the regular campaign came to a close. The gap between the Golden Knights and the Wild is a lot smaller than many perceived at the start of the tournament.
Minnesota victories in Games 2 and 3 put Vegas and its fanbase on notice. But inside the Golden Knights dressing room calm was the best descriptor.
Led by captain Mark Stone, this group of Golden Knights embodies the opening stanzas of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If.’
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too.”
Stone doesn’t do panic. He is the epitome of ‘don’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows,’ and his approach emanates throughout the Golden Knights dressing room.
Today, the sun came up as it always does and life at Camp VGK is looking pretty good. The home side is up 3-2 in this best-of-seven series heading to St. Paul for a potential close out game on Thursday night. Win and it’s off to the second round. Lose and it’s back to Vegas for a Game 7 at The Fortress.
This is why the Golden Knights grinded for points down the stretch. To win the Pacific Division and guarantee themselves home ice for at least the first two rounds.
Vegas is going to Minnesota to play Game 6. They’ll either fly back with a ticket punched to the second round or have a Game 7 in their own building on Saturday.
Hard things are hard. Winning a series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a hard thing.
Cassidy was asked on Wednesday morning what would his message be to his team prior to Game 6.
“Sometimes the expression is that it's the hardest one to win. But is it? I go back over the history. I'm going to go through our short history, and we have won some elimination games with big scores. To me, the message is, when a team is up against it, you've got to match the intensity early. You can't sit around and wait and say I've got another chance, or that sort of the thing. Now, all of a sudden, you put some doubt in their mind if you're coming to play and pushing to get to another level,” said Cassidy. “So that will be our message. We've got another level to get to here. We know that. We saw some of that in the first period and, second period. We’ve got to stay at that level. That would be my message. Put some doubt in their minds by being on your game early, not waiting to see what happens.
“They're going to have a push right away because they're up against the wall. Why don't we have the push first? Get the first push and go from there. Then get hungry knowing that, if you do get the lead, and that's what happened two years ago, then we put teams away by doing that. We were the better team early. That would be my message. You don't have to go by what the conventional saying is, the last one's the toughest. It might very well be. They're a scrappy, hardworking, no-nonsense team. They're coming at you. So, I suspect it will be, but we don't have to go in there with that mentality. Like, let's go get to another level. That would be my message.”
Cassidy was asked about the health of winger Pavel Dorofeyev who left Game 5 early. Cassidy said he was day-to-day.
After mixing his lines up in Game 4 and getting a win and then using the same trios to win Game 5, Cassidy discussed the combination of Jack Eichel and William Karlsson.
“I think it went well for Jack [Eichel] and Karly [William Karlsson] if that's who we're speaking of,” said Cassidy. “We switched some guys later because Pavel [Dorofeyev] had to leave. So that's how we'll probably start. If he can't go, we'll think about who goes in the lineup and go from there, and how the lines shake out. I'm pretty comfortable with however it works out. Karly is a great centerman if we decide to put him back in the middle because it's a better matchup for us. I like their [Jack Eichel and William Karlsson] chemistry. We lean towards starting the same way, but again, some of it was matchup dictated. That's why we did it. You’ve got to do what you got to do, and I guess that's it. We'll do what we’ve got to do (Thursday) to see what gives us any competitive advantage or neutralizes certain players.”
Vegas forward Brett Howden continues his growth as a player. GM Kelly McCrimmon traded for Howden from the New York Rangers in 2021. The 27-year-old Howden had 23 goals in the regular season and now has three so far in this series including the OT winner in Game 5.
“He's had a great year for us, and he continues. He is a low-maintenance guy, gives everything he's got every night, move him around. Those guys are invaluable on your team, especially this time of year. We are lucky to have him. We worked with Brett two years ago; we started to see it then. He scores some huge goals,” said Cassidy. “He was a highly scouted guy coming out of junior. There's a skill package there. It's just an opportunity sometimes. He has gotten more and now he's taken advantage of that.”
Eichel had a quiet offensive start to the series but was dominant in Game 5 picking up a pair of primary assists.
“I think Jack would have played great no matter what. It's that time. You're in a 2-2 series. Things haven't gone your way, and he can elevate. He can get to another level, and he did, with his determination on the puck,” said Cassidy. “Is it always going to result in offense or great plays? Enough times it will if that's his mindset that he's going to get in the attack mode because he's a special player. You are going to see it throughout the league. When you get to a 2-2 series, there's a little more on the line. You saw it. We're seeing it everywhere. If a team's going to advance, usually the cream rises to the top. That's usually what happens. Whether they dominate or fill the score sheet, they tend to start playing better because that's why they've gotten where they are, because they're relied on. They know that. They know they can deliver. So good on Jack. I wasn't worried about him. I thought he was playing good hockey, and maybe things weren't going his way, and we change a few things around and give him a spark. To me, it's 100 percent on him. He just elevated, and good for him. You are starting to see it in a few other series, too, and that's the mark of the top guys.”
Veteran winger Tanner Pearson sat out the first three games of the series but has been in the lineup for back-to-back Vegas wins and set up Howden for the winner on Tuesday night.
“Past experience matters. It doesn't mean you're going to win a game because you've been there. However, there is something to draw on, and when I talked to (Pearson) before the series started, he said that the year they won when he was with the Kings, he didn't play the first two games. So he's been down this road. So that is where he can draw on that experience to say, ‘OK, I'm not in. Doesn't matter. When I do get in, I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity because that's playoff hockey.’ I think that was his mentality. The other day he didn't get as much of an opportunity, a little more rhythm this one, and hopefully Thursday is even more of a rhythm,” said Cassidy. “But it is an advantage if you use it here correctly. At the end of the day, it doesn't guarantee anything. New teams win every year that have been close and not so; once you've been there, there are certain things you can draw on. My message to them is a little bit of just because we won doesn't mean anything. There's no entitlement because of that. It's just something you can use to your advantage. You have to play the other team at the end of the day. That's all that matters, and he won his battle down low, made a good play.”
