First conference final for Golden Knights, Jets among key storylines

The Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets are getting ready to make more history, with Game 1 of the Western Conference Final at Bell MTS Place on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).

RELATED: [Complete Jets vs. Golden Knights series coverage]
The Golden Knights got this far by sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and defeating the San Jose Sharks in six games in the second round. The Jets are here after winning Game 7 on the road against the Nashville Predators on Thursday. They defeated the Minnesota Wild in five games in the first round.
Here are three storylines to follow going into the Western Conference Final:

Welcome to the party

The Western Conference Final represents the first time in NHL history two teams will play each other after winning their first two series in the opening two rounds.
The Golden Knights are the third team to win at least two playoff rounds in their inaugural season.
The Toronto Arenas won two rounds to win the Stanley Cup in 1918, the NHL's inaugural season, when the League finished with three teams. The St. Louis Blues did it in 1968 playing against other expansion teams because the NHL doubled in size from six to 12 and created an all-expansion division, guaranteeing one of those teams to win at least two rounds.
Vegas has a chance to become the first team in NHL history to win three playoff rounds in its inaugural season.
"I don't think we ever approached them as an expansion team, and certainly not now," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "It's unique because, yeah, it's the first year of this team, but it's not like these are all new players in the NHL. These are all established players. Coming into the playoffs, that team had quite a bit more playoff experience than our team."

Wheeler is right about that. The Golden Knights' players had 480 games of NHL playoff experience entering the playoffs; the Jets players had 264 games.
Part of that is because the Vegas players came from other teams whereas Winnipeg, with 15 homegrown players, had been to the playoffs once in the previous six seasons since relocating from Atlanta to Winnipeg. The Jets were swept in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks in 2015.
The original Jets, who played in the NHL from 1979-96 before relocating as the Arizona Coyotes, got to the second round of the playoffs twice (1985 and 1987) but were swept by the Edmonton Oilers each time.
"We're just so happy to allow our fan base to have a celebration," Wheeler said.

Fleury chasing personal three-peat

His former teammates can now watch Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury continue to push in his quest for the three-peat.
Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup champion, won the trophy the past two seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was primarily the backup to Matt Murray in 2016 and split time as the starter (first two rounds) and the backup (last two rounds) last season.
Fleury has become the backbone of the Golden Knights and has arguably been the best player in the NHL through two rounds this postseason.
He is 8-2 with four shutouts, a 1.53 goals-against average and .951 save percentage. Fleury leads the playoffs in shutouts, and his GAA and save percentage are first among goalies who have played at least 200 minutes.

Fleury is having his best postseason since 2008, when he helped the Penguins reach the Stanley Cup Final, which they lost in six games to the Detroit Red Wings. He was 14-6 in those playoffs with three shutouts, a 1.97 GAA and .933 save percentage.
He is four wins from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the fifth time. He was the Penguins' No. 1 when they won the Cup in 2009.
"We've got an unbelievable goalie in there," Vegas forward James Neal said. "And an unbelievable guy."
The Penguins' bid for the three-peat ended with a loss to the Washington Capitals in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round.

Scheifele on the mark

Jets center Mark Scheifele is coming off a historic performance in the second round against the Predators and has a chance to make even more history in the conference final.
Scheifele set an NHL record for goals on the road in a playoff series with seven in the four games at Nashville , including two in Game 7 on Thursday. He has 16 points, including a League-high 11 goals, in 12 games this postseason.
The NHL postseason record for goals scored is 19, set by Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975 and matched by Jari Kurri of the Oilers in 1985. Nobody has scored more than 15 goals in a postseason since Joe Sakic scored 18 for the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.

Scheifele already has as many goals as anyone in seven of the 20 postseasons since Sakic's 18, which helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup 22 years ago.
We knew Scheifele was an elite player during the regular season; he has 142 points (55 goals, 87 assists) in 139 games over the past two seasons, seventh in the NHL in points per game (1.02) among players who have played at least 100 games.
His emergence as a dominant playoff performer is one of the biggest reasons the Jets got past the Predators and into the conference final.