Friday Four: Golden Knights continue fairy-tale season

Each Friday throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Kevin Weekes will bring you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays, or trends that have caught his eye.

Vegas Golden Knights

Anyone that thinks Disney is only about Cinderella doesn't know Disney, nor the Golden Knights. Vegas swept the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference First Round and allowed a total of three goals in four games. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was at his best, as he often is during the playoffs, with two 1-0 shutouts. Vegas scored all of seven goals in four games but won each by one goal. The Golden Knights got goals from seven different players. That scoring depth is something that carried them all season and continued in the playoffs.
I think every expansion team and non-expansion team should sit down and talk to owner Bill Foley, general manager George McPhee and the staff and pick their brains as to how they built this roster and constructed this team.
Vegas will face another Pacific Division rival, the San Jose Sharks, in the second round. The Sharks scored 16 goals in their first-round sweep of the Anaheim Ducks, so this should be a good one.

San Jose Sharks

This Sharks team is deeper and faster than the one that made the Stanley Cup Final in 2016, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. Joe Pavelski has been the steady hand and has great chemistry with Evander Kane, who has been an excellent fit since being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in a trade Feb. 26.
Pavelski and Logan Couture each had five points in the four games and Kane, Tomas Hertl and Marcus Sorensen each scored three goals. Fifteen of the Sharks' 18 skaters had at least one point in the series.
Martin Jones allowed four goals on 128 shots (.970 save percentage) and looks like he did during the Cup run. San Jose is a really scary team right now, and they're doing it without injured center Joe Thornton, who could return soon. I'm really looking forward to the series against Vegas.

Washington Capitals-Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets won each of the first two games against the Capitals in overtime, and it looked like Washington was headed for another early exit from the playoffs. However, after two losses at home, Washington won Games 3 and 4 on the road to even the series at 2-2. Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov have led the way offensively and defenseman John Carlson has continued his regular-season success with seven points.
Forward Artemi Panarin (two goals, five assists) is exactly what the Blue Jackets needed. He has four points on the power play and gives them a legitimate scoring threat any time he is on the ice. Columbus also has one of the best defensive pairings in the League in Seth Jones and Zach Werenski. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen and the coaching staff have done a great job addressing their needs and fixing them.

Lastly, goalies Braden Holtby (Capitals) and Sergei Bobrovsky (Blue Jackets), who've each won the Vezina Trophy, have made some incredible saves and put on a good show. I'd expect that to continue for the duration of the series.

P.K. Subban

Plenty of people made excuses about Subban in Montreal. But guess what? He was named a Norris Trophy finalist Wednesday for the third time in his career (2013, 2015) doing it with his second team.
Subban, who was traded to the Nashville Predators on June 29, 2016, for defenseman Shea Weber, has been a great fit. The Predators have the best defensive corps in the NHL and the most productive offensively as well. Coach Peter Laviolette told me Subban "is a stud of a defenseman" and he isn't wrong.
Subban (16 goals, 43 assists during the regular season) has two assists in four games against the Colorado Avalanche but has played 25:28 and done a great job of limiting the Avalanche's offensive chances during the series.
HONORABLE MENTION
Goaltender Jonathan Quick was outstanding for the Kings against Vegas, but you can't win when your team doesn't score. Quick allowed seven goals on 124 shots (.947 save percentage), keeping Los Angeles in every game. He's a proven playoff performer, having helped the Kings win the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2012. This time, he just didn't get any help from his teammates.