Reaves could be spark Golden Knights need for Game 2 of West Final

Ryan Reaves could bring some missing elements back to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS), though Vegas needs to improve in a number of areas.

The Golden Knights looked lethargic in a 1-0 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 1 on Sunday while the fourth-line forward served a one-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Vancouver Canucks forward Tyler Motte in a 3-0 win in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round on Friday.
"I think everyone knows what Ryan Reaves brings," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said Monday. "He brings physicality, but he brings energy to our group too. He creates a certain amount of room for people on the ice. He's a big piece of our group.
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"It's not why we lost last night. I think it's an easy excuse. I think guys have to be better and guys have to jump in and get the job done, and we know that. But having him back, he's an important part of our team."
Energy was an issue for Vegas in Game 1. Defenseman John Klingberg scored on Dallas' first shot, at 2:36 of the first period, and the Stars led 23-12 in shots on goal through two periods. The Golden Knights struggled to exit their zone, turned the puck over in the neutral zone and failed to establish their forecheck.
The Golden Knights were playing their third game in four nights, after playing Games 6 and 7 of the second round on Thursday and Friday. The Stars also played Game 7 of the second round in the same building Friday, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 in overtime, but they had played Game 6 of that series Wednesday.
"You never like to use excuses," DeBoer said. "But we did play back to back on Thursday and Friday night, and it was three in four. And yes, they played a Game 7 too, but they didn't have a back-to-back situation. And sometimes that takes a little bit out of you, and it took us a little longer to get going.
"I know our guys would never use that as an excuse, and I'm not going to either. It might have been an excuse for the first 10 minutes of the game, but we should have worked into our game quicker than that, and we didn't get to it until the third period."
The Golden Knights outshot the Stars 13-2 in the third.

"The last 20 minutes we started to play a little bit better because we started to get our feet moving finally and we started getting close to each other to make some plays," defenseman Nate Schmidt said after the game.
The Golden Knights have been shut out twice in three games and have no goals from their forwards other than empty-netters in their past four. But Vegas outshot Vancouver 127-54 in the final three games of the second round and was stymied by goalie Thatcher Demko. Game 1 against the Stars was different.
"I think in Game 6 and 7 of the Vancouver series, I couldn't ask for any more out of our top players," DeBoer said Monday. "We hit a red-hot goalie. I think last night we needed more out of everybody."
The Stars are allowing 3.29 goals per game in the postseason, most among the remaining teams. The New York Islanders are allowing 1.94, the Golden Knights 2.25 and the Tampa Bay Lightning 2.31. But the Stars allowed 2.52 goals against per game during the regular season, second to the Boston Bruins (2.39).
"They pack it in," Vegas forward Mark Stone said. "They're a good defensive team. They block a lot of shots and they play as a five-man unit. So you've got to get two, three guys in on the forecheck and use your defense as a five-man unit. When you can kind of get them spread out, I think that'll help us offensively."
Another thing that would help is a greater presence in front of Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin.
"I think as a group we've just got to be committed to being in front of the net, making it a little more difficult, picking up some loose pucks," Stone said. "There's pucks around there that we can get to and bang in that we haven't been. We've just got to … refresh our minds a bit and get back to playing our way."
Reaves could set the tone. There is a reason DeBoer usually starts his fourth line.
"Ryan brings a lot to our team, a lot of energy, a lot of juice for us," Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb said. "Obviously he's physical, and they're a heavier team. So having him back in the lineup is going to be a huge bonus for us and a lot more energy coming from him. If you can get in on the forecheck, get some hits, it's big momentum for our team."