Golden Knights seek to 'get over the hump' in Game 6 against Stars

LAS VEGAS --The Vegas Golden Knights have made the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs four times in six seasons since joining the NHL as an expansion team. That's incredible.

But here's the problem: After making the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season of 2017-18, they failed to advance to the Cup Final the next two times they had the chance.

And now they've let a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference Final slip to 3-2, with Game 6 of the best-of-7 series against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Monday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"There's a group here that's been through this," coach Bruce Cassidy said Sunday before the Golden Knights left for Dallas. "They've been to this stage, and if we want to get to the next stage, we've got to get over the hump."

RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Stars series coverage]

Six Vegas players have been part of all four runs to the third round: forwards William Carrier, William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith and defensemen Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore.

Eight other Vegas players have been part of the past two or three runs to the third round: forwards Keegan Kolesar (two), Nicolas Roy (three), Chandler Stephenson (three) and Mark Stone (three), and defensemen Nicolas Hague (two), Alec Martinez (three), Alex Pietrangelo (two) and Zach Whitecloud (three).

"It is a little bit internal here where the guys have to draw on their experience," Cassidy said. "They want to use it when they need it, and they need it now with the guys to reset here.

"Today's a travel day, but we do have to understand that we can't keep playing the way we have the last two games and expect [the Stars] to go away. They're even hungrier now, probably. They're feeling more confident.

"We still have a series lead. We can't overlook that. But at the end of the day, that's where [the players have] got to sort of internally … I've said it before: Sometimes you have to push one another in the group, and it's not always comfortable, so that's where we're at now."

The Golden Knights shocked the hockey world in 2018. After losing Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, they won four straight against the Winnipeg Jets to make the Cup Final. They went on to lose to the Washington Capitals in five games.

That raised expectations, and they've been trying to get back to the Cup Final ever since.

The Golden Knights played the Stars in the Western Conference Final in 2020, when they spent the playoffs in a bubble without fans in Edmonton due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After tying the series 1-1 with a win in Game 2, they lost three in a row.

They played the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Semifinals in 2021, with the League realigned temporarily due to effects of the pandemic. After tying the series 2-2 with a win in Game 4, they lost Games 5 and 6.

This time, the Golden Knights took a 3-0 lead, then lost Games 4 and 5 even though the Stars didn't have forwards Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov. Benn served a two-game suspension for cross-checking Stone in Game 2. Dadonov has a lower-body injury. In each game, they blew leads of 1-0 and 2-1.

Vegas had 24 giveaways and allowed many Grade A scoring chances in a 4-2 loss in Game 5 on Saturday, thanks largely to an aggressive Dallas forecheck.

"You learn from your experience," Smith said Sunday. "Obviously, when you have a team down, you really have to have the killer instinct and make sure that you're making things difficult on them.

"I think the last two games, we haven't done that. We've given up free chances. So let's be on board next game to get back to the style of play that's made us so successful in these playoffs, really limiting teams to shots to the outside and not giving them second chances."

Based on the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Golden Knights are still in a good spot. Out of the 205 previous teams to take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-7 series, only four lost the series.

The 1942 Detroit Red Wings lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Final, the 1975 Pittsburgh Penguins to the New York Islanders in the Quarterfinals, the 2010 Bruins to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and the 2014 San Jose Sharks to the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference First Round.

No team has ever blown a 3-0 series lead and lost in the conference final or its equivalent.

But note that two of the four comebacks from a 3-0 deficit have come since the salary cap was introduced for the 2005-06 season, ushering in an era of parity. The odds of such comebacks have increased.

The Golden Knights best be wary. They don't want risk a Game 7 at T-Mobile Arena back here on Wednesday.

"I think it's easier to play in a series when you're up three games to nothing, and we don't have that fortune right now," Smith said, "so you have to make sure that this next game is a must-win game for us."