Golden Knights will play Blackhawks in Western Conference First Round

The Vegas Golden Knights will play the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Vegas won its three games in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to earn the No. 1 seed in the West. Chicago eliminated the Edmonton Oilers in a best-of-5 qualifier series and will be the No. 8 seed.

Game 1 is Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS).

"They're a good team," Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said of the Blackhawks. "I watched most of their games in the play-in round. They're fast, they've got the skill, they've got the goaltending, they got everything, so it's going to be a good matchup."

Mark Stone led the Golden Knights with five points (two goals, three assists), Alex Tuch scored three goals, and Theodore scored four points (two goals, two assists) in the round-robin. Marc-Andre Fleury was 1-0-0 with a 4.00 goals-against average and .765 save percentage; Robin Lehner was 2-0-0 with a 2.88 GAA and .903 save percentage.

"All I know is, it's going to be fun playing them," said Lehner, who was traded by Chicago to Vegas on Feb. 24. "They're a very good hockey team and I have a lot of respect for them. ... I think we'll do well against them."

Jonathan Toews led the Blackhawks with seven points (four goals, three assists), and Patrick Kane scored six points (three goals, three assists) in the Qualifiers, which Chicago entered as the No. 12 seed. Four other Blackhawks scored four points. Corey Crawford started each game and was 3-1-0 with a 3.75 GAA and .891 save percentage.

"For playing against Vegas, it's definitely different," Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy said. "They seem to use all four lines more than Edmonton did and obviously Edmonton had their top two or three forwards who carried the offense and played a lot of minutes. It'll be different defending against that team game, that simple pressure and speed that they have, getting to the net and playing that playoff-style game."

Vegas defeated Colorado 4-3 in overtime on Saturday to determine the top two Western seeds.

The Golden Knights won two of three games against the Blackhawks this season, including once in a shootout. William Karlsson scored three points (two goals, one assist), and seven Vegas players each scored two points. Fleury was 2-1-0 with a 2.29 goals-against average and .920 save percentage.

Dylan Strome led the Blackhawks with four points (one goal, three assists) against the Golden Knights, and Kirby Dach (two goals, one assist) and Kane (one goal, two assists) each scored three points. Crawford was 1-1-0 with a 4.01 GAA and .899 save percentage.

Vegas and Chicago have never met in the playoffs.

"Yeah, I think they're a good team, deep up front," Dach said about the Golden Knights. "They have good defense, good goaltending, they play the game fast. They're a smart, disciplined team and we're going to have to keep elevating our game to compete and hopefully win the series. We have a long way to go and it's going to be a battle. We have to be ready each and every night, because we know they're going to bring it."

The Golden Knights qualified for the playoffs for a third straight season since joining the NHL; the Blackhawks are in the postseason for the first time since 2017. The best-of-7 series will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the Western Conference.

NHL.com independent correspondent Rick Sadowski contributed to this report