Series preview: Golden Knights present 'whole new challenge' for Stars

I like the Vegas Golden Knights. I like how they have built their team. I like how they have tweaked the roster. I like how they react to challenges. I think they might be the most complete team in the NHL with two solid goalies, a talented group of defensemen, and maybe the most balanced forward group in the league.
I'm not alone.

"They're big, they're heavy, they're experienced, they're fast," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "This is a whole new challenge for us. The challenge is that this is a very deep team and this is a very experienced heavy team, and they're going to come at us and we understand that. It's going to be which team can forecheck the best, which team can hem the other team in their own zone; spend as little time in your zone as possible."
The Golden Knights are an incredible story. They had their expansion draft in 2017 and put together a roster that ended up going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018. It was a miraculous start built on some very smart decisions by management.
Vegas was able to get several great players through a complicate expansion draft process, including goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, defensemen Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and Nate Schmidt and forwards William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith and Alex Tuch, among several others. It then acquired Mark Stone, Paul Stastny, Max Pacioretty, Ryan Reaves, Alec Martinez and Robin Lehner - making a good team even better.
Mix in the fact the team made the controversial decision to fire Gerard Gallant mid-season and hire Pete DeBoer, and it's clear the Golden Knights are driven to win it all.

Vegas also added Lehner at the trade deadline, and that move is proving to be pretty valuable. Lehner was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy last season, but couldn't come to a long-term deal with the Islanders. He signed a one-year contract with Chicago, and the Blackhawks decided to move Lehner because they were in 12th place at the trade deadline.
Lehner has played 12 of the team's 15 playoff games and is 8-4 with a 1.99 GAA and .918 save percentage. Fleury, meanwhile, has been the team's No. 1 goalie for the past three seasons and has played in 145 playoff games, so he can step in at a moment's notice if Lehner stumbles.
Up front, the Golden Knights have four players with 20 goals or more in Pacioretty (32), Smith (27), Marchessault (22) and Stone (21). They have had balanced scoring in the playoffs, as well with Alex Tuch leading the way with eight goals.
On defense, Shea Theodore leads the team in scoring. Not unlike the Stars with Miro Heiskanen, much of the Vegas game plan goes through Theodore. He has six goals and 10 assists to lead the Golden Knights in playoff scoring.
Maybe the most impressive stat for Vegas is the fact they have outshot opponents by an average of 12.4 shots on goal per game. Vegas is allowing just 24.7 shots against per game while pumping 37.1 at the opposition net.

Can the Stars survive that kind of time in the defensive zone? Well, that's not part of the game plan. Dallas has helped create offense by having their defensemen join the play. Dallas has 45 points from defensemen in the playoffs, most in the NHL. They are one point shy of tying the franchise record for most points by defensemen in a single playoff season - 46, set in 1999.
The Stars have raised their scoring average from 2.58 during the regular season to 3.31 during the playoffs.
"When you looked at Dallas during the season, you kind of scratched your head why they weren't creating offense with the personnel they had. It didn't make a lot of sense," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "The fact they've put that together here, since we've come back, that's not a surprise to me. They've got a lot of skill both on the back end and up front. Real good power play. They're firing on all cylinders. It's going to be a great test."
And the Stars would expect nothing less in the conference finals.
"I just think we have shown resiliency and professionalism," said Bowness. "It really is one day at a time, stay in the moment, whatever cliché you want to use. I know people sometimes get tired of hearing that, but it works. You can't worry about yesterday, you can't worry about tomorrow, you have to focus on today.
"That's what we've been doing."

Western Conference Final: Stars vs. Golden Knights

Sunday, 7 p.m. CT
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton
TV: NBC, Ch. 5
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.