3 takeaways from Golden Knights’ Game 7 win vs. Canucks

The Golden Knights made a franchise-altering decision when they hired Pete DeBoer as their second coach Jan. 15.

On Friday, after Game 7 against the Vancouver Canucks, they had to feel pretty good about their choice.

DeBoer’s fingerprints were all over a 3-0 win Friday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, that put the Knights into the Western Conference Final for the second time in three years. The coach pulled enough strings and made enough changes to get his team past a pesky opponent and its outstanding rookie goaltender, Thatcher Demko.

DeBoer improved to 5-0 in his career in Game 7s.

“Pete’s done a good job of figuring out roles for everyone, and everyone’s involved,” center Paul Stastny said before Game 2 of the series. “Ever since Pete came in, we changed a few things. … When you watch video and when you see it works out, you start believing in it. We find different ways to win. I think that’s the biggest thing.”

The Knights’ path to winning Game 7 had a lot of influence from DeBoer.

It started with his decision to start Robin Lehner, even though the goaltender had lost two straight games, including Game 6 Thursday. Lehner rewarded DeBoer’s trust with his third shutout of the series.

DeBoer also shuffled his forward lines after the Knights scored one goal on 91 shots against Demko in Games 5 and 6. All four lines finished with a positive shot attempts percentage.

DeBoer’s largest impacts came on the penalty kill and the decisive goal, however. He made the PK a major emphasis when he took over and inverted how the Knights played on the fly. They went from a passive defense in-zone to an active one that pursued the puck.

It resulted in a lot of early growing pains, but the penalty kill was fantastic in the series. The Knights finished 24 of 27 against a Vancouver team that had the fourth-best power play in the regular season. They were 4-for-4 in Game 7.

“We’re just aggressive,” Stastny said. “We just kept (our shifts) short every time we were out there. We didn’t overextend it.”

After the penalty kill worked to keep the score tied, DeBoer helped set up the power-play goal that won the game. He took a timeout after left wing Jonathan Marchessault drew a hook from Canucks left wing J.T. Miller.

DeBoer called time to give William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Mark Stone and Shea Theodore — four members of his top power-play unit who were on the ice for the penalty — a breather. But it also gave the Knights time to talk.

“We had a couple things in mind that we wanted to try,” Theodore said.

They had time to try one thing, and it worked. Theodore scored the series-winning goal five seconds into the power play. And DeBoer did just enough to reach the Western Conference Final for the second straight year after taking the San Jose Sharks last season.

He improved to 57-42 in the postseason. He has the second-best playoff winning percentage (.576) among active coaches behind Vancouver’s Travis Green (.588).

DeBoer is one series victory from taking his third team to the Stanley Cup Final in his first year as coach. He needs to beat the Dallas Stars to do it. But on Friday night, he wasn’t getting ready for that challenge just yet.

“I need a drink after the last three games before I think about Dallas,” DeBoer said.

Hard to say he hasn’t earned it.

Here are three more takeaways from the win:

1. McNabb, Whitecloud earn kudos

Defensemen Brayden McNabb and Zach Whitecloud did most of the heavy lifting as the Knights’ penalty kill tried to keep the Cancuks at bay.

Whitecloud logged 7:25 of short-handed ice time. McNabb was right behind him at 7:17. No one else on the team played more than 4:28 short-handed.

The two played a huge part in holding the Canucks to two power-play shots.

“I really thought those two were the players of the game,” Theodore said. “We had a lot of kills.”

2. Theodore shines again

Theodore’s goal made him the Knights’ leading scorer in the postseason with 16 points in 15 games.

He leads all defensemen with six goals and is tied for second in points with Vancouver rookie Quinn Hughes.

“What do you say?” DeBoer said. “He’s turning into, I think (Stone) said it best, a Norris-caliber defenseman right before our eyes. He’s going to be in that conversation for a long time.”

3. Quiet nights

The Knights advanced by silencing Vancouver’s top players.

Hughes, who had five points in the previous three games, had zero shots on goal. Miller, center Elias Pettersson and right wing Tyler Toffoli didn’t have one, either. Center Bo Horvat, who leads all skaters with 10 goals in the postseason, had one.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.