Golden Knights advance to Western Conference Final
The Golden Knights didn’t just exorcise their Game 7 demons Friday.
They stepped on them, tossed them in a hole, threw dirt on top and walked away wiping their hands.
Robin Lehner notched his third shutout of the series, and the Knights killed off a five-minute penalty after famously failing in that position last season in a 3-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
The Knights advance to play the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final and open the best-of-seven series at 5 p.m. Sunday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
“Right off the bat we just knew it was our game,” left wing Jonathan Marchessault said. “We kept going no matter what adversity we were going to face. If it was killing penalties or a hot goalie, we just kept going and think positive in the locker room. It paid off.”
Defenseman Shea Theodore scored with 6:08 remaining to break the hex Vancouver backup goalie Thatcher Demko had over the Knights. Alex Tuch and Paul Stastny added empty-net goals.
The Knights are the first team in NHL history to reach the conference final at least twice in their first three seasons and the third franchise to win multiple series in two of its first three NHL seasons, joining the New York Rangers (1928 and 1929) and St. Louis Blues (1968, 1969 and 1970).
“What I’m proudest of is how our group stuck with it,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “You hit a hot goalie like that, a lot of times you can fall into the trap of cheating to try and push for offense. Our belief system in what we were doing and sticking with it, sticking with it. It took us 55 or 54 minutes tonight to finally get one, that’s the thing I’m proudest of.”
The Knights’ penalty kill went 4-for-4 and held Vancouver to one shot on goal during a five-minute power play after forward Ryan Reaves was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Canucks forward Tyler Motte with 3:30 remaining in the second period.
Last season in Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, the Knights allowed four goals to San Jose after Cody Eakin was given a five-minute major penalty and went on to lose in overtime.
“Yeah, you got to think it crossed our mind a little bit,” Marchessault said. “After talking to (Reaves) after the game, he was a little nervous.”
Lehner, who lost Games 5 and 6, got the start in the second game of the back to back in a decision that could signal the end of Marc-Andre Fleury’s time with the Knights.
Lehner finished with 14 saves in his first career Game 7, including a spectacular glove stop on Brock Boeser during a two-on-one in the second period.
“They have a lot of good shooters,” Lehner said. “I tried to be aggressive. He got it across. Big man can move when he wants to.”
Demko was brilliant for the third straight game before Theodore, who clinched the Pacific Division title for the Knights with back-to-back game-winning goals before the pause, beat the rookie five seconds into a power play.
The Knights called timeout after J.T. Miller was called for hooking, and Theodore sent a wrist shot through traffic for his sixth goal of the postseason, tops in the NHL among defensemen.
“I thought we did a lot better of a job getting to the net tonight. Getting rebounds,” Theodore said. “There was a lot of loose pucks around there that we just couldn’t find a way to get in. To finally break that tie, that’s huge and it’s a big one for our group.”
Demko had a shutout streak of 138:40 and made 98 consecutive saves before Theodore’s goal. He stopped 123 of the 125 shots he faced in the series after taking over for injured Jacob Markstrom before Game 5.
Demko made saves doing snow angels in the second period and kicked out Marchessault’s rebound in the third period.
“You’ve got to give some credit to their goalie. He came in and played unbelievable,” Lehner said.
The Knights played their fifth game in the past seven days and threw a different look at Vancouver after enduring an untimely scoring drought.
Center Tomas Nosek was inserted into the lineup on the fourth line, and forward Nick Cousins was scratched. DeBoer also changed up his forward lines, and the Knights responded by controlling the first period.
The Knights finished with a 27-6 advantage in shot attempts in the first 20 minutes, but had nothing to show for their effort as Vancouver sacrificed offense to clog the middle and protect Demko.
“We didn’t have any passengers tonight,” DeBoer said. “We had 20 committed guys out there making sure we advanced.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
