Golden Knights know from expertise Game 1 victory doesn’t guarantee win over Panthers

LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights had been flying excessive after Game 1 within the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, having simply crushed Washington and believing they had been en path to a miracle championship for the first-year franchise.

Then actuality hit in a giant approach, the Capitals profitable the subsequent 4 video games and celebrating on the Knights’ dwelling ice and in a while Las Vegas’ famed Strip after Game 5.

It’s a reminiscence that has caught with seven present Vegas gamers — the six unique Knights and Chandler Stephenson, who was on the Capitals on the time. That expertise could possibly be very important after the Knights opened this yr’s Stanley Cup Final with a 5-2 Game 1 victory on Saturday over the Florida Panthers.

“I think we’re a little bit more humble to the situation now,” stated Jonathan Marchessault, who additionally performed for Vegas in its first Cup Final. “We know that it doesn’t mean anything winning one game in one series. For us, the focus is on next game, and that’s how we’re going to approach every game.”

The Knights have the prospect Monday to ship a powerful message by taking a 2-0 collection lead, or the Panthers might present they’re not going wherever by pulling even to make it a best-of-five.

Florida additionally has people who’ve been on this spot earlier than, and gamers can look again to shedding the primary sport of the primary spherical in opposition to Boston for current expertise. Coach Paul Maurice has stayed even-keeled all through, and that didn’t change Sunday.

“Why do I got to be in a bad mood today just because we lost the game?” Maurice stated. “That also doesn’t do my team any bit of good, to be growling up here or sending messages. That’s not what that group needs from me.”

Perhaps what the Panthers want is a number of extra bounces and rather less truculence. They took 4 penalties within the first 50-plus minutes of the sport after which many extra, together with three misconducts, in a late scuffle.

“Staying out of the box is another thing of emphasis for us,” stated ahead Sam Reinhart, who was held off the scoresheet within the collection opener. “We got to play that line where we’re trying to play an aggressive game, an in-your-face game. And we’re trying to play on that line, for sure.”

Other groups have examined the Knights throughout the playoffs, and typically Vegas has responded in ways in which has damage its workforce. Other occasions, the Knights have chosen to not retaliate, an strategy they largely took in Game 1.

‘I think it’s extra about us simply protecting our self-discipline and taking part in between the whistles,” Cassidy stated. “I don’t think we get rattled by certain things. Obviously, our team has emotion and they will play with it. I think we’ve done a good job across the line for the most part in taking it out of our game when the other teams get to use that as an advantage.”

Cassidy is aware of what it’s like as a coach to win Game 1, overseeing the Boston Bruins workforce that took the preliminary lead within the 2019 Stanley Cup Final over St. Louis. The Blues, who had present Knights Alex Pietrangelo and Ivan Barbashev on that workforce, got here again to win in seven video games.

So Vegas’ locker room is full of those that perceive the significance of sustaining urgency in what might probably be an extended collection.

Shea Theodore talked earlier than dealing with the Panthers about how that 2018 workforce thought it was headed for the championship after that first victory over the Capitals. Perhaps with the frustration of that consequence nonetheless on his thoughts, when requested Sunday what the expertise confirmed him, Theodore stated his solely focus was on Game 2.