LAS VEGAS — Sometimes a small moment within a game can reveal a lot about the identity of a team, a line or even an individual player.
One of those moments happened just before the start of the third period of Game 4 on Saturday evening in St. Paul, Minn. It was just before the referee readied to drop the puck to begin the final frame, with the public address announcer at Xcel Energy Center screaming at the top of his lungs to conjure a deafening roar from the sold-out crowd.
Right at the center of all of that chaos, a group of Golden Knights players calmly discussed their assignments in front of the Vegas bench. Jack Eichel and William Karlsson pointed and directed, ensuring they were clear on their assignments as they prepared to play together for essentially the first time at even strength. Reilly Smith chimed in to make sure he was on the same page, as did defenseman Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore.
It was all very studious and intentional, and yet done so casually. The situation, and how the players handled it in the period that followed, showed off two of the Golden Knights’ strongest attributes: Poise and intelligence.
“I certainly trust them to be able to adjust,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I’ve said many times, it’s a high hockey-IQ bunch.”
The players figured it out, coming from behind to force overtime, where Vegas won 4-3 to pull into a 2-2 series tie with Minnesota. It was the Golden Knights’ 10th third-period comeback win in the playoffs, trailing only Colorado (11) for the most since Vegas entered the league in 2017-18.
The Golden Knights have done a lot of winning during that span. They have a championship in 2023, two trips to the Stanley Cup Final and four trips to the Western Conference final. They’ve won with high-scoring teams. They’ve won with defensive-minded teams. They’ve won with dominant five-on-five hockey combined with less-than-stellar special teams. They’ve won with a dominant power play.
The one thing that hasn’t really changed is that Vegas has an experienced group that is consistently one of the smartest teams in the league, and finds ways to win.
“We have smart players on this team,” Jack Eichel said Monday. “Guys are easy to play with. You can shuffle the lines up when need be and you can get a good result. Sometimes that’s what happens. You need to shuffle things up and suddenly you catch a spark.”
Cassidy threw the Golden Knights’ forward lines in a blender midway through Game 4 on Saturday. The team was struggling to generate offense at even strength and was staring at the possibility of a 3-1 series deficit.
Cassidy leaned on his players’ ability to adapt. He put two of his top centers – Eichel and Karlsson – on the same line together for the first time, and trusted them.
“You go to Karly and Jack and say, ‘Listen you guys. You’re both smart. Figure it out,” Cassidy recalled. “Pavel (Dorofeyev) is on the right. I’m going to free you guys up. … Just play hockey.’”
Eichel and Karlsson are both natural centermen, having rarely played on the wing in their careers. They had shared less than five minutes of even-strength ice time together this season. In a crucial moment, when they were thrown together, they calmly talked over each of their responsibilities — with and without the puck — and got the job done.
“You just kind of read off each other,” Eichel said. “Karlsson is such a great player. He’s easy to play with, and obviously we know what Pavel brings in his ability to score, shoot the puck and make plays. We’re just using our speed, trying to attack when we have the opportunity and reading off each other.”
With this first-round series now becoming a best-of-three, the Golden Knights will lean on their experience and wisdom to close it out.
“As a group we’ve been in these situations before,” Theodore said before the series began. “I think it’s kind of a culture that you build over time. You look at some teams that are in rebuilds and have young guys, and they’re obviously great players who can put up a ton of points, but at the end of the day, you need guys who know how to win and have been there. We have a solid core that has gone all the way. Over time, experience takes over, and I think that sums up our group. We’ve been there. We enjoy the moment, but we obviously know how to take it over the top.”
There’s a lot of trust in the Vegas dressing room between the players and the coaches, a lot of which they believe was developed during their Cup run in 2023.
“We had a good playoff run. I mean it was a great playoff run the first year,” Cassidy said. “So it was a great way to build trust.”
Cassidy constantly lauds the intelligence of this group of players, and when newcomers enter the room (whether it be through trades or free agent signings), they always quickly point to the cohesion and overall hockey IQ of the room. It’s an unmeasurable trait that has no doubt played a factor in Vegas’ sustained success. It shows up more in the postseason, when the players can learn from their opponents and adjust accordingly.
The Golden Knights have yet to play their best hockey in this series, but they’ve scratched their way to a 2-2 draw while they find their game. They’ve had little success slowing down the Wild’s potent top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek, but believe the newly-formed duo of Eichel and Karlsson could be the answer.
“Let’s face it, their top line has done a lot of their damage,” Cassidy said. “If we need Jack and Karly on the same line against their top line, then that’s what we’ll do if we feel the need to do that.”
Eichel hasn’t been at his best, with only one assist in the first four games, but the Golden Knights trust that will change as well. While they hope to build off the momentum of their emotional overtime win in Game 4, they also know from experience not to count on that alone.
“You get some juice from that, there’s no doubt; it’s a big swing in the series,” Cassidy said. “After that, it’s back to work. Guys have been through some tight series here before. We know they’re going to be ready to go in Game 5. They’re not going to overthink Game 4 because it didn’t go their way, just like in Game 3 we didn’t panic.”
The Golden Knights’ projected Game 5 lineup has a combined total of 1,358 career playoff games, compared to Minnesota’s 777. That alone won’t win Vegas two of the next three games, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. They’ve been through these momentum-shifting games and dramatic swings, and are looking forward to those that lie ahead.
“You have one game in front of you, and you have to go out and do your best to win it,” Cassidy said. “If you don’t, you have to go out and win the next one.”
(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)