LAS VEGAS — With a surprising run to the Pacific Division title Saints Tre'Quan Smith Jersey , the expansion Vegas Golden Knights were the feel-good story of the regular season in the National Hockey League.
Now the question is can they continue their storybook season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? The Golden Knights (51-24-7) host the Los Angeles Kings (45-29-8) in the first game of their best-of-seven first round series on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas will be playing a veteran Kings squad that has held up the hardware twice over the last seven seasons. But the Golden Knights have a goalie in Marc-Andre Fleury (29-13-4, 2.24 goals against average) who was a key performer on three Stanley Cup champions in Pittsburgh, including each of the last two seasons, and have other veterans like forward James Neal who made it to the finals last year with Nashville.
Both will be counted on to provide the kind of leadership that will be necessary to advance in the playoffs.
“It’s more intense,” Fleury said of playoff hockey. “Every little play matters. Every win matters. I think it makes the stakes higher. … It’s fun hockey. Fun to watch.”
“Real excited,” Neal, who had 25 goals, said. “We’ve worked all year to put ourselves in this position, especially with home ice advantage. I think this city and this rink is going to be pretty crazy.”
Vegas finished 29-10-2 at home, where it sold out every contest. But it will be playing a Los Angeles team that split the season series and won both ends of a key back-to-back against the Golden Knights in late February, winning 3-2 in overtime at the Staples Center on a Dustin Brown power-play goal after Anze Kopitar tied it with 10.8 seconds remaining http://www.redskinsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-pernell-mcphee-jersey , and then coming back the next night at T-Mobile Arena for a convincing 4-1 victory.
“I don’t even remember that,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty told reporters. “That’s a long time ago already. I know we’re not thinking about those two games. We’re just thinking about the opportunity in front of us, and I know they’re not thinking about it either. Really has no impact on this series. It’s a whole new series.”
The Golden Knights, who finished fifth in the NHL in scoring with an average of 3.3 goals per game, have five players with 20 or more goals, led by center William Karlsson’s 43, and will be playing a physical, hard-checking Kings’ team that ranked No. 1 in goals against (2.46) and penalty kill (85.0 percent) and has a goalie in Jonathan Quick (33-28-3, 2.40 GAA) who also has been the backbone of two Stanley Cup champions.
“It’s about playing fast,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant, who has rotated four lines all season Vikings Elite Jerseys , said. “We’ve talked about that all year long. When you play fast and you forecheck well, you’re going to get turnovers. People turn over the puck. … You have to force them to turn over the puck. If you give good players time to make plays, they’re going to make them. When we play fast and we play quick, we’re a good team and we get a lot of turnovers.”
“They’ve been probably the fastest team all year, and teams have had a hard time handling that speed,” Brown, who has 28 goals, said. “We’ve got to find a way to limit their speed game. I think a lot of it comes from turnovers. They’re really quick in transition.”
Another big key: just how much do the Golden Knights have left in the tank after their emotional roller-coaster ride of a season? Vegas, which was an eye-popping 27-9-2 on Jan. 2, sputtered down the stretch, going just 10-8-3 including an 8-3 home loss to New Jersey and also a 7-1 season-ending clunker at Calgary http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-rashaad-penny-jersey , a game that Fleury was pulled from after stopping just 12 of the 18 shots he faced.
Doughty believes it comes down to “all the little things” to winning in the playoffs.
“Blocking shots, throwing pucks at the net,” Doughty said. “(There are) a lot of crappy goals that go in during the playoffs. That’s just how it is.”
— Linebacker Thomas Davis wants to play for the Panthers beyond this season — if the team will have him back.
The 35-year-old Davis, who is entering his 14th season with Carolina, will be an unrestricted free after this season.
“If the team is willing to have me back, I will be back,” Davis said Monday following training camp practice at Wofford College.
Davis, the Panthers’ all-time leading tackler, will begin the season serving a four-game NFL-imposed suspension after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance — a blemish on an otherwise stellar NFL career that has included returning from three torn ACLs in the same knee to earn All-Pro in 2015, three Pro Bowls selections (2015-17) and the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
He doesn’t want to end his career serving a suspension during his final season.
“I just look at the way things transpired this offseason and I think back to my legacy and the things I have been able to do as a football player and I don’t want to leave on a sour note,” Davis said. “You never want to walk away from the game knowing you served a four-game suspension. That is really my mindset right now. So as long as I am able to continue to play football I will do that.”
With Davis sitting out the first four games Robert Griffin III Jersey Ravens , Shaq Thompson will fill Davis’ spot at weak side linebacker and David Mayo is expected to start at strong side linebacker. It’s unclear at this point if Davis would be in the starting lineup when he returns.
Davis is allowed to participate in all practices and preseason games, but must step away from the team altogether on Sept. 3. He plans to spend that time staying in shape and watching his sons play youth football.
He also has “a couple of offers” to do some other things during the first four weeks of the season, but would not elaborate on whether those opportunities television-related.
Davis has been a productive player for the Panthers despite suffering the three knee injuries in consecutive seasons — 2009, 2010 and 2011 — which limited him to nine games and threatened to end his career.
But he persevered and followed that up with five straight 100-tackle seasons and three Pro Bowls.
However, his numbers dropped off last year. Davis registered 76 tackles, 2 ½ sacks and no interceptions as Thompson took on a bigger role in the defense.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera did not address Davis’ future beyond this season, saying only “Thomas has been a great player for us. And I look forward to Thomas playing for us.”
Panthers general manager Marty Hurney was not immediately available for comment.
With his future beyond this season up in the air, Davis said he is enjoying every moment of training camp despite the sweltering heat.
“I come out and embrace it every day, talking trash at a high level every day to Cam (Newton) daily and just coming out and competing and having fun with my teammates,” Davis said.
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