Chicago Blackhawks: Vegas Golden Knights will be a tough opponent
The Vegas Golden Knights are going to be a tough opponent for the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Chicago Blackhawks were so incredible in their play-in series against the Edmonton Oilers. They pulled off a major upset and got themselves into the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We knew that their opponent would be the winner of the round-robin game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche. Both of those teams are very good so it didn’t really matter that much because it is going to be a tough series either way.
The Vegas Golden Knights won a very tough game in overtime on a goal by Alex Tuch. This is a team that rolls four very good lines and plays solid defense while getting offense from all areas. One individual skater that deserves extra attention is forward Mark Stone. He is one of the best two-way forwards in the National Hockey League and can burn his opponent on every end of the ice.
They also have very good goaltending. They took Marc Andre Fleury from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the expansion draft back in 2017 and then this season they acquired former Blackhawks goaltender Robin Lehner. It is going to be interesting to see which guy they roll with because they are both elites. If one doesn’t have it in any specific game, Peter DeBoer will not hesitate to put the other guy in.
Vegas has been one of the league’s top teams in every year of its existence. They surprised everyone in their inaugural season when they dominated the regular season and went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. They haven’t missed the playoffs ever and have a lineup truly capable of getting the job done. There is no doubt that this series is going to be very tough.
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They are going to need Corey Crawford, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and all of the kids to be just as good in this series as they were against the Oilers. However, this Vegas team is built very differently than Edmonton. They are much more efficient in all three zones of the ice which is going to make it more difficult to create offense and potentially work in the neutral zone. They are way less likely to get in a chance-for-chance type of game. This is a great opportunity for the Blackhawks and it is nice to see them trying to take advantage of it.