The Las Vegas Golden Knights, your SP Season 27 Stanley Cup Champions.
They found a way to beat the hottest goalie during the SP Playoffs. The series was touted as a battle of defense. Two goalies at the top of their game and two solid defensive pairs. While the series ended 4-1 it was a lot closer than you would think at first glance. In late breaking news this past Sunday, it was announced that Ciulla would be unavailable for the first three games. A shock to many and what would initially be seen as a game changer, putting Vegas without their starting goalie for the start of the series. Yet as he has done throughout the playoffs, The Pickle Plisk stepped right into the spotlight and made timely saves to help Vegas jump out to a 2-1 series lead. Ironically enough, Plisk stepping in reminded me of Frank Pietrangelo stepping in for the Penguins in 1991 which lead to “The Save”. Just as that save went down in Penguin history, so will performance of Plisk in Season 27’s playoffs.
The opening game saw a chess match from both GMs. Jayscott posting his lines first, appeared to be setting up his top lines to play every game except for Game 1. Redconcept countered by using the same strategy, using all the players that play minimum games, in the opening game. The game started as you would expect, tight back and forth hockey. Westside making save after save, until Redconcept found the back of the net on a broken play. The score would stay the same until 10 minutes to go in the 3rd period. Vegas had a lapse in discipline and took the first penalty of the game. Pittsburgh capitalized, evening the score 1-1. A few moments later, Castles found himself on a breakaway but in an act of desperation was tripped, this resulting in a rare penalty shot in the playoffs. Castles buried his chance putting Pittsburgh up by 1. Pittsburgh would hold off Vegas for the remainder of the 3rd period and take a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2 saw Westside continue his stellar play and Pittsburgh’s offense started to heat up. Jumping out to a three goal lead after the first, neither team realizing how pivotal this game would be. Through four and a half periods, Westside looked unbeatable only giving up one goal. Pittsburgh had a plan and they were executing it perfectly. Unfortunately, big leads tend to brew complacency and a mental mistake turned the tide. eXecuti0n was able to intercept a pass and then throw it on net. The resulting rebound was buried by Prodigytolegend and suddenly Vegas found that glimmer of hope. Shortly thereafter, Stonerboy put one in the back of the net, closing the gap to just one. Vegas was then led by Stonerboy and Prodigy, to even the score in the third. The game went into overtime, a familiar place for the Penguins during this playoff run. However, the result would be different, as Stonerboy was able to poke in a loose puck in overtime to even the series. These four unanswered goals swung the momentum to Vegas and proved that Westside could be beat. This game was the turning point, as Vegas wouldn’t lose the rest of the way.
Game 3 tested the players on and off the ice, a game that ended up being a marathon. Vegas jumped out early to a two goal lead. Then a defensive mistake by eXecuti0n gave Pittsburgh life as they scored to bring the game to 2-1. Vegas quickly scored to make it 3-1 but as they have all playoffs long, Pittsburgh clawed their way back, scoring two more goals in the third to take the game to overtime. What an overtime it was, back and forth momentum swings, huge saves from both Plisk and Westside to keep their teams in the game. After 4 overtimes a winner was finally found, with great puck movement by Vegas, Prodigy buried a one timer to give Vegas a 2-1 series lead. An exciting end to a great game and a great relief to those who needed to use the bathroom.
Going into the second night, all signs pointed to Vegas closing out the series. They had all the momentum from the last two games. Putting up seven goals on Westside gave them confidence that they could put pucks behind him. Another boost to the morale was the return of Ciulla. Having their starting goalie back in between the pipes added to the confidence of the Golden Knights.
In game 4, Vegas jumped out early and never looked back. Prodigy started off the scoring by sniping Westside short side to put Vegas up 1-0. Then some good offensive zone possession and puck movement led to Vegas adding to their lead. Pittsburgh started to press, throwing everything they had at Ciulla and the Vegas defense. Vegas was able to get one more goal to put them up 3-0, and the defense with Ciulla handled the onslaught from Pittsburgh, resulting in Ciulla taking home a shutout in his first game back.
Game 5 was a battle, as would be expected in an elimination game. What was unexpected was the lineup change, Robbey moving to the Right Defenseman position and Ajax was moved to Right Wing. Immediately, it was a move that rewarded Pittsburgh when Ajax scored the first goal of the game. The boost was short lived as Vegas was able to battle back evening the score 1-1. The rest of the game was back and forth, with the teams trading goals. Then as we all know, Vegas was able to score the game winner and take home the Cup.
As stated initially, Pittsburgh was in every game and though they lost 4-1 it could have very easily been the other way around. Westside, DrWally, and Ajax came as advertised. They were difficult to play against, kept shots to the outside and were a very stingy defensive core. The deciding factor was whether or not Pittsburgh could score more than their current average. They say games are played on the ice and not on paper. In this match up, the paper told the story. Pittsburgh gave up 2 goals a game and they scored 2 goals a game. Puts a lot of pressure on the team and pressure can lead to mistakes. Vegas gives up 1.7 goals a game and scores 3 goals a game. That was the difference, the top line of Prodigy, Stoner and Redbeard were able to put pucks past Westside.
Redconcept was asked what he thought led to the success of his team in the playoffs.
“Team chemistry and team defense was a huge factor with the success we had during the playoffs. Not to mention superb goaltending by both Ciulla and the Big Pickle. We just went into each night having fun and we shocked the league.”
He was also asked what he thought helped build chemistry during the run that wasn’t there in the regular season.
“Our deadline transaction was huge, acquiring both Ciulla and Stoner. Stoner meshed very well up front with the existing forwards we had. Ciulla, I hadn’t even seen play, as he was MIA for personal reasons, but come playoffs he was outstanding. Having him in net allowed me to turn my concentration on defense, which worked wonders with the defensive chemistry that eXexuti0n80 and I had right off the bat. The more the team played together, the better we got.
It was truly and up and down season the whole way…but come playoffs we didn’t look back. I personally want to thank each and every player on the Vegas roster, as they made my first season as owner incredible easy and very memorable.”
An incredible end to another great SP Season. Enjoy your time with the cup Vegas, because the next season is right around the corner. Oh and the Rookie of the Year was rigged!