Around the NHL: Vegas Golden Knights Advance to Stanley Cup Final

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The expansion team that could continues a remarkable journey in their inaugural season. The Vegas Golden Knights continue to write an amazing script, as they defeated the Winnipeg Jets in Game 5, 2-1, to win the series, 4-1, and advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Golden Knights are the first expansion team to reach the Stanley Cup Final in their first year in the league since the St. Louis Blues in the original expansion class of 1967, but that was under very different circumstances, most notably that all six expansion teams were placed in the West Division and the Original Six teams were placed in the East Division.

This is the first time that an expansion team that went through the draft process and competed against a majority of established franchises has reached this mark in the first year of the franchise.

First, to the clinching game. Vegas was in position to advance after winning Game 2 in Winnipeg and taking both games at home to go ahead 3-1 in the series.

Vegas opened the scoring in the first with a turnaround shot by Alex Tuch off a turnover by Winnipeg's Josh Morrissey. Morrissey scored a goal off a face-off late in the period to tie the game.

The Golden Knights took the lead for good in the second with a deflection goal by Ryan Reaves off a point shot by Luca Sbisa. The goal for Reaves was his first with Vegas since a mid-February trade.

Marc-Andre Fleury was in control the rest of the way, making 31 saves in the win. In the three series, Vegas has allowed just 27 goals in 15 playoff games, averaging 1.8 goals against per game in the playoffs. Defense has far and away been the name of the game for the Golden Knights.

Now to the reaction. For some, a team in their first year of existence reaching the championship series, the pinnacle of sport success, is the result of a flawed system by the league. There will be a lot of people who question the NHL for making it too easy in a salary cap world to give the Golden Knights a chance to be successful from the beginning.

The purpose of the expansion draft process with Vegas was to make a team that had a chance to be competitive from the beginning. But beyond that, this is a team that had a lot of reasons to play for each other, themselves as individuals, and their new city.

For one, every player selected by Vegas was essentially a misfit, as the players describe themselves. These were players that the other 30 teams did not feel worthy of protection. In some cases, there were even deals made so that Vegas would take an unwanted player off their hands. That gave every player on the Golden Knights a chip on their shoulder, a reason to show those teams what they let get away.

Every night, somebody on this team was playing his former team. And the rest of his teammates wanted to make sure they showed that opponent what they were missing, what they gave up on and lost.

That attitude of being misfits has brought out the best in several players on this team, notably Reilly Smith, William Karlsson and Fleury. 

There was also the ultimate form of bonding that no team or fixture of a community can truly prepare for. The tragic Vegas shooting in October put this group of players, still very new to the Vegas community and area, into a situation where they had to be there for the fans and residents of Las Vegas that they would be playing in front of on a nightly basis.

The Vegas Strong rallying cry brought out the best in the Golden Knights and gave the city something to root for and support. Very quickly, the question of whether hockey was going to work in Vegas or not was answered. The fans had completely bought in.

Maybe it's a little unrealistic to give a new fan base the impression that a team can be successful and win a championship in its first year in the league. But at the end of the day, the Golden Knights weren't handed the Western Conference title. They went through three rounds against difficult opponents and kept answering the bell.

It is a cohesive, well-coached team, led by Gerard Gallant — who will run away with the Jack Adams this season — that knew how to push all the right buttons and make all the right decisions from lineups to combinations.

Here's the thing about Vegas' play on the ice. There were more than enough reasons this team should not have been as successful as they were. They were in goaltending hell through part of the season, with Fleury out with injury and eventually going to a fourth-string goalie. And they kept winning.

On paper, it wasn't an overly impressive roster. Jonathan Marchessault, James Neal and Fleury were essentially the only big-name players they had. The rest were relatively unknown or quality depth players on their previous team that were going to be asked to play bigger roles and extended minutes. And yet, they continued to have success. And they kept winning.

Every player embraced the challenge and rose to the occasion. So what was originally regarded as a hot start, eventually became no fluke. The Golden Knights may have had luck on their side, but their determined play was more about skill than luck. They created a lot of their own opportunities to reach this point.

Even when the playoffs started, the expectation was that it was new territory for this team, that someone with more experience would be able to outclass this team.

They swept through Los Angeles, took care of San Jose in six games and now have defeated Winnipeg in five games. It's no fluke, it isn't luck, perhaps there's a bit of destiny. Whatever you want to call it, the Vegas Golden Knights went from a plucky expansion team to a legitimate contender over the course of their first season. Now, they sit just four wins away from the ultimate prize.