Vegas Golden Knights forwards leads the way in stopping high-end players in run to Stanley Cup Final.
Defense has been the Vegas Golden Knights calling card throughout this playoff run. They’ve managed to limit some of the game’s top forwards en route to the Stanley Cup Final.
It will be no different tonight against the Florida Panthers, as all eyes will be on how the team defends Matthew Tkachuk, the fiery star of the Panthers.
In 14 career games against Vegas, Tkachuk has 18 points (nine goals and nine assists) between stints in Calgary and Florida.
“He’s such a high hockey IQ in small area plays are going to be the challenge for us. We’ll have to find a way to take away his time and space and take away his options because he moves the puck so quick,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “So, that’ll be a delicate balance. You have to get into him when he gets to the front of the net. He has a great stick and nose for the net. We have some Big D that can do that. That’s the challenge."
Vegas captain Mark Stone said the team will have to rely on its experiences in defending other top forward such as Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Jason Robertson, and Roope Hintz.
“You can’t take those guys away 100 percent. If you think you’re going to completely take them out of the series, that’s when they really take over. You just have to limit certain chances. You can’t be giving it to them,” Stone said. “He’s a really sneaky player. He hangs out behind D. He hangs out off breakouts in their end. You have to make him earn it. You make all their top guys earn. If they’re going to beat you, at least make them earn it.”
Cassidy said he won’t know who will match up with Tkachuk until they start playing, but he has trust that any line can do its job against other top forwards.
The Golden Knights will roll out four forward lines without hesitation, as all of them have strong defensive qualities.
“We have four guys and Teddy [Blueger], too. We have four or five centers that skate the middle very well and are workhorses. They know how to defend,” Stone said. “Jack [Eichel]’s realized that he doesn’t have to play 23, 24 minutes here, so he can play both ends of the ice. I’m a firm believer, you can’t play the right way if you’re playing 23, 24 minutes. So for Jack to come in and play his 18, 19 minutes a game, it allows him to play 200 feet the entire game.”
By having strong defensive forwards, it relieves some of the pressure off of the defenseman who get the share the duty of trying to stop top forwards and their lines.
“All we got to do is make the first pass. Maybe make a few plays in the zone and they’ll do the rest,” Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “We got some guys in up front who are strong in our end. That makes our life easier as defensemen because we have to do a little bit less and it makes our job a lot easier.”
Either way, Stone expects a good battle between the two teams with so much on the line.
“They’re clearly playing the best hockey of their season right? They’re playing it at the right time,” he said. “They have good depth at forward, defense, and their goaltender is playing great. We’re playing good too. We like the way we’re playing.”