Vegas Golden Knights vs Montreal Canadiens
2020-2021 Semi finals preview
After an incredible second round, the Vegas Golden Knights advance to the final four of the Stanley Cup playoff. Waiting for them are the Montreal Canadiens. And even though everything has been wonky in this covid/first post bubble season, it has been confirmed the "conferences" will compete yet again for the "Prince of Wales and "Clarence S. Campbell" trophies accordingly. Then of course the obvious for the winner, a shot at the Stanley Cup in the Stanley Cup final. I felt that was important to mention since the league about a month ago said that they would not be competing for the conference trophies this year.
Storylines for days
You choose your storyline with this series. Nick Suzuki/Tomas vs Max Pacioretty, who will show up to show out their former team? Will Montreal get one step closer to breaking their finals drought and win one for Canada for the first time in nearly 2 decades? Will Vegas make it back to the finals and hopefully finish what they started in year one? Will Corey Perry continue to be a thorn in Vegas' side? Then the obvious of Fleury vs Price which I'll elaborate more on later on in this article.
Even as a bias Vegas fan, looking at this through the prism of someone who's not a fan of either team there is so much excitement and hype surrounding this series. Let's say this even ends up in a sweep, for either team. It's still going to be exciting every minute.
Specialty teams
As the graphic shows above neither team is doing very well on the powerplay. However Vegas took a HUGE step back while Montreal is still doing amazing. As a Vegas fan I'll be honest, I've grown accustom to our Powerplay being very lack luster, where I am not happy though is that sharp decline in our penalty kill, especially since we were usually well known for our penalty kill. And to make matters worst Montreal's penalty kill is still very strong.
Home Ice advantage
Thankfully the Knights finally have home ice advantage again. And best of all Vegas is finally at full capacity. Unfortunately for due to covid, Montreal still has capacity limits. Now once again, don't under estimate Montreal and especially their fans. The last metric I saw was at least 6,500 fans, and they'll ask for more before game 3 in Montreal. But boy those 6,500 die hard fans will make it very hostile for the Knights in games 3 and 4. We have the home ice advantage, and yeah 18K is significantly more than 6.5 thousand, but that's only on paper.
Goal tending battle
I don't know why but I see a lot of people severely disrespecting Carey Price. Price has been on an absolute mission, he has the highest save percentage as we speak. Then there's Fleury, Fleury is going to do what Fleury does. There have been some really questionable goals he's given up especially in the second round against Colorado. Hopefully Lehner is ready and will step up to the plate. Fleury has really been tested these playoffs and I'd love to see at least 2 games from Lehner so Fleury can stay fresh.
Physicality
This game is going to get physical to say the least. Montreal plays an insanely tough defensive game especially at the blue line. However Vegas is the tallest team in the league while still being surprisingly fast. I don't think physicality will be too much of a problem for Vegas, but I know it will be very apparent. The first two games Colorado was doing incredible staying physical with Vegas and keeping us out of the offensive zone. I would not be surprised of Montreal is able to do something very similar.
Final prediction
I've seen a lot of fans thinking Montreal will be absolute pushovers but I can't agree. I have to support my team so of course I'm going to say we're going to win. My prediction is Knights in 6. The odds have us as an outstanding favorite, but I still believe this series will be closer than people think.
GO KNIGHTS GO!!
Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoyed what you have read today. I have plenty of different articles on many different topics. Feel free to give those other articles a read or two. Also if you'd be so kind, I'd greatly appreciate a heart and if you really feel so inclined tips are always appreciated but by no means required.
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Dyllon Rodillon
Jack of all trades, master of none.
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