RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) 鈥� The Carolina Hurricanes opened the with a shutout and just kept smothering opponents, swarming in absolute refusal to yield time or space to puck handlers.
The Vegas Golden Knights simply got better with each round until in a shocking sweep of a team that romped through the regular season.
Now they turn their lockdown sights on each other for the chance to hoist the Stanley Cup.
鈥淚t’s the Stanley Cup Final, it’s going to be a defense-first game,鈥� Vegas defenseman Dylan Coghlan said Monday. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have that mentality, then it鈥檚 not going to go in your favor.鈥�
The best-of-seven series, which opens Tuesday at Carolina, pairs that finished second in the regular season behind Colorado against a Western Conference champion that elevated its game the longer the playoffs wore on.
Sure, offense captures fan imagination with plays like Vegas’ against Anaheim or the net-finding heat coming off featuring Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake line since the playoffs started in April.
But these are teams that take just as much joy in grinding opposing offenses into the ice, whether its pressuring relentlessly to win puck battles along the boards or selling out in a desperate attempt to block shots. Goaltenders and have been steady in net, helped by the supreme efforts going on in front of them.
Vegas has allowed just 10 goals in its last six games as it chases a second championship in four seasons. The Hurricanes have given up two or fewer goals in 12 of 13 playoff games, back in the final
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e just kind of all on the same page right now,鈥� Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a team effort to be so solid defensively. We鈥檙e definitely aggressive, but it鈥檚 full five-man effort.鈥�
The Golden Knights took off after the late-season firing of Bruce Cassidy , but there were also March trade moves to add forwards Cole Smith and Nic Dowd to bolster the fourth line by getting bigger and stronger while also helping the penalty kill. They battled through six-game series against both Utah and Anaheim before taking on the Avs, led by high-end skill in Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas.
The Avalanche led the NHL by averaging 3.63 goals per game in the regular season. But the Golden Knights gave up nothing easy and never let the high-flying Avs find a sweet-skating groove. The Avs managed just seven goals in four games.
鈥淚 just think as a five-man unit, when you鈥檙e playing MacKinnon and Necas, some really high-skilled players, it can鈥檛 be 1-on-1 situations, it鈥檚 not one guy to get it done,鈥� Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 making sure guys are back, making sure you鈥檙e playing the right way.鈥�
The Hurricanes are 12-1 in the playoffs, while allowing just five goals in each of those two rounds. Then came in Game 1 of the East final, a result that in hindsight turned out to be a blip for a team coming off the longest between-rounds playoff break in more than a century.
That performance left coach Rod Brind’Amour befuddled with Carolina’s aggressive-forechecking style repeatedly surrendering clean breakouts and multiple breakaways with the Canadiens skating unchecked through the neutral zone. Brind’Amour didn’t have the team practice the next day, opting instead to go over the film of all those breakdowns.
Carolina repsonded by allowing five goals in the four consecutive wins that followed 鈥� the last two coming by a 10-1 combined score.
鈥淚t was just understanding where our lapses were and obviously video doesn鈥檛 lie,鈥� Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “Sometimes you can really nitpick stuff on video, but it was pretty obvious what our lapses were in that game. So really it was just making sure we were staying above the puck, making sure that we were forechecking the right way.
鈥淓veryone has their own job to do while they鈥檙e out there, but we work as a five-man unit, so making sure you鈥檙e doing your job. And that鈥檚 what I think you saw moving forward.鈥�
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