Depth will be the deciding factor of Golden Knights’ playoff series with Stars

By Case Keefer (contact)

Monday, April 22, 2024 | 2 a.m.

The playoff energy was palpable at the Golden Knights’ first postseason practice Saturday morning at City National Arena.

Perhaps spurred by the full-contact returns of Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and William Carrier, the team zipped around in a longer-than-usual session that maintained a fast pace throughout. Just not too fast-paced that Jack Eichel couldn’t pause for a second and come to an encouraging realization.

“You’re looking around, and the group looks pretty deep again,” the Golden Knights’ star center said afterwards at his locker. “We’ll definitely lean on that.”

The Golden Knights may have never in franchise history rostered more proven, high-level players than they willwhen Game 1 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series begins at 6:30 p.m. tonight on the road against the Dallas Stars.

The key will be making sure they all click in a coherent manner. It’s a test of chemistry considering injuries never really gave Vegas a chance to mix everyone together in the regular season.

Most notably, Stone, Vegas’ team captain, has never played with Tomas Hertl, Noah Hanifin and Anthony Mantha. The trio of trade-deadline acquisitions was brought on during, and made possible salary cap-wise because of, a lacerated spleen Stone suffered in February.

The Golden Knights won’t have the luxury of taking time to piece it all together, especially not against the Stars. Dallas is one of, if not the only team, that can match Vegas’ depth even if syncs immediately.

The Stars wear down opponents by never giving them a break and using their forward lines and three defensive pairs in a relatively interchangeable manner. It’s the same advantage the Golden Knights believe they’re in line to claim this postseason.

“That’s an area I thought — I still think — last year we had over most teams and I believe if we’re on top of our games, we can show it again this year,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s no disrespect to any team we’re going to see. We just feel that’s a real strength of our team. Every team has some areas where they’re probably better than the opposition. I like our center depth. I’m sure they like theirs too so that should make for a great series right there, the matchups at center ice.”

Hertl has only played six games with the Golden Knights since returning from knee surgery, but his play in the middle has really set them apart. He figures to slot in permanently as the second-line center behind Eichel on the first line and franchise staples William Karlsson and Nicolas Roy on the third and fourth lines, respectively.

Dallas counters with Roope Hintz, Matt Duchene, Wyatt Johnston and Radek Faksa as its centers. Duchene is the only newcomer since the Golden Knights’ Western Conference Final series win over the Stars last year en route to the Stanley Cup, but Cassidy sang the praises of the longtime Avalanche and Predators standout.

He said Duchene has helped transform the Stars into a better team than they were a year ago.

The progression of Johnston has loomed just as large, if not larger. Now in his second NHL season, it might be unlikely the former first-round pick looks as overmatched as he did a year ago against the Golden Knights.

Dallas was just as renowned for its depth a year ago, but Vegas drowned it down the lineup. Johnston posted a -5 plus/minus in the series, particularly jarring next to Vegas counterpart William Karlsson’s +7.

Karlsson had five goals against the Stars in the series, while the fourth line scored five times on their own including three by Carrier.

“It was a tight-checking series last year,” Eichel said. “The first two games of the series went to overtime. They are a great hockey team. It seems like we always play them tight. Just like any series, I think it’s going to be a battle.”

Vegas and Dallas haven’t played since a Dec. 9 showdown at American Airlines Center this year when the Golden Knights won 6-1 to sweep the three-game season series. But Cassidy said it still didn’t take long to get up to speed scouting-wise; he and his staff know this team well considering how similar it’s constructed to a year ago.

The same sentiment was shared by Stars coach/former Golden Knights head Pete DeBoer, whom defenseman Shea Theodore joked it seemed like the team can never avoid.

“We’re pretty familiar with each other, obviously we played last year,” Pietrangelo said. “There’s not many secrets these days with how much video all the teams watch. Both teams got depth so it should be a really good matchup.”

The No. 8 seed Golden Knights are consensus underdogs to the top-seeded Stars, but Pietrangelo said that was fair. Vegas doesn’t mind the distinction despite its championship pedigree.

Dallas earned the right to be favored with the way it played this season. The Stars are the only team in the league with four different line combinations that played at least 300 minutes together and logged better than a 50% expected goal share, per moneypuck.com.

But Vegas has the potential to be that dominant all the way down the lineup too. The. Golden Knights relied on everyone to knock off the Stars a year ago, and might be even better-positioned to do so this season.

“(The trade deadline acquisitions) made us better on defense, made us better up front and gave us more depth at both positions,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “I really like the makeup of our roster as we head into the playoffs. Returning to health is going to be one of the big keys for our team. We’re going to be healthier going into the playoffs than we have been for a while.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or