LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's almost time for the Vegas Golden Knights to once again face off against the Dallas Stars in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vegas has a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series.
Despite being ahead of the Stars, players and coaches both said they're sticking to the same philosophy they used during their championship run last season: one game at a time.
"Like last year, you have to focus one game at a time. You can't look ahead too far," Shea Theodore said. "They have a lot of skill. I think we've done a good job shutting down some of their top guys. Obviously, you can only do that for so long so I think we have to stick with it and stick with our game plan."
"You can picture yourself being further in the playoffs but we have to play game by game," Nicolas Roy said. "They have a really good team. They finished first in the West for a reason. We expect them to push back."
Following Game 2, Jack Eichel said the team was ready to come home and that "everyone is excited to get back there and play in our home barn." Head coach Bruce Cassidy said the team loves The Fortress but they need to be able to harness the crowd's energy in a productive way and not overanalyze anything.
"You want to feed off of some of that. Just don't let it disrupt how you're going to play. Use the emotion to bring more energy or [raise the] battle level but puck management and the risk versus reward plays, that can't change just because you're at home and you want to make prettier plays," Cassidy said. "If they're there, you make them. If not, I think that will be the toughest challenge early on. I think that's what happens to home teams. You're at home so you want to make plays. Just make the ones that are necessary and available and try to make something good happen for your team early. We've got to be mindful of that and be on our toes early and not assume that because we're at home, we'll be the better team. It doesn't work that way."
Theodore and Cassidy said the key to success in Game 3 will be playing their game and coming out of the gate ready to go.
"[We need to] start our game on time," Theodore said. "I think we've been a pretty good home team all year. If we can start on time and keep the pressure on, I like our chances."
"Every kind of game and series takes on a life of its own," Cassidy said. "We're going to use what we need to from last year. Last year, we did go from 2-0 to 3-0 so we handled that well. We went into Dallas and won. Now, we're coming home to win. That's our goal. It's that simple. We're one game at a time. We want to be better than our previous game."
You can watch Game 3 on Vegas 34. Our pregame coverage starts at 7 p.m. and the puck is scheduled to drop at 7:30 p.m.
Channel 13 will also join the game in progress, following the NBA Playoffs game between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference First Round.
