Exactly How The Golden Knights Must Play To Defeat The Carolina Hurricanes

If you ask John Tortorella what the Golden Knights need to do to win four games against the Carolina Hurricanes and claim the Stanley Cup, he’ll probably say “I’m not talking about the other team.” Luckily, I am willing to do it, and I think VGK’s path to winning the Cup is fairly straightforward.

First, Vegas will have to be under control when retrieving pucks in their own end. Carolina is good both off the rush and on the forecheck. They play a high-pressure system that creates turnovers and then gets the puck directly to the goal for quick strike chances. So far in these playoffs, the Golden Knights have been excellent at handling opposing pressure in the defensive zone.

In this series, they must have good gaps when defending Carolina’s rush game (especially against the Aho and Stankoven lines), then quickly get back to pucks that are dumped in. The first pass on dump-ins will be critical as the Canes are lethal when they disrupt breakouts. Carter Hart will have to be good with his stick to help slow pucks down, then the group of six Vegas defensemen must move it quickly and efficiently to negate Carolina’s pressure.

Lastly, safe is better than sorry against the Hurricanes. Flip outs, rim outs, off the glass and out, and even icings are better than turning the puck over deep in the zone.

If VGK can successfully limit Carolina’s quick-strike turnover-based game, it will completely change the balance of puck possession in these games and give Vegas a much better chance to get to work offensively.

Next, VGK have to be patient yet opportunistic when they get a hold of the puck following a Carolina attack. One of the best ways to beat the Hurricanes is to catch them on the wrong side of the puck. Carolina’s uber-aggressive style leads to players overskating the play often, which opens them up to rush chances against. Vegas cannot force these opportunities though; they must be patient and allow them to materialize naturally. If it’s not there, and VGK go searching for it, Carolina is likely to turn them right back over.

If Vegas can indeed find the rush chances, Carolina will have no choice but to either back down their forecheck pressure or limit the aggressiveness of their defensemen. If either of these happens, the game will open up to Vegas’ possession-heavy offensive-zone attack.

From there, the Golden Knights should be able to take over and generate offense the same ways they have all postseason long.

Unlike many series in the Golden Knights’ playoff history, they do not need to outshoot their opponent to win games. As long as they are able to limit turnovers and make the Hurricanes work for offense, Carolina’s potent attack will suddenly look much less menacing, despite what the shots on goal numbers say.

Vegas are uniquely qualified to stick to this game plan and have proven it at different times in all three series during this postseason.

If they can make it happen, and I truly believe they will, the Stanley Cup is coming back to Las Vegas.