Locked On Golden Knights - Daily Podcast On the Vegas Golden Knights

The greatest two words in sports: Game 7. The stage is set for the 7th game of the series between VGK and the Dallas Stars tied at 3-3. There are some streaks on the line: Dallas HC Pete DeBoer is 7-0 in Game 7s. VGK's veteran defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Alec Martinez are each 5-0 in Game 7s. Something has to give tonight. We talk about attrition and possible returning players for the Stars. How much will home ice advantage pay off for Dallas? Will the hot goaltending continue? We have opinions on how VGK can win or lose the game. And we have our Locks and Predictions for Game Seven.

What players need to step up in Friday's Game 6 of the opening round series vs Dallas? That one of our main discussion points. VGK is trailing in the series 3-2 and returns to home ice. Bruce Cassidy proclaimed that his team will be ready to play and play well. We can expect more changes Cassidy said. Cassidy hinted Ivan Barbeshev could be on the move again. This time to the second line with Stephenson and Stone. We should see other changes as well and we don't know as of press time who will be the starter in the crease. We talk about our confidence level in VGK coming back in this series. We also have our WTF feature with comments from fans.

The Golden Knights will face an elimination game on Friday after losing 3-2 in Dallas to the Stars Wednesday night. VGK's Alex Pietrangelo committed a retaliatory penalty by hitting Tyler Seguin of the Stars with a backhanded punch. The penalty proved to be costly as Jason Robertson scored the game winning goal with Pietrangelo looking on from the penalty box. It was the second time in two games that Pietrangelo committed a penalty that led to the game winning goal. He lost his composure. Dallas played keepaway again after that score in the third period to win its 40th game after leading at the second intermission. The Dallas power play was 2-for-4. The Golden Knights Bruce Cassidy made several line changes and inserted Pavel Dorofeyev and Ben Hutton into the lineup, while sitting ineffective Keegan Kolesar and Zach Whitecloud. We talk about what changes we can foresee in the upcoming elimination game. And, we discuss what a loss in Game 6 will mean for VGK.

VGK plays in its biggest game of the postseason so far, as the Golden Knights will attempt to break a 2-2 series tie with a win in Dallas tonight. Each team has won on the road in this series and the Golden Knights are hoping to continue that trend and go up 3-2 in the series. According to Bruce Cassidy, VGK has to clean up a lot of self-inflicted mistakes, mostly penalties and turnovers. VGK needs to get some scoring punch, especially from its middle six. Monday, Cassidy inserted Michael Amadio into the lineup for the first time and he scored a goal and played well vs Dallas in the loss. We could see Pavel Dorofeyev draw into the lineup after Cassidy aluded to making a lineup change yesterday. We talked about VGK losing in the faceoff area also. And we have our locks and predictions for pivitol Game 5.

The away team has won every game so far in the opening round series between Dallas and Las Vegas. The Stars were two 0-2 in the series before winning both games at the Fortress. Dallas was the best road team in the NHL this season and they played like it over the past six periods. Jack Eichel scored his third goal of the series and Michael Amadio, who drew in for an ineffective Anthony Mantha scored his first postseason goal. Each VGK goals coming on rebounds. The Stars scored on the power play as Wyatt Johnston scored his third goal of the series. Two odd angle shots really did in VGK. The Stars scored twice on shots from the goal line. We feel Dallas has been the better team so far in the series. Chris pointed out that Dallas has had a 68-36 advantage in high danger shots the past two games. We also discuss how VGK can regain momentum in the series.

Bruce Cassidy will try to counter Pete DeBoer's adjustments in what has become a chess match between the two coaches. DeBoer's team broke out faster from the goal line to the neutral zone which created odd-man rushes in bunches in Game 3. The Golden Knights lead the best-of-seven series 2-1, but the Stars have to be confident after taking the third game on the road. Dallas was the best road team in the NHL during the regular season. VGK didn't respond well to Cassidy's coaching on Saturday. Cassidy gave the team off Sunday because he said they were tired. Bruce Cassidy also admitted that Tomas Hertl has been moved to lineup on a wing with William Karlsson because he wants Hertl to take faceoffs. This could mean Karlsson, who missed two practices, has an injury of some sort. We also have our Game 4 Locks and Predictions.

The Dallas Stars got back into the series with an OT victory at the Fortress last night, 3-2. VGK got off to a slow start and didn't recover. Dallas cuts the series lead to 2-1 with Game 4 Monday at T-Mobile Arena. If not for Logan Thompson's heroics, with 43 saves, the Golden Knights could have been embarrassed on home ice. Dallas led 2-0 but goals by Brayden McNabb and Jack Eichel, on a shorthanded goal, forced overtime. Wyatt Johnston scored twice for the Stars, who owned the best road record in the regular season. We credit Pete DeBoer for making adjustments and forcing VGK to the perimeter for most of the game. And we discuss the concern level heading into Game 4 on Monday night.

The Golden Knights return home to the Fortress on Saturday night looking to add to their 2-0 series advantage vs the Stars. We will see a desperate Dallas team that Pete DeBoer said will have extra juice with its "season on the line." Dallas held the league's best road record at 26-10-5 and more than half of their points came away from home. Dallas averaged about four goals a game on the road this season. Dallas said it will simplify its game. They might have to do it without two key cogs - Mason Marchment and Radek Faksa both left Game 2 with injuries. Nic Hague still could be missing from VGK's lineup. We talked about Pete DeBoer looking defeated at his latest presser. And we read your comments for WTF - What The Friday.

The Golden Knights are returning home with a 2-0 series advantage after playing stifling defense in Wednesday's 3-1 road win over the Dallas Stars. The series shifts to Las Vegas Saturday for Game 3. VGK withstood an early push by Dallas and trained 1-0 on a Stars power play goal by Jason Robertson. But Jonathan Marchessault tallied the equalizer in the first to tie the score at 1-1. Noah Hanifin scored the game winner in the slot. And, Jack Eichel added the finishing touch with an empty net goal. The VGK defense held Dallas without a shot for about the final six minutes of the game. It was another heavy game with 108 total hits, 55 for VGK. Keegan Kolesar had nine hits in the contest. We talk about VGK playing close to a 60-minute game and are they peaking at the right time? We also grade Logan Thompson's performance and Zach Whitecloud with another rough outing for VGK.

VGK is looking to extend its series lead to two games to none in the opening series vs Dallas having already taken home ice advantage away from the Stars. The Golden Knights held on to a 4-3 win in the opener. Bruce Casidy wants the Golden Knights to continue to play physical hockey. They more than doubled the amount of hits on Dallas on Monday night. We also will see how Mark Stone responds in Game 2 after playing in his first contest since Feb. 20. VGK scored twice on the power play unit Monday, so they will try to win the special teams phase again. Cassidy said his team will need to generate more chances to win Game 2. They only had 15 shots on net Monday. The only injury for the Golden Knights was Nic Hague, who left the ice with eight minutes remaining in the game. We will see if he is able to go tonight. And, we have our locks and predictions for Game 2.

The Golden Knights now have home ice advantage in their opening round series vs the Dallas Stars by virtue of Monday's 4-3 win on the road. VGK won with netfront presence and by scoring twice on the power play. The debut performance by Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl on the same line was a successful one. Stone returned to the ice for the first time since Feb 20 and he not only scored a goal at 1:23 into the game, but it was his only shot of the contest. He scored his goal with Hertl in front of the net. Hertl also scored a goal after he won his faceoff and dove to the net to pot his first VGK playoff goal. A third goal was scored by Brayden McNabb with Ivan Barbeshev setting up shop in front of Jake Ottinger. Dallas fans booed Stone every time he touched the puck and even booed him during an intermission television interview. Stone logged 17:09 of ice time in his first game back. We graded Logan Thompson's performance and discussed if he will be in net in Wednesday's Game 2.

The Golden Knights begin their defense of the Cup title tonight in Dallas against the Stars. VGK should be back at full strength with Mark Stone, William Carrier, Alex Pietrangelo and others all expected to start tonight. We talk about Kelly McCrimmon's Saturday press conference which outlined the returns of key players, especially Stone. We questioned the line combinations for tonight's opener. Why no Dorofeyev in the lineup? No Martinez? No Hutton? And we have our locks of Game 1 and the series.

Our Chris Gawlik and Joey Erickson of Locked On Stars preview the VGK-Dallas series, which starts Monday.

The Golden Knights will be facing off against the Dallas Stars in the opening round of the playoffs beginning Monday night on the road. VGK limped into the playoffs and comes in as the eight seed. The Golden Knights lost in a lackluster game to the Anaheim Ducks Thursday, 4-1. Jack Eichel scored the only goal for VGK. The Golden Knights have now lost three straight to the cellar-dwelling Ducks. The Ducks Frankie Vatrano scored a hat trick in the game. We have a first look at the VGK-Stars series. And, it's that time of week - it's What The Friday?!?

The Golden Knights are looking to close out the regular season on a high note. VGK hosts the Anaheim Ducks and will look to reach the 100 point milestone in an up-and-down season. A win will also move VGK up in the standings to WC1 with a win over Nashville, and would put the Golden Knights into a first-round matchup vs the Edmonton Oilers. The Ducks have gone to the youth movement and tonight will feature the debut of rookie Cutter Gauthier, who led the NCAA in goals scored this past season with 38. He will be on a line with Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn. We also discuss the (never-ending) goalie situation. Bruce Cassidy had previously seemed to dislike a goalie rotation in the playoffs. Now he's talking about playing both Hill and Thompson in the playoffs. He talked about each goalies strengths heading into the playoffs. We have our Locks and Predictions for tonight's game as well.

The Golden Knights set the tone in the second period when they became a more physical team vs Chicago last night. It started with a Zach Whitecloud hit on rookie Frank Nazar. Then Nic Hague laid a big hit on Connor Bedard. Bruce Cassidy put together a heavy line that included Tomas Hertl and Ivan Barbeshev. They set a massive screen in front of Petr Mrazic and Brayden McNabb cleaned up a rebound on a spinarama to score the goal. VGK will be difficult to beat if they can establish that same netfront presence in the playoffs. The Golden Knights, with the win, moved up to third place in the Pacific Division. They lead the L.A. Kings by one point. Each team has a game to go. VGK will face either Edmonton or Dallas in all liklihood. Bruce Cassidy experimented with a lot of different combinations in last night's game. And, we discuss the Pacific/West playoff races.

The Golden Knights will try to avoid a letdown against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, a team that comes in with the worst road record in the NHL. We are interested to see who, if anyone, the Golden Knights will rest tonight. VGK enters the night a point behind the L.A. Kings, who lost at home to Minnesota last night. If the Golden Knights win out, they could potentially land in the first wild card spot. The VGK first round opponent still has not been settled. We have an update on the Western Conference and Pacific Division races. And, our Locks and Predictions for tonight's game are on tap.

Now that the Golden Knights have locked in Noah Hanifin's new contract extension for eight years at $7.35 AAV, how much would Jonathan Marchessault command on the open market? Marchessault is in the final year of his contract and has 67 points including 41 goals. You have to believe his minimum contract would be in the vicinity of $8 million a year. Marchessault is 33 years old. We preview this weekend's games against the Wild Friday and the Avs on Sunday. And, it's WTF - What The Friday time again.

Even without Connor McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers rolled past VGK on home ice Wednesday night 5-1. The Golden Knights loss coupled with a St. Louis Blues win leaves the Blues just three points away from VGK. VGK will play its four remaining games on home ice. Bruce Cassidy said that even if McDavid were playing in last night's game, he still wouldn't have expected the result with the Golden Knights on the losing end. Chandler Stephenson missed the game, as his wife is expecting. We talk about growing concern not only to make the playoffs for the defending Stanley Cup champs, but how long this team would last in the post-season due to lackluster play. And, we discuss the potential move of the Coyotes to Salt Lake. That could happen within the next week.