The Stanley Cup Playoffs have thinned to four teams and the Western Conference Final begins Sunday evening at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
The Stars have been one of the surprises, reaching the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2008, when Dallas lost a six-game series to the Red Wings. Young phenom Miro Heiskanen is emerging as one of the NHL’s premier offensive defenseman, registering 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) through 16 postseason games and is riding an eight-game point streak. Deep postseason runs often coincide with large contributions from unexpected sources and Denis Gurianov fits the bill. After racking up just 29 points (20 goals, nine assists) in the regular season, Gurianov is tied for the team lead with eight goals and second to Heiskanen with 15 points in the postseason.
For Vegas, it’s a second conference finals appearance in the franchise’s third season. The Golden Knights have their own star on the blue line in Shea Theodore, who leads the team in assists (10) and points (16) in the postseason. Vegas also boasts plenty of depth scoring — which Blackhawks fans are too familiar with — led by the top trio of Mark Stone (six goals, nine assists), Reilly Smith (four goals, nine assists) and Alex Tuch (eight goals, two assists). Don’t forget about Jonathan Marchessault (three goals, six assists) and William Karlsson (three goals, five assists), either. In net, it’s the two-headed monster of Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner, the latter of which is fresh off a Game 7 shutout that advanced Vegas into this series. Ryan Reaves won’t be in the lineup while serving a one-game suspension for this garbage hit on Tyler Motte, but that could result in addition-by-subtraction for the Knights.
Sunday, Sept. 6
Dallas at Vegas, 7 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, SN)
*All times Central