Stanley Cup Playoffs: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Chicago Blackhawks series preview

The Vegas Golden Knights finished the round-robin as the number one seed and will face the 12 seed in the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Vegas Golden Knights started the Stanley Cup Playoffs round-robin tournament as the number three seed, but finished as the top seed thanks to a perfect 3-0 record. Their reward for finishing number one is a date with the Chicago Blackhawks, who upset the Edmonton Oilers in the play-in round.

This past season, the two teams met three times and Vegas won two of the three meetings, but in the playoffs, a season series seems to be irrelevant. Both teams have a high powered offense which could prove the saying that defense wins championships.

Let’s have a deeper look into every aspect of the matchup and see who has the advantage.

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The offensive matchup

When you look at the Vegas Golden Knights, they have some of the best when it comes to goal-scoring forwards. With players like Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone, Jonathan Marchessault, Rielly Smith, and Paul Stasny the Knights have the offensive depth to go deep.

The Chicago Blackhawks also have the offense to match with players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and young rookie Dominik Kubalik. The Hawks will be a lot to handle as they showed in their play in vs Edmonton.

Advantage: Vegas

Defensive matchup

The defense will have a lot of work on both sides and this could ultimately decide who wins the series. Vegas has solid defensemen in Shea Theodore, Nick Holden, and Alec Martinez who was acquired at the trade deadline for this type of situation. They also have Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb who are solid reliable defensemen.

The Chicago Blackhawks will counter on the blue line with Adam Boqvist, Duncan Keith, and Oli Maata who is a two time Stanely Cup winner with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Look to Slater Koekoek who has a massive shot from the blue line and already has 2 goals in the playoffs.

Advantage: Vegas

The battle between the pipes

We now look to the net where we have two amazing goaltenders battling it out for a chance to move on to the next round. Marc Andre Fleury has been the backbone but what makes this interesting is the fact the Golden Knights have a reliable backup or even 1B goaltender in Robin Lehner.

Acquired at the deadline to provide some much-needed support he has been stellar in the round-robin. Pete Deboer can be confident if Fleury falters that he can throw Lehner in and it gives Vegas the edge in the net.

Advantage: Vegas

Prediction: Vegas in 5

The Golden Knights have too much firepower not to mention a solid defensive corp and two solid goaltenders. The Blackhawks will have too much on their plate and I feel the only Chicago can pull off the upset is if Crawford plays lights out.