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Villains of the Hockey World: Bring on the Golden Knights |
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The Los Angeles Kings now know their fate for the first round of the playoffs and it comes in the form of the Vegas Golden Knights.
When the Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues on April 4th, it automatically clinched a playoff spot for the Kings. The only thing that was left to decide was who they would face in the first round.
The Kings took care of business to close out the end of the 2017-18 regular season by winning four of their last six games. However, with the Anaheim Ducks also hot going into the playoffs, Anaheim snuck past the San Jose Sharks for the second seed which dropped the Sharks to third.
LA was unable to come back from a 4-0 deficit in yesterday’s matchup against the Dallas Stars which solidified the Kings into the first Wild Card spot.
Now, the Kings get to play the villain in the Golden Knights Cinderella run to the playoffs in the first round. This will be the Western Conference matchup that the entire hockey world will have their attention on due to Vegas’ status as an expansion team.
The season series between the two squads was tied 2-2 where the Golden Knights won the first two back in December while the Kings won a back-to-back in late February. Both of the club’s victories over the other came during a stretch where one was hot and the other wasn’t.
It’s an interesting situation because unlike the start of the season, Vegas now has a ton of pressure on them to do well. If there is any market that may not understand the parity that lies in the NHL, it would be this one. The expectation for Vegas amongst their fans is that they will continue to surprise the hockey world and go on to win the Stanley Cup.
From a Kings perspective, this is a matchup that is best suited for this team. Everyone has seen the war that is a Kings/Ducks or a Kings/Sharks playoff matchup. Those matchups is nothing short of a war, where the winner survives the series rather than becomes the victor.
In Vegas, this is the creation of a playoff rivalry which I’m sure will eventually have all the elements that a matchup with the Sharks or Ducks would have. However, with this being an expansion team who have never played together before this year, their experience in the playoffs is questionable.
There will be people who question that sentiment that will use the line of “well we’ve been saying that all year about Vegas but look where they are.” However, playing a different team every night like what happens in an 82 game season is not the same as facing the same team over a two week stretch.
Playoffs is where coaching and experience comes into play by being able to adjust the team’s game plan to defeating their opponent. This is something that can’t be done as effective in the regular season.
For the Kings, this is a core that has played together for a long time and have won together. They know what it takes to win and that experience will only benefit them.
Later in the week I’ll break down how the two teams match up against each other and there will be some playoff predictions as well.
For those looking for what the schedule will be, it hasn’t been finalized due to the Boston Bruins’ chance to take the Atlantic Division away from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
However, in the scenarios that the Kings sent out, they are unaffected by what happens in the Eastern Conference.
So here is the Kings playoff schedule:
Game 1: Wednesday April 11- 7pm (10pm EST): Kings @ Golden Knights
Game 2: Friday April 13- 7pm (10pm EST): Kings @ Golden Knights
Game 3: Sunday April 15- 7:30pm (10:30 EST): Golden Knights @ Kings
Game 4 Tuesday April 17- 7:30PM (10:30 EST): Golden Knights @ Kings
*Game 5:Thursday April 19- 7pm (10pm EST): Kings @ Golden Knights
*Game 6: Saturday April 21- TBD: Golden Knights @ Kings
*Game 7: Monday April 23- TBD: Kings @ Golden Knights
*- If needed
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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