"I'm no star. Trust me," chortled Ryan Reaves, when somebody asked him this morning about what it's like to be a local celebrity.
Regardless, if Game Six is the impending UFA's defining playoff moment as a Golden Knight -- Gerard Gallant noted that William Carrier is "hopeful" for the beginning of the Western Conference Finals -- it was a memorable one, as I wrote last Sunday.
"We played like there was no tomorrow," said Bellemare of his #VegasBorn team which HAD the 3-2 series lead.
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) May 7, 2018
His line closed out #SJSharks.
Here's every 3rd period Reaves-PEB-Carpenter shift, including stretch where they outshot SJS 7-0.
Read more here: https://t.co/V3ACCIEEmK pic.twitter.com/gnFFfnXxLV
"But yeah, it felt good."
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Speaking of Reaves, you might be surprised to learn that before the playoffs started, his 36 post-season games logged made him the fourth-most playoff-tested Golden Knight, trailing only Marc-Andre Fleury (115 games), James Neal (80), and David Perron (42). Even now, his 37 still puts him fifth, just behind Deryk Engelland's 38.
With that in mind, I asked him to compare the Golden Knights' playoff pre-game show, whose notoriety is increasing, to other organizations'.
"You can tell the crowd is constantly into it because of it. Everything comes together and really complements the city."
As a once-avowed hater of the Skating Knight, I have to admit that I was wrong.
I noticed the difference while taking in pre-game playoff shows in Los Angeles and San Jose -- it's too easy to turn your brain off when you go from a scintillating light show -- compliments especially to San Jose's -- to a jumbotron video montage. In SAP Center, I noticed a muted crowd when the light show segued into the been there, done that highlight package, before amping up once again for the cult-like "Chomp" and the dramatic Shark Head's descent.
Reaves, for one, hopes that other teams will emulate this, "I came here when I was with Pittsburgh and I thought it was the most fun I ever had playing in an away arena before. I couldn't believe there was an NHL team like that."
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One leftover stat I didn't get to from the Vegas-San Jose series: Everybody knows Joe Pavelski's prowess with deflections and tips. From 2014-18, he's led the NHL in deflected/tipped goals (all situations):
Erik Haula tied Pavelski for the league lead this year with six deflected goals (not including tips). Here were a couple of them:
"I played with a really good net-front guy in Zach Parise," noted Haula, when asked where he developed this skill. "I've learned a couple things, how to practice that. Just the work ethic he brings every single day, how he battles for every puck in front of the net."
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Last Saturday, the Golden Knights called up their "Black Aces":
Up front, Cody Glass, Keegan Kolesar, Stefan Matteau, Brandon Pirri, Nick Suzuki, and T.J. Tynan will join the team. On the blueline, you'll see Jake Bischoff, Jason Garrison, Nicolas Hague, and Griffin Reinhart. Goaltender Maxime Lagace has already been with the team for a few days.Tomas Hyka is currently in Denmark, representing the Czech Republic at the World Championships. As for Oscar Dansk, I was told by Wolves GM Wendell Young that Vegas needed just one goalie up to go with Dylan Ferguson, and they chose Lagace. I'll try to find out the organization's reasoning there.
Suzuki, the 13th pick of the 2017 Draft, made his professional debut in the Wolves' last game of the season, a 4-3 triple OT loss.
It wasn't a banner debut by any means -- Suzuki didn't play after the second period of that game.
"He was young and it was a tough game," head coach Rocky Thompson told Sarah Avampato after the contest. "I just decided to shorten the bench for a little bit."
Sarah Avampato: When you and your 16-year-old brother Ryan played each other this season, what was the trash talk like? What is it just a normal game or were you more amped up than normal?
Nick Suzuki: Yeah, I was definitely more amped up for the game, excited to play against him. We didn't really chat too much out on the ice. But every time I saw him, there was a little smile or a tap on the shin pads. It's always fun to play against him; we had some good battles.
SA: Your hockey sense is one of your greatest attributes. To develop that, who are a couple NHL players whose hockey sense you admire?
NS: I always looked up to Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron. I think those two guys, I try to study their game a lot. Take away a few things from them. They're both really smart.
Watching them throughout my childhood really helped with that.
SA: When you were with the Golden Knights in the fall, did any of them in particular take you under his wing?
NS: Erik Haula. He started talking to me at the start of camp. I ended up playing on his line in Colorado for one of the pre-season games. He was a guy who I talked to if I needed any help.
SA: During training camp, what areas did the Golden Knights ask you to work on? How did you improve in those areas this year?
NS: Just speed and strength. Those are the biggest things for every junior hockey player.
I did a lot of agility work. Get my feet quicker. Some skating lessons with my skating coach. That helped a lot. I felt like I was a lot stronger on the puck and able to get there quicker this year.
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