Gerard Gallant and the Vegas Golden Knights still think Tom Wilson’s third-period hit on Jonathan Marchessault in the Stanley Cup Final opener was too late and probably a bit dirty.
The coach also believes it sparked his team’s comeback victory in that Game 1 thriller.
So while he wasn’t happy to hear Wilson will face no discipline from the NHL Youth Chris Herndon Jersey , Gallant is hoping his team will remember the hit – and more importantly, how they played right after it – when they attempt to take a 2-0 series lead on the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night on the Strip.
”The good thing about the hit is it really woke our team up,” Gallant said after an optional practice at the Golden Knights’ suburban training complex. ”I think it was a 4-4 game?”
Indeed, two novice Stanley Cup finalists were deep into an entertainingly ramshackle opener, but the Knights took charge after that fateful collision left Marchessault sprawled on the ice. Vegas quickly got Tomas Nosek’s go-ahead goal , eventually won 6-4 and surged one game closer to an improbable championship.
The focused aggression necessary to be a successful postseason team is a delicate concoction. The Golden Knights and Caps both had it during the conference playoffs, but they both admit it got away from them in Game 1.
”I think both teams can be better,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. ”It was a pretty sloppy game.”
After one game to get used to the sky-high stakes of the last round of this tournament, both teams intend to channel their nervous energy more constructively in the future. Both coaches stressed the importance of discipline, completing assignments and not allowing the frenetic Vegas crowd to overwhelm their emotions.
”There’s obviously nerves,” Washington’s Jay Beagle said. ”I’m not surprised at anything anymore, but in the Stanley Cup Final, usually it’s 2-1 or 1-0 Bart Starr Jersey , not (6-4). But you don’t know what to expect from a team that you don’t know that much. Now we’ve got to know them a little bit more.”
The mistakes that worry coaches also lead to exciting hockey, and the opener was thoroughly entertaining even before Wilson lowered the boom on Marchessault. The teams combined for a Final-record four lead changes in the highest-scoring opener in eight years for this final round.
Wilson, who served a three-game suspension in the second round for breaking the jaw of Pittsburgh’s Zach Aston-Reese, and the Capitals still insist the hard-charging forward did nothing wrong when he leveled the Golden Knights’ top playoff scorer.
”It’s within the rules,” Wilson said after practice at T-Mobile Arena. ”It’s a clean hit. I don’t know why it got so much media attention, to be honest. It’s a hard hit, but that’s the day and age we’re in. … I’m trying to play my game. There’s a lot of those hits that are going on, but it’s the Stanley Cup Final, and it’s within the rules.”
The NHL Department of Player Safety agreed when it decided not to discipline Wilson for the shoulder-to-shoulder hit, clearly deciding that Wilson’s timing wasn’t extraordinarily late.
Marchessault went to the dressing room and was examined for a possible concussion, but returned to the game. Gallant said the forward is feeling fine for Game 2.
The Capitals had their own complaint about Vegas forward David Perron, who jumped on the ice after the whistle and made contact with Washington captain Alex Ovechkin during the scuffles immediately after the hit.
Once the emotions died down, both teams realized they’ve got to check their more primal urges if they hope to play a solid game on the NHL’s biggest stage. The atmosphere in Las Vegas for the city’s first Final has been electric Authentic Darius Leonard Jersey , but the Caps weren’t intimidated by the frenzied crowd.
Washington goalie Braden Holtby said the biggest difference about playing in Vegas is ”the bass they put in the building. Maybe that’s a little false when … you’re literally shaking from the bass. That’s the only difference. (Their) fans are loud. Our fans are loud. Tampa’s, Pitt’s, Columbus, all fans are loud.”
The condition of the T-Mobile Arena ice also caused occasional problems for both teams with its inconsistencies and general roughness, but nobody is claiming the first-year NHL building has any unusual problems. The conditions certainly didn’t hurt the offensive players in any meaningful way, given the final score.
”Ice isn’t an excuse, because it’s the same for both teams,” Holtby said. ”You just want to figure it out quicker than them, and obviously they’ve had the advantage playing here for a while. Our ice isn’t any different than it is here. It’s just little differences. When it’s that hot out, there’s always one thing that’s not great. We’re just figuring out what you can and can’t do.”
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More Stanley Cup coverage:
Back in the playoffs for the second straight year for the first time since 2003 and 2004, the Milwaukee Bucks can hardly afford a second straight slip-up when they face the New York Knicks on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Two days after allowing the Brooklyn Nets to claw back from a fourth-quarter deficit, the Bucks head over the Brooklyn Bridge to square off with a Knicks squad that rebounded from a 73-point performance with a 122-98 win over Miami on Friday night. Before the game, the Knicks were the coldest team in the Eastern Conference Youth Kenny Young Jersey , losers of four straight.
And speaking of cold: The Bucks had better heat up in a hurry after shooting 25 percent from 3-point range against the Nets in the 119-111 loss.
“We couldn’t shoot it in the ocean,” Bucks forward Jabari Parker said. “They did a really good job, though, you got to put your hands up to them.”
The Bucks hardly did that on defense against the woeful Nets, allowing Brooklyn to shoot 48 percent from 3-point range in the loss.
With the Bucks having an outside chance at the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, now is no time for Milwaukee to get lazy on defense.
“This would not be good enough to win a game in the playoffs,” Bucks coach Joe Prunty said. “I’m not worried about the playoffs right now. … We need to play very good basketball regardless of our opponent and tonight is an example of (not playing well enough).”
In the Knicks, the Bucks find a team with any postseason hopes long in the rear-view mirror. The Knicks are out of the playoffs for the fifth straight year and, if anything, the team appears to be playing for better lottery odds.
Too bad they dealt themselves too good a hand on Friday.
A 24-point win over the Heat put the Knicks a game behind the Chicago Bulls for the eighth-worst record in the NBA, and every lottery ping-pong ball matters.
“If you ask any of the players or coaches, that’s not (a thought),” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek told reporters early this week. “We’ve said it all along that that’s not what we’re trying to do. With the guys out there Kerryon Johnson Color Rush Jersey , we’re trying to win the game, and that’s what we want from them.”
The two teams will meet for the fourth time in nine weeks, with Milwaukee claiming a 3-0 lead in the season series. The Bucks beat New York 92-90 at home on Feb. 2 and followed four days later with a 103-89 road win. A little over a month later, the Bucks again won at home, 120-112, behind Khris Middleton’s 30 points. Middleton has kicked up his scoring of late, scoring 31 against the Nets, six days after producing 28 points in a 124-122 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
After Saturday’s matchup, the Knicks close their season with a home-and-home against the Cleveland Cavaliers, beginning Monday at Madison Square Garden for the final time this season before heading to Cleveland on Wednesday to wrap up the campaign.
Milwaukee hosts Orlando on Monday before heading to Philadelphia to play the 76ers on Wednesday for the Bucks’ final regular-season game.
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