Playoff Takeaways: Hanifin, Hill keep Golden Knights alive, force Game 7 vs. Stars

The champs were never going to go away quietly.

Revisit all that these Golden Knights accomplished a year ago, when they were healthy, and that much should’ve been clear. Or even just rewind to the past two years of post-season history — with Vegas grinding out a 2-0 Game 6 win Friday, these playoffs will be the third straight to see the defending champions go down to the wire with a Game 7 do-or-die finisher in Round 1.

Unfortunately for Bruce Cassidy’s club, in both instances the reigning winners fell: 2022 saw reigning champs Colorado ousted by Seattle, 2023 saw dynastic Tampa Bay bounced by Toronto.

After clawing their way back to even ground in the wake of three straight losses to the Dallas Stars, Vegas will have to hope they can buck that trend. But before we get there, here’s a look at the night that saw the Golden Knights stave off elimination.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1: Stars vs. Golden Knights

Keep up with the latest news and analysis as the defending-champion Vegas Golden Knights take on the Dallas Stars in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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HERO HANIFIN DELIVERS MARQUEE MOMENT FOR HIS NEW CLUB

Much is made each year of the Golden Knights’ approach to the NHL trade deadline. But beyond the LTIR debates, one fact about the club’s approach is clear to all: GM Kelly McCrimmon and Co. consistently manage to bring in game-changing pieces, who meaningfully upgrade their squad.

Last year, it was Ivan Barbashev. This year it was Noah Hanifin, the top defender on the market nabbed by the Knights alongside a couple other elite pieces. And here, in the most pivotal game of Vegas’s season to this point, there was the smooth-skating Hanifin, finishing as the difference.

Locked in a tightly-contested 0-0 tilt for much the evening, the 27-year-old broke open the game with a beautiful tally midway through the final period, Hanifin collecting the puck at the point, side-stepping Ty Dellandrea with ease, before walking in and going top shelf on Jake Oettinger.

The former Calgary Flame and Carolina Hurricane becomes the second defenceman in franchise history to score the winner in a potential elimination game. Hanifin also becomes the third Knights player, at any position, to record multiple game winners in a playoff series, the defender having wired in the winner in Game 2, too.

It was an unforgettable, career-highlight moment for the young blue-liner, and also precisely the type of sequence that Vegas brought him in for — a burst of elite skill, at just the right time, when the stakes were highest.

Also worth noting: Key to helping Hanifin finally beat Oettinger was Keegan Kolesar, who set a perfect screen on the netminder moments before the game-winning shot. The long-time Golden Knight returned to the lineup Saturday after a rare scratch for Game 5.

Needless to say, the veteran proved his worth.

HILL PROVES AGAIN HE’S AT HIS BEST WHEN THE LIGHTS ARE BRIGHTEST

There was one other recent return that had a fairly significant impact on the game, too: that of netminder Adin Hill, Vegas’s 2023 post-season hero.

After Logan Thompson started the first four games of this first-round matchup — and looked solid while doing so, with a 2-2 record and a .921 save percentage — Cassidy handed the reins to Hill for Game 5, with the series advantage on the line. The switch didn’t go as planned. Dallas wound up getting three by Hill, on 25 shots, to earn the win and push Vegas to the brink.

But the Cup-winning bench boss stuck with his gut in Game 6, sending his guy, Hill, out again. And this time, the netminder was flawless, turning aside 23 shots to earn the first shutout in this series, from either team, and just the third shutout of these playoffs overall so far.

It’s a familiar feeling for Hill and the Golden Knights, of course. Last year, it was in Game 3 of Round 2 that Hill was thrown into the fire, handed the keys to Vegas’s net against Connor McDavid and the high-flying Oilers after Laurent Brossoit bowed out with injury. He got rolling, and never looked back, holding down the fort for the rest of the Knights’ championship journey.

Cassidy and the Golden Knights faithful are surely hoping Game 6 is the start of a similar run.

CAPTAIN STONE CRUCIAL FOR KNIGHTS ON BOTH ENDS OF THE SHEET

Outside of Vegas, all the talk of Mark Stone’s return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs has focused only on the salary cap implications. Those on both sides of the debate surely have plenty to mull following this Game 6 performance.

First, there was Hanifin — the blue-chip defender added at the deadline courtesy of the hefy handful of LTIR space Vegas held — scoring the winner to keep this series going. And there was Stone — who likely drew the ire of every other Western Conference contender’s fanbase when he returned for Game 1 of this series — stepping up in the key moments again too, as he always seems to do.

The captain first came up clutch midway through the night, with the score still level, when a shorthanded Stars chance trickled past Hill and trickled towards the goal. Before it arrived, Stone was there, dashing in and pulling the puck off the line.

And in the final moments, with Vegas protecting a one-goal lead, the Stars pushing with all they had to get one by Hill, there was Stone tilting the ice from his own zone again, corralling the puck near his own goal line and wiring it down the ice for a full-length empty-netter to seal the victory.

Criticize the front office’s tactics, and the league’s LTIR rules, all you want, but there’s no question Stone’s resurgence has been impressive, the captain looking essential again after sitting on the sidelines since February.

UP NEXT: GAME 7, WINNER-TAKE-ALL

This one’s sure to leave a sour taste in the mouths of the Dallas Stars. After fighting back from an 0-2 series deficit to reel off three straight wins, the Stars missed the mark in the most important tilt in the series. And now their own backs are against the wall.

Staring down a do-or-die Game 7 to keep their season alive, this Dallas group risks a disappointing end to what’s been a phenomenal season. Should they lose, it would be a stiff step back for a club that reached the Conference Final last year, and finished 2023-24 as one of the league’s most dominant squads.

Still, the Stars have plenty of reason to believe the final game of this series will go their way. First, it’ll be back home in their own barn. Second, and most importantly, they have two of the game’s best Game 7 weapons at their disposal.

In Oettinger, the Stars have the owner of one of the finest Game 7 goaltending performances in NHL history, the young netminder’s 64 saves against Calgary in 2022’s first round ranking as the second-most all-time. And in veteran Joe Pavelski, they have a tried-and-true Game 7 practitioner. The 39-year-old has seven Game 7 wins under his belt — one more, and he’ll sit tied for the most Game 7 wins in NHL history.

The veteran is pointless through six games of this series so far. The Stars will need his best game to come Sunday night, at American Airlines Center.

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