Golden Knights know 'series is still far from over' heading into Game 3

LAS VEGAS -- Ivan Barbashev started thinking after the Vegas Golden Knights won Game 2 on Sunday about four years ago, when he won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues, what that team was like, what made it successful, what worked so well and why.

That's when the forward realized what has been in front of him all along.

These Golden Knights, who lead the Dallas Stars 2-0 in the best-of-7 Western Conference Final because of two overtime wins on goals by Brett Howden in Game 1 and Chandler Stephenson in Game 2, have a lot of the same traits as those champion Blues from 2019.

"I see a lot of the similarities," Barbashev said Monday. "First of all, this team wants to win and every night we play, there's always somebody else who is going to step up. You see in these playoffs, especially going into overtime, (Michael) Amadio scored a goal (in overtime against the Winnipeg Jets in the first round), Howden, 'Stevie.' It's always somebody else that is going to step up and we have really been trying to make it hard for the other team to play against us, especially in our building. I go back to 2019 and that was the same thing."

What Barbashev also needs to remember is in 2019, the Blues had a 2-0 lead in the first round against the Jets and needed six games to win the series because they lost Games 3 and 4. They were also down in each of their next three series against the Stars, San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins, and came back to win.

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Ironically, seven players from the Stars that season are playing them in this series against Vegas: Forwards Jamie Benn, Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin, and defensemen Joel Hanley, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell. The Sharks were coached by current Dallas coach Peter DeBoer and had Stars forward Joe Pavelski. The Bruins were coached by current Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy.

Two years later in 2021, the Golden Knights were down 2-0 against the Colorado Avalanche in the second round but won the next four games.

The point is there's a lot of experience in this series and everybody knows what happens in Game 3 at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS) could be drastically different from what happened in Games 1 and 2 here.

"If you guys remember the first year [for the Golden Knights], no one thought we were going to win against Winnipeg in the semifinals and we won," Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "We thought that we hit our stride there and we won the first game in the [Stanley Cup] Final, and then we lose four in a row (to the Washington Capitals). There's so much more work to do.

"I don't want to think too far ahead. I think it's one of those things that kind of slipped away from us that year. I know that I learned from my mistakes from that year. You want to take it one game at a time. I don't want to think too far ahead. Right now, my head is in Game 3 in Dallas."

Cassidy told a similar story of his first experience in the playoffs as a coach 20 years ago.

"I was in Washington (in 2003), we were up 2-0 against Tampa and we lost the next four," he said. "So, for me, I know how quickly it can change and I'm sure these guys have been through some of those types of experience. We've won nothing. We've got a 2-0 lead. We're halfway there. We know we have to be a lot better."

It's perfect for Cassidy and his coaching staff that the Golden Knights won the way they did Sunday.

They won 3-2 with Stephenson scored 1:12 into overtime, but were not happy with how they played for at least the first 50 minutes of the game, when they were stifled in the neutral zone and made to look slow.

"The previous series were 1-1 (after two games) and in both of those against Winnipeg and Edmonton, we had a poor game and that's why it was 1-1," Cassidy said. "Yesterday, I didn't think we were on top of our game, but the difference between yesterday and the losses we had in earlier series against the other opponents is we were able to stick around. I think we recognized we weren't at our best so let's not let it get too far away until we can get to our game, if we can ever get to our game."

They did in the third period. Marchessault scored with 2:22 left because a strong forecheck led to a highlight-reel goal, and Stephenson got it done quickly in overtime.

But it's not as if the Golden Knights are coming into Game 3 riding the high of a perfect game, feeling invincible, like they can do no wrong.

They've won four games in a row and have done so by being, as Cassidy said, "imperfect."

Experience tells them they will have to be better in Dallas, where the Stars have won three in a row and are 5-2 in the playoffs.

Vegas is 4-1 on the road after going 26-7-8 in the regular season.

"We've got a lot of guys in that room that know what it takes and know that being up 2-0 this series is still far from over," Vegas captain Mark Stone said. "We know [the Stars] are going to bring their best game in Game 3 and if we don't do the same, we're not going to like the result."