Player depth will be key for Golden Knights in Western Conference Finals

By Jesse Granger

Monday, May 7, 2018 | 2 a.m.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Every day when the Golden Knights finish practice — long after the star players have changed back into their street clothes and the hundreds of crazed fans have filed out of City National Arena — the sound of pucks crashing against the glass and skates cutting through the ice lingers.

It’s the sound of players trying to earn their way into the lineup.

The healthy scratches (players not part of the active 20-man roster on game days) remain after practice to work, improve and stay ready all season for the Golden Knights. Now, deep in the playoffs, the team is reaping the rewards.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are often described as a prolonged, torturous stretch of hockey that leaves teams mangled. The roster that emerges from the heap the healthiest often wins.

But the Golden Knights are now halfway to hoisting the Cup and have more players than they can use. The Knights on Sunday advanced to the Western Conference finals by eliminating the Sharks in six games.

“It shows the depth of our team,” forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. “We have three guys that have come into the lineup in the last two games and it’s not easy to do that. Those guys have been waiting and preparing, and they have done an unbelievable job.”

Oscar Lindberg, Luca Sbisa and Ryan Reaves hadn’t played a minute in the postseason until the last two games against the Sharks. Reaves' number was called due to an injury to fourth-line forward William Carrier; Sbisa and Lindberg were inserted by coach Gerard Gallant to provide a spark.

“Hungry guys ready to play,” Gallant said after Friday’s win. “I want competitive guys in there playing. When you lose a game sometimes you go through with your coaching staff and see a guy like Lindberg working hard in practice.”

Vegas has played 15 forwards and seven defensemen in the postseason.

“It shows how much character we have in the room and how much guys are ready to just jump in and play for the team,” Bellemare said. “It’s not fun to lose guys, but it’s cool to see the guys that come up late like this bring new energy and not even look like they missed any games.”

Reaves made his playoff debut in Sunday’s win, leading the team with eight hits in 10 minutes of ice time after sitting out the previous nine games as a healthy scratch.

“You just stay ready,” Reaves said. “You work during practice and after practice to make sure you’re ready for the game pace. I was keeping it simple but playing hungry still. In playoff hockey everything gets ramped up, so I definitely didn’t want to pick up where I left off, that’s for sure.”

The players’ willingness to sit out and still work hard is equally impressive. Every player says the right things when they’re benched, but these Golden Knights seem genuine.

“Obviously you never want to be taken out of the lineup, but I don’t think I was playing my best hockey for the last three weeks of the season and you have to go with the best lineup,” Reaves said.

Having too many quality players can only be a good thing, unless they don’t react well to sitting out games.

“Our guys trust each other, and that’s something you can’t build over time,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “That’s something that you need to know in the locker room with what you have, and I believe we have it with this group.”

After losing to the Golden Knights in six games, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer wasn’t most impressed by Vegas’ relentless forecheck, its 43-goal scorer in William Karlsson, or its all-star goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

“I thought we were the hardest working team in the league before this series, but this team works hard every day for Gerard (Gallant),” DeBoer said. “Vegas deserves to be moving on. They played great. They finished the chances when they needed to. I wish them the best of luck.”

The Golden Knights now await the winner of Nashville and Winnipeg, who will battle it out for at least one more game while Vegas gets even more rest.

“They’re both great, outstanding teams,” Gallant said. “I hope they play a bunch of periods of overtime tomorrow night, and they go seven games and the same thing happens again.”

Even Gallant, who seems practically incapable of making a wrong move with the lineup, gets a few days of tranquility.

“I’m going to go home tonight and relax,” he said with a giant smile. “I still have my grandkids there, so the next couple of days are going to be awesome. Getting up at 6:30 and playing with them for a while.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.