Down and Out: Golden Knights, Mark Stone come up empty as season ends

By Justin Emerson

Thursday, June 24, 2021 | 11:04 p.m.

The first question asked to Mark Stone in the postgame news conference Thursday night at Bell Centre was about the emotions he was feeling.

“It’s a pretty terrible feeling,” Stone started answering bluntly before words failed him and he trailed off.

From the moment the camera turned on after the Golden Knights’ season-ending 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Playoff semifinals, Stone looked clearly despondent. As captain of the Golden Knights, Stone was supposed to be the player the team looked toward in big moments.

Whether it was a goal, an assist, a turnover or a hit, Vegas needed something from its best player.

But Stone played the worst hockey of his Golden Knights’ tenure at the worst time, recording no goals and no assists in a six-game series against the Canadiens. It was a disappointing end for a team with so much promise, and a disappointing end for a star who played so well until Vegas needed him most.   

"I got skunked this series. That can’t happen,” Stone said. “I’m the captain of this team, the leader of this team. I take a lot of responsibility for what just occurred."

Dating back to a scoreless outing in Game 6 against the Avalanche, Stone concludes the season on a seven-game streak without a point — his longest slump since the 2015-16 season when he was in Ottawa.

It was somewhat of a cruel case of history repeating as Stone also struggled in the semifinal round last season, managing only one goal and one assist while the Dallas Stars ousted the Golden Knights.

Only two players on Vegas’ roster, Stone and fourth-liner William Carrier, played more than half of the games in the Montreal series without recording a point. Stone’s lack of production was the shocker after he led the Golden Knights in the regular season with 40 assists and 61 points, both career-bests on a per-game basis in the shortened season.

In the first round of the playoffs against the Minnesota Wild, he led the team with four goals. Then, in the second round versus the Colorado Avalanche, he played lockdown defense to thwart what was considered the best line in hockey and carry Vegas to a monumental comeback after it lost the first two games in the series.

Stone slowed down from there, however, and the rest of the team followed suit. In the decisive Game 6, Stone was invisible — registering just one shot attempt that didn’t come until there was 3:33 remaining in regulation.  

It followed up a similarly uncharacteristic Game 5 where he was panned for a giveaway and a backcheck on Montreal’s third goal of the game. It was a rough series for Stone, who logged 17:10 of ice time in Game 6, the second-lowest total of his postseason run.

“I’m not surprised he’s taking that on himself, but that’s not a load he needs to carry, and definitely not alone,” coach Pete DeBoer said.

Stone is the captain and will get the lion’s share of the criticism, but there’s plenty of blame to go around for the Golden Knights’ defeat. The entire Vegas forward group had only three goals through the first games, and none of them came from its top scoring threats.

Max Pacioretty scored in Game 5 and Reilly Smith chipped in Vegas’ first goal as part of a terrific individual effort in Game 6, but the forwards collectively went dark for stretches far too long in the series.  

Shea Theodore also didn’t have the same pop from the blue line that he’s established over the last couple years. And a fatal misplay by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury directly led to Montreal’s Game 3 victory.

The power play was abysmal in going 0-for-15 in the series and had trouble keeping the zone at times, much less generating scoring chances. The Canadiens outplayed the Golden Knights drastically for two games in a row coming into Thursday’s eliminator.

Montreal’s game plan and execution were tremendous, but with a clear talent advantage, Vegas should have been able to do more. But the Canadiens continually prevented the Golden Knights from “getting to their game,” something Vegas stressed throughout the series.  

Game 6 was a virtual draw between two battle-tested playoff teams, with a slight edge to Vegas after a strong third period and start to overtime. Things started to shift Vegas’ way once Alec Martinez tied the game 1:08 into the third period, and the pace the Golden Knights implemented to start overtime had people thinking about Saturday’s Game 7 at T-Mobile Arena.

Vegas had the first four shot attempts in overtime, including a glorious chance from former Montreal captain Max Pacioretty. Goalie Carey Price swallowed it up, Vegas won the offensive zone faceoff, Martinez's shot went off Price's mask and Montreal went the other way on a rush, finishing with an Artturi Lehkonen wrister at the 1:39 mark of the extra period. 

“It’s a pretty empty feeling right now,” goalie Robin Lehner said. “Anytime you lose in the playoffs, the season’s over, it’s hard to take in. But one that I thought we battled hard and I’m really proud of our guys.”

It’s the third year in a row the Golden Knights’ season ended in overtime and the second year in a row it came with them as the higher seed. This might be the most disappointing ending to a season in team history.

There’s a strong argument for the infamous major penalty game in 2019, but that team didn’t have the look of a surefire Stanley Cup contender all year like this one did.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. The Golden Knights got past the hard part, surviving a late-series push from the Wild and overwhelming the President’s Trophy-winning Avalanche.

All their hard work in the regular season and the first two rounds gave them a gift — the 18th-ranked team from the regular season, one that came in as one of the bigger betting underdogs in semifinal history.

But the saying that the playoffs are a different beast from the regular season came true, and the Golden Knights are living proof. Whether it’s power-play ineptitude or a tightening game that suppresses Vegas’ offensive style, two years in a row the Golden Knights were shut down by a defensive-minded opponent.  

The core of the Vegas team that looked like an incessant bulldozer since the season began in January is still here and will be back in October for another go at hockey’s famed chalice. The captain knew that, and did what he could to look ahead for a positive spin.

That’s what a captain is supposed to do.

One look at Stone’s face after the loss, however, was telling about how much the loss wore on him and how it will take some time to get over. Stone and the Golden Knights will be OK someday, just not today.  

“We’ve had a lot of different heartbreaks,” Stone said. “I’m excited to learn from mistakes and try and build this team to a Stanley Cup winner, not just a contender.”