It doesn’t happen often, and players of the Vegas Golden Knights sure don’t seem bothered by it this time.
The team begins its best-of-seven Western Conference final series at Colorado on Wednesday.
Begins it as a pretty noticeable underdog.
Makes sense. The Avalanche this season won the President’s Trophy for a fourth time for the best record in hockey.
You watch these playoffs and watch Colorado and it’s seemingly at a different level.
Colorado is a minus-265 betting favorite for the series at both the Westgate and Circa. It’s a minus-190 favorite for Game 1.
The Knights are at plus-225 for the series and plus-170 for Wednesday’s opener.
“It’s the Western Conference final and we’re excited about the opportunity,” Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “We feel good about ourselves right now. Just trying to build our game and get in good practices. Obviously, we have a good challenge ahead of us in Colorado. But there’s no extra motivation being (the underdog). We’re not thinking about all that outside stuff right now.
“They’re a good team — check well, fast, good players. Everybody knows they’re a good hockey team. But we are as well. We’re happy about our game, so I think right now we’re just focusing on what we need to do to keep improving.”
The role of underdog shouldn’t bother them and won’t.
Veteran players
Perhaps a younger room might get caught up in what people are saying — mostly that the Avalanche are just too good — but that won’t occur with a veteran team like the Knights.
Some of whose players know first-hand what it’s like to lift the Stanley Cup.
It is a different role for the Knights in these playoffs, who as a favorite eliminated both Utah and Anaheim in six games.
Who as a favorite imposed its will when needed most.
Closed out each series with 5-1 victories.
Which is what confident, veteran teams do.
“I don’t think it matters because we really don’t care,” center Tomas Hertl said. “We know we’re good enough. We know we can beat anybody in the league. It’s up to us.
“We’re not going to worry about everyone saying Colorado will beat us. We’re just looking to go game-by-game and make sure we’re ready for the first one — all four lines and our goalie. Just make sure we play our best hockey. If we do that, we definitely have a good chance to win.”
Both teams are experienced, a little bit older. Colorado has somewhat cruised to this point, sweeping the Kings before taking out Minnesota in five games.
So it’s true the Knights have to be better than they were over the opening two rounds. They have to elevate. They have to improve each game.
The series won’t lack for star power.
Mitch Marner leads the playoffs in points (18) for the Knights and Pavel Dorofeyev in goals with nine. Nathan MacKinnon has 13 points for the Avalanche.
Depth goes to the side of Colorado, which had 17 different players score over their first nine post-season games.
Testing a theory?
It’s not as if this has been an annual playoff matchup. The only previous meeting between the two occurred in 2021, when the Knights overcame a 2-0 deficit in the series to win in six games.
Vegas probably doesn’t want to test that theory a second time.
“I mean, we know who we’re going up against,” forward Brett Howden said. “There is always a lot of talk in the media about comparing teams, no matter who you’re playing. It’s always like that.
“But those of us in this room do a really good job of not letting any such talk be what we focus on. It’s not a thing for us. We’re focused on us. We’re focused on our game. We let all that other stuff stay on the outside.”
Believe him. They’re too experienced to care.
But it’s a pretty noticeable number.
There is no question who the favorite is. Who most expect to win.
Not that it bothers the Knights.
“No, not at all,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “We’re here. Them being favored doesn’t mean anything to us. We have a job to do and it’s important we’re all on the same page.”
Believe him, too.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
