Chandler Stephenson knows the feeling.
Five years ago, he and his Washington Capitals teammates made the trip to Las Vegas, where they won the Stanley Cup after beating the Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Finals.
Now wearing the colors of the Golden Knights, Stephenson and his teammates have left Florida just one win away from lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time in team history.
“It’s a game different from all the others. There’s a lot more emotion and everything is heightened, Stephenson said. We’re one win away from realizing many guys’ dreams. »
They try not to think too much about this dream – at least not yet.
The Golden Knights can lift the Stanley Cup on Tuesday night if they beat the Panthers at home. For now, the immediate task for players and coaches is not to dwell too much on the fact that they are so close to the goal.
Veteran defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who captained the St. Louis Blues when the team won the Stanley Cup for the first time in club history four years ago, said it’s possible to think too much about certain things in this situation.
His approach?
“You’re trying to take your brain away from it,” he said. You’re resting, spending time with your family, and ready to get back to work. »
The work so far has been virtually flawless. The Golden Knights were clearly the better team in this final. If they hadn’t been victims of a late comeback in Game 3, they could have brought the Stanley Cup back to Las Vegas on Sunday.
The work is not done, however, and head coach Bruce Cassidy knows full well what it’s like to stop at just one Stanley Cup win. His Boston Bruins lost to the Pietrangelo Blues in the seventh and final game, in 2019.
Cassidy is therefore not satisfied to be at this point, regardless of how well his team has played so far.
“We’re going to jump on the ice and we’re going to work on some things that we think we can improve on, based on what we’ve seen from the previous four games. Our preparation will be similar to other games. We know we have the opportunity to knock out our opponents, I don’t need to tell the players that,” Cassidy expressed.
What is at stake is a dream that Stephenson, Pietrangelo, Ivan Barbashev, Alec Martinez and Jonathan Quick have already lived. Their other teammates are still on standby.
Some have been there for a long time, including the six players from the Golden Knights edition that lost to the Capitals in 2018, as well as captain Mark Stone.
The Panthers have to do something to turn the wind around. They scored twice to close the gap in Game 4, but their comeback attempt came to a halt.
The Florida squad erased a 3-1 deficit in the first-round series against the Bruins, who had just set NHL records for most wins and most points scored in a single season . This experience could be useful.
“You take things out of the routine from this experience,” noted head coach Paul Maurice. Sometimes there is an advantage for the team that is down 3-1 because they can play with that mental freedom. However, you’re down 3-1 for a reason. The other team was clearly better, but we have experience in this situation and we will use it. »