Mark Stone unhappy with how his team handled the regular season
The final matchup of the first round series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars was decided on Sunday night. When looking at the quality of players on both teams, this could have easily been a Western Conference Final if the standings would have played out this way.
The series was so close that the final score was decided by one goal four times, and the other three times needed an empty-net goal.
In the end a very good team would be eliminated in the first round and that was Vegas, by a score of 2-1 in Game 7. The loss ended the Knights chance of winning back-to-back championships after going on their Stanley Cup run last year.
Vegas captain Mark Stone reflected on the loss post game, revealing that he wishes his team would have gotten a few more wins in the regular season to going into the playoffs as the eighth seed.
"We felt like we definitely had a team that had a chance to go on a long run,» said Stone. Probably would have been better off putting ourselves in a better position in the regular season. Never easy coming in as the 8-seed and trying to beat all the top teams at the start.»"
Vegas go into the offseason with most of the core signed to long-term contracts and very little cap space. Tough decisions will need to be made on pending UFAs and long-time Knights Alec Martinez, Chandler Stephenson and leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault.
POLL |
Do you think the Knights bring back leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault? |
Yes, somehow they make it happen | 150 | 49.3 % |
Nope, unfortunately no cap space for him | 154 | 50.7 % |
List of polls |
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