Or maybe it wasn't the most unlikely group to get the right attitude, precisely BECAUSE it isn't the most talented group. Having lost some of the supposed talent and depth that was perhaps thought to be sufficient to win a championship, it finally sank in to this group of players that they had to find some other way to win than simply trying to outskill the opposition.
I happen to think that this series is not over by a longshot, and it isn't because I think that this team is all of a sudden going to discard what got them here. My thinking is that Vegas is good in its own right (if a little bit of a one-trick pony maybe), and the problem with hockey is that it is a largely random game. It happens all the time that the team that is better, or plays better on a particular day, still doesn't win the game. If Fleury suddenly finds his mojo again, this series could end up being very iffy again.
Depends what you mean by talented. This group was built for stats and primarily entertainment purposes, on basis of 6 of the “top 9” being one way offensive players, with one popular shoot-out specialist, with Backstrom to clean up the mental mistakes and Willie to makeup for all their lack of physicality. So lack of skill wasn’t the issue.
But somehow, they are playing with the attitude, intensity and hustle that Beagle, Wilson, Stephenson, and DSP show naturally. Hell I’d go as far as to say Bura, Varna, and Connelly playing like this is more unlikely and improbable than Beagle dangling through two defenders, then doing a toe drag, spin,backhand flip over the goalies shoulder, knocking the Gatorade bottle up and then catching it himself. So possible however extremely, very unlikely
Whatever got a big portion of a group to care more about the Stanley Cup than the World Cup (or whatever that other tournament is), agree, and learn to play a system that will in the playoffs, and at the intensity needed is a mystery.
Did Ovie finally say “This is my fuckin team, this is how we’re gonna play, follow me”? Did Trotz make it clear to Bura, Connolly, Varna, etc., that they can easily be replaced by players who would do what tells them? Both? Who knows, but I can almost guarantee most of this team just didn’t turn to playoff mode like a Wilson, Beagle, Stephenson, or DSP does naturally.
As for Vegas, Maaco did predict a Fluery meltdown, which we saw. Now the bet is which Fluery will we see now. As for them changing things up, Gallants been giving us a gift.
What got them here as worked great up til now, but that can run out. VGK is loaded with players with IQ that have played different systems. To assume that they couldn’t tweek the system, the lines, the matchups to adjust to what we’re doing, leaves few things other than stubbornness as an explication.
One of those could very well be fatigue. They played three series against teams that were to a man bigger, stronger, and meaner than anyone we did.
This leaves a dangerous opponent. If Fleury comes back to form, Gallant plays a chess game, and that results in them owning the tempo. . . It may not be pretty
