Vegas has no fear of playing on the road, while Washington is just 4-5 at home in the playoffs.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 At home, the Vegas Golden Knights have a fortress to protect, a Knight to vanquish opponents and Michael Buffer to introduce the combatants.
On the road, they have hockey.
The Golden Knights are looking for a little road cookin\u2019 as the Stanley Cup finals against the Capitals go to Washington for Games 3 on Saturday night with the series tied at one game apiece. They\u2019re 6-2 on the road so far in the playoffs.
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be good we get on the road,\u201d forward Jonathan Marchessault said. \u201cI think we got comfortable there a little bit. It\u2019s going to be good to just keep it simple and play our game on the road.\u201d
Vegas is plenty comfortable on home ice, 7-2 even after dropping Game 2 Wednesday. That\u2019s a far cry from the Capitals, who are 4-5 at home.
Road success has been a hallmark of each team\u2019s run to the finals. Vegas won two of three games in a tough building in Winnipeg in the Western Conference finals and has plenty of confidence playing away from home.
\u201cWe try and play the same game no matter what building we\u2019re playing at, and it worked really well so far in the postseason,\u201d Coach Gerard Gallant said Thursday. \u201cWe just try and play the same game \u2013 play a quick, fast game, an up-tempo game. Every game\u2019s important in the playoffs, so I really don\u2019t think it matters if you\u2019re playing at home or on the road. Just make sure you\u2019re focused for that game.\u201d
Focus can be hard to keep at an arena on the Las Vegas Strip where the pregame entertainment is the talk of the NHL. The Golden Knights scored the first goal and allowed the next two in each of the first two games this series, which isn\u2019t how they got to this point.
After a 3-2 loss, Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt said the message going to his old hometown of Washington is: \u201cPlay more direct. Play to our strengths. Try not to get sucked into the transition game that they want to play.\u201d
His former teammates would be wise to listen. For some reason, the Capitals\u2019 game has been better on the road where they can slow things down and take advantage of odd-man rushes.
Three rounds in, they haven\u2019t quite figured out how to do that at home. But Coach Barry Trotz doesn\u2019t think there\u2019s a systemic problem with his team at home.
\u201cI think you try to bring some of the things that you do on the road,\u201d Trotz said. \u201cWe\u2019ll get some energy off our crowd and hopefully you want to get the other team on their heels when you\u2019re at home a little bit just as you do on the road. I just think managing the puck is key for us at home. When we do that well, we do it well and we\u2019re pretty effective.\u201d
Gallant concedes that his top line of Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith will have to play against whoever Trotz wants because the Capitals get the last line change on the road. That\u2019s one big plus for the Capitals, who might not have top center Evgeny Kuznetsov after he left Game 3 with an apparent left arm or wrist injury.
\u201cWe can get some matchups that we actually prefer,\u201d Trotz said. \u201cIt should be fine. We\u2019re very comfortable at home. Our record over the last four years at home was one of the best in the National Hockey League, so I think that\u2019ll get back to where we want it to be.\u201d
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