Previewing the Stars-Golden Knights playoff series

My pal Bob Sturm joins me for a conversation heading into Round 1 of the postseason.

Happy Friday, we finally have an NHL playoff schedule.

Here it is:

Of course, a large portion of the readers here at Shap Shots are focused on the series between the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights.

To properly get that conversation going, I had a chat with my good pal Bob Sturm, from Sturm Stack, to break down the series for both our respective audiences.

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Bob: Well Sean, it wasn’t what everyone was hoping for as the Vegas Golden Knights have put the fear of the hockey gods in nearly every fan across the league to draw them in Round 1. They have a reputation that precedes them into every rink for good reason. They play a style of playoff hockey that gets strong results and an occasional lift of the Cup. But, Thursday Night proved that like it or not, it is time to reference hockey historian Ric Flair and to suggest that the Stars are going to have to beat the man to be the man.

Like it or not, here they come. Just how freaked out should everyone be at this stupendous draw to reward Dallas for 113 points this season?

Sean: It is about the worst possible “reward” for winning the Western Conference in the regular season, right? 

Something feels odd about being the best amongst your peers for 82 games and then drawing the boogeyman in Round 1. 

But, and this is where I tend to differ from some others, I think this is the best possible time for Dallas to get Vegas. 

Vegas is a machine that has to get humming, and once it does, it’ll be impossible to slow down. The Golden Knights stylistically have an upperhand on most teams in the West and I’d have favored them in any series against one of the top-three teams in the Pacific Division. 

With that line of thinking, and I believe in the big picture right now, I’d rather take down the machine before it goes full terminator mode since no one else is going to do it for me. 

Injuries are also going to play a role in the playoffs, it’s an inevitable thing at this time of year. I’d rather focus on Vegas with the freshest version of the Stars, like we have now, then I would when some wonky injury throws a wrench into the system in the Western Conference Final. 

Also if you take out the man, like our pal Mr. Flair suggested, this team is gonna be a steamroller the rest of the way.