Golden Knights loss shows how difficult it is to win Stanley Cup

Pete DeBoer mentioned the Tampa Bay Lightning on two occasions during his final media availability of the season Saturday.

The Lightning will play for their second consecutive Stanley Cup starting Monday and are appearing in the final for the third time since 2015. But as the Golden Knights coach pointed out, between that first appearance and winning it all last season, Tampa Bay experienced its share of disappointment.

Two Game 7 losses in the Eastern Conference Final. An ignominious first-round sweep after tying the NHL record for wins. And one season (2016-17) when the Lightning missed the playoffs entirely.

“There’s pain,” DeBoer said. “I can tell you, I really felt we were closer this year than we were in the bubble. But obviously not there yet.”

The scab from the Knights’ loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup semifinals was still raw Saturday, two days after their season ended in overtime of Game 6.

Despite reaching the third round in back-to-back postseasons, the Knights are still learning what it takes to reach the top of the mountain.

“I think this was our best team,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “It’s hard to win. You have to continue to get better whatever ways that you can. Obviously like everyone in the organization, extremely disappointed not to be moving on to the Stanley Cup Final.”

The Knights overcame early-season COVID concerns and salary cap misery to become the league’s only 40-win team. They battled Colorado down to the wire for the Presidents’ Trophy, which goes to the team with the best regular-season record, and closed two playoff series at home.

But they bowed out at the same stage of the playoffs for the second straight season and haven’t solved how to get past defensive-minded teams such as the Canadiens or Dallas in 2020.

“We had the group to definitely win, but that’s just not how the Stanley Cup works,” goalie Robin Lehner said. “Obviously we have a couple of small things left to do to kind of get over that hump. But it’s disappointing for sure because we have a hell of a group and some fantastic players, great organization. We have all the tools.”

The Knights aren’t alone in feeling postseason disappointment. The New York Islanders lost in the third round the past two seasons and are asking similar tough questions of how to get past Tampa Bay. Washington knocked on the door for several years before breaking through in 2018.

Defenseman Alec Martinez noted the Los Angeles Kings were bounced in the conference final in 2013 between their two Stanley Cups.

“It’s a tough league to win, and the parity is so high and so close that a couple bounces here or there, you’re pushed out of the way,” Reilly Smith said. “Sometimes the stars don’t align.”

The Knights head into the offseason expected to make changes to the roster, though McCrimmon said it’s too early to determine whether a major overhaul to the team’s core is required.

Marc-Andre Fleury and Lehner combined to win the Jennings Trophy (the award for fewest goals allowed) but it might not be feasible to allocate $12 million in salary cap space to the goaltending position again.

Martinez is one of four unrestricted free agents on the NHL roster, along with forwards Patrick Brown, Mattias Janmark and Tomas Nosek. The Knights are projected to have a little more than $5.2 million in salary cap space according to CapFriendly.com and PuckPedia.com.

The power play also needs an upgrade. DeBoer said that unit “isn’t a this-year problem,” hinting that a change in personnel rather than coaching is required for it to improve.

“I do think we’re close,” captain Mark Stone said. “We didn’t win, so we’re going to have to look back and see what we can improve on. I think our system is there. We’re great in our (defensive) zone all year. We scored goals all year. Couldn’t get the job done again in the same spot. We’ll be back. We really like where this team is and we’ll find ways to improve it.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.