Well, the Vegas Golden Knights' first playoff series went pretty well.
The Knights completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, shutting out the Kings 1-0. It's only the third time in North American pro sports history that a team swept its first playoff series in franchise history. For Vegas, it came in their inaugural season. Pretty incredible.
Tuesday's game was the same old story: The Golden Knights' pressure left the Kings frustrated and L.A. couldn't get any offense going. The two teams hung tight in a defensive battle featuring great goaltending on both ends, but it was the Golden Knights who came out on top.
As some extra salt in the wound, Vegas's lone goal on Tuesday came from Brayden McNabb, whom the Golden Knights poached from the Kings last June in the expansion draft.
WOW. Former LA King Brayden McNabb with a BEAUTY for the @GoldenKnights! 🤩
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) April 18, 2018
Watch the #StanleyCup Playoffs here → https://t.co/LD27O2U7Qy pic.twitter.com/eYVFyWNHxt
The story of the 2017-2018 Kings' demise was their inability to get anything going offensively. They struggled with offensive droughts during the season, but nothing compared to what they experienced during this series. They scored three goals in four games, including two shutouts.
And amazingly, despite that incredible lack of production, Los Angeles lost every game by a single goal.
Of course, Marc-Andre Fleury didn't make it easy on the Kings offensive unit. He remained spectacular in net for Vegas in Game 4, stopping all 31 shots he faced. Some of them weren't easy.
Marc-Andre Fleury robs Kopitar pic.twitter.com/cyKyYhSy0z
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 18, 2018
In total, Fleury stopped 127 of 130 shots in the series -- a .977 save-percentage. To think that once upon a time, the knock against Fleury was that he didn't perform well in the playoffs ... well, that take hasn't aged well.
Of course, Jonathan Quick was pretty damn good in net himself on the other end of the ice, but the lack of support in front of him means his playoff run has ended after four games.
As for the Knights, they should have plenty of time to rest up before next round, where they'll play the winner of the Sharks-Ducks series. (The Sharks. They're going to play the Sharks.)