Laurent Brossoit made 29 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 in Game 5 of their Western Conference First Round series at T-Mobile Arena.
"The biggest thing that stands out for me, [Brossoit] seems calm and collected", said Vegas forward Chandler Stephenson. "Whether it's a weird shot or one that sinks, something like that, he makes it seem effortless.
"You can see the confidence he's playing right now. To start [the season in the American Hockey League and] to be where he's at has been awesome to see."
Stephenson scored twice and had an assist and Mark Stone had a goal and two assists for the Golden Knights, who advance to the Western Conference semifinals against Edmonton.
"We were obviously very motivated to win that one", Brossoit said. "Tonight especially, you don't want to travel again if you can avoid it and take advantage of the rest. ... Start to finish, every line, every [defense] pairing was very motivated and playing at the top of their game."
Kyle Conner scored Winnipeg's only goal and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 21 shots.
"I'm so disappointed and disgusted right now", said Jets coach Rick Bowness. "This series we had no pushback. Their better players were so much better than ours. It's not even close."
Stephenson, Brossoit lead Golden Knights to second round
Stephenson set the tone from the beginning, scoring 50 seconds into the game as he tapped in Stone's pass from the slot.
It was the fourth time this postseason that Stone assisted on a Stephenson goal.
"Often times, you just find chemistry with a guy", Stone said. "We see each other's game very well. Maybe Chandler's speed backing guys off kind of gives me on the walls with the puck them on their heels a bit.
"Chemistry is weird. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Fortunately, we made it work."
Stone made it 2-0 a mere 42 seconds into the second period, gloving down a puck and roofing a wrist shot from the high slot.
"It was recationary. I wasn't planning on doing any of that", he said. "Happy to get that goal early on."
William Karlsson extended the Vegas lead to 3-0, taking a pass from Michael Amadio from the left faceoff circle and beating Hellebuyck.
Stephenson scored his second of the night with the Golden Knights on the power play as he one-timed a Stone pass from the inside edge of the left circle.
"It's always nice to get off to a good start. Not to hunt", Karlsson said. "It's better not to hunt. It's something we talked about. They came out strong the first two games here. We kind of wanted to be that team that gets off strong."
Connor scored with the Jets having the extra attacker after Hellebuyck was pulled.
Pierre-Luc Dubois thought he had made it 4-2 with 2:35 left, but Vegas challenged for a missed stoppage. Video review showed Blake Wheeler made a hand pass and the goal was disallowed.
Winnipeg outshot Vegas 16-2 in the third period.
"Up until the goalie came out for them, then it got a little hectic for us", said Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy. "We lost a little bit of our urgency, obviously, and execution in the third after probably the 10-minute mark.
"We weren't skating pucks and making plays. We made it interesting for 'LB'."