Golden Knights may have to deal with NHL superstition
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Should the Golden Knights close out the Western Conference Final on Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets, they’ll have a tough decision to make.
The Western Conference winner is presented the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl. The captain accepts the trophy, usually from NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. But the Knights don’t have a captain. They have rotated six players as alternate captains.
So how will they handle it? Will they have one or more of their alternate captains skate over? Will the entire team accept the trophy? Or will they send goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to accept it?
The players aren’t talking about it. Their mindset is win the game first, then worry about protocol.
“Just win,” Fleury said Saturday. “Win one more game. We’ve been good all season long at focusing on the next game, trying to win that one, not look too far ahead. Forget about the past quickly. We’ve done that in the playoffs also.”
And should the Knights, who have a 3-1 series lead, get the Campbell Bowl, will they actually touch it? It’s one of the NHL’s superstitions that the only trophy players want to lay their hands on is the Stanley Cup.
But that’s not always the case. When Fleury was with the Pittsburgh Penguins, they picked up the Prince of Wales Trophy that goes to the Eastern Conference champion. Each time they touched it, they went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Last year, when the Nashville Predators won the Campbell Bowl, they posed with it, but nobody touched it. The Predators lost to the Penguins in six games in last year’s Stanley Cup Final. But four of the past six teams that didn’t touch the Campbell hoisted the Cup.
According to NHL.com, the last team to touch the Campbell was the 2004 Calgary Flames, who lost the Cup to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Marchessault ties record
With his assist on William Karlsson’s first-period goal in Game 4 Friday, Jonathan Marchessault tied an NHL record for most points by a player in his team’s inaugural Stanley Cup playoffs appearance.
Marchessault, who has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists), tied Jude Drouin of the 1975 New York Islanders and Igor Larionov of the 1994 San Jose Sharks.
Watch party reminder
The Knights will host a Game 5 watch party at Toshiba Plaza with the game being shown on the facade of T-Mobile Arena.
Admission is free, and fans are encouraged to get there by 11 a.m. The game begins at noon.
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Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.
