NHL Western Conference Finals Game 1- Dallas vs Vegas

Tonight Dallas is facing Vegas in Edmonton to kick off the conference finals. Vegas is coming off of a round-robin where they went undefeated including a 5-3 victory over these same Dallas Stars. After the round-robin, they handily beat the Chicago Blackhawks who were coming off a thrilling victory over the Edmonton Oilers and had already succeeded their expectations for the season. Then came a thrilling 7 game series with the upstart Vancouver Canucks in which the Golden Knights went up 3-1 only to be pushed to a 7th game by Canucks' backup Thatcher Demko who had replaced they already stellar Jacob Markstrom. The Knights' depth so far has proven to be the difference-maker of not having to rely only on the top line of Max Pacioretty-William Karlsson-Mark Stone. Shea Theodore has also proven his worth as an elite defenseman after being let go by the Anaheim Ducks in 2017 as result of the expansion draft. The only real question for Vegas has seemed to be answered with Robin Lehner starting the majority of games besides any back-to-back situations. As for the Stars they had a lackluster round-robin only salvaging one shootout win over the St.Louis Blues. The Stars then moved on and salvaged a 6 game series win against the Calgary Flames who were coming off an easy victory over the Winnipeg Jets. The Stars then faced the red hot Colorado Avalanche who lost their starting goalie Phillip Grubauer early in the series eventually turning to Maple Leafs castoff Michael Hutchison. The Stars went up 3-1 absolutley dominating the series until the Avalanche had a better all around game leading to an unpredictable game 7. Dallas got an oustanding performance from rookie Joel Kiviranta who scored a hat-trick including the overtime winner to advance the Stars. The question for the Stars remains Anton Khudobin in net and the uncertainty with Ben Bishop who played in the Colorado series but was quickly lit up and replaced with Khudobin. Tonight the Golden Knights are -170 favourites which begins to beg the question of Vegas the best team in the playoffs or the undeniable playoff magic of Dallas. For the whole series I can't decide yet so I'm going with the best team in Vegas to win this game.