Analysis: Shea Theodore is the key to Golden Knights' playoff hopes

Shea Theodore found the score sheet in both of the Vegas Golden Knights’ victories in their current Stanley Cup Playoff opening round series against the Minnesota Wild with highlight-worthy plays.

The 29-year-old defenseman was shut out in both of the losses and made a handful of uncharacteristic mistakes that directly led to scores on the other side.

The correlation of Vegas’ results with Theodore’s play in the series, which is tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 at 6:30 p.m. tonight at T-Mobile Arena, is no coincidence.

“He’s an important player for us,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said of Theodore going into the playoffs. “Drives a lot of offense from the o-zone blue line through neutral-zone transition…We feel our d-core is as good as anybody’s if not better than anybody’s in the league and he’s a big part of that.”

So big that Theodore might have the most outsized impact of anyone on the team in the Golden Knights’ playoff run this season.

Vegas needs him to play like one of the best defenseman in the NHL, as he did for most of the season while healthy, for any hope at a fifth-ever conference championship appearance and third Stanley Cup Final berth.

More of that top-level scrutiny or pressure to produce is directed toward top-line forwards Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, a pair that’s been outplayed by the Wild’s star duo of Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy to this point.

But Cassidy’s teams have always been driven by their defensive units, and he’s placed extra emphasis on it with this year’s group. As deep and well-rounded as the Golden Knights’ blue line is from top to bottom, none of the other defenseman have a two-way ceiling as high as Theodore’s.

Alex Pietrangelo remains a highly useful player whose legacy in hockey history is secure with his name twice on the Stanley Cup, but he’s now 35 years old and exiting his prime. Noah Hanifin can be every bit as valuable as Theodore on his best nights but he’s settled into a steadier form this season than maintaining the scorching play he showed upon getting traded to the Golden Knights last year.

So, it comes down to Theodore to lead the most essential part of the Golden Knights’ attack.

Vegas will need more moments like his shot-fake-turned-assist to Pavel Dorofeyev for a go-ahead goal in Game 1 and his power-play wrister from the top of the slot to start Game 4 scoring.

“I’m trying to get some confidence,” Theodore said of his goal after Sunday’s Game 4. “Sometimes in the playoffs, it seems like nothing goes right and (it’s) a couple bounces here and there. I’m happy to turn it around and get one on the board.”

Theodore’s playoff production has been mixed in the past. While Theodore starred on the pair of teams that won multiple rounds under former coach Pete DeBoer — including chipping in a staggering seven goals and 19 points during the 2020 “bubble” postseason — he played more of a secondary role in the Golden Knights’ two most memorable runs.

He wasn’t one of the four Golden Knights who drew Conn Smythe Trophy votes as the playoffs’ most valuable player during their Cup-winning season two years ago, and probably wouldn’t have been among the next four runners-up either.

While he flashed his potential during the beloved inaugural team’s tear to the final, Theodore was only 21-years-old at the time and still coming into his own.

Last year’s postseason was particularly trying for Theodore and presumably what he was referencing when talking about not getting the bounces in the playoffs.

He was a nonfactor in a seven-game, first-round series loss to the Dallas Stars, failing to register a point or make any other discernible difference.

It was a disappointing end to Theodore’s ninth season in the NHL, but he had more than atoned for it this year before another challenge presented itself. He broke his wrist playing for Team Canada in the first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off and missed six weeks to prevent him from further adding to a career year where he had 57 points in 67 games.

But Theodore has persevered through it all and taken lessons along the way to strengthen himself now.

“I think this time of year, experience is a big thing and we’ve got a lot of guys who are still on the team from when we won,” Theodore said. “So, taking that and we’ve added some great pieces to continue building that…We like where we’re at.”

Minnesota has outscored Vegas by three goals on the series as a whole and looked like the far more physical team, so there are reasons for concern in what’s now a de facto best-of-three series — just not internally.

The Golden Knights are confident. Cassidy called out the team’s best players after the Game 2 loss and said they needed to wake up.

He feels like they’ve done it ever since, even in the Game 3 loss. Theodore was among those who met the challenge in Game 4, which Cassidy intimated was the Golden Knights’ best performance yet despite needing overtime for the win.

“We were on our toes the whole night,” Theodore said of Game 4. “It felt like we didn’t really fall back, and I don’t think we really gave up much. We’re looking to continue that for Game 5.”