Cassidy's trust in himself and his players got Knights back on track

LAS VEGAS — Before the playoffs began, someone asked Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy if he had any superstitions or game-day rituals.

Cassidy said that years ago he would sing the same song en route to the rink. What song it was, he wouldn’t say. But in light of what transpired in Game 4 in St. Paul Saturday, may I suggest the coach revive the ritual and start humming Billy Joel’s “A Matter Of Trust.”

If ever there was a word that defined the Knights’ performance in their 4-3 overtime win at the Xcel Energy Center, it’s “Trust.” Cassidy made several moves, some subtle, some not so subtle. And in the end, the Knights evened the series at 2-2 and have renewed energy heading into Tuesday’s pivotal Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena.

Coaches are not normally awarded one of the Three Stars at the conclusion of a match. But you could make a case for Cassidy being the first star of Game 4. Virtually every button he pushed was the right one and his players responded in kind.

He stuck with Adin Hill as his goaltender after Hill had struggled in Game 3 and found himself benched in the third period. Realistically, starting Akira Schmid would have sent a bad message to the team and would have been a shot across the bow for Hill’s confidence.

Hill responded with a strong performance in Game 4 and he’s going to be a critical component going forward if the Knights intend on winning this series and advancing to the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Cassidy also knew he had to shake things up somewhat. He opted to sit Victor Olofsson and insert veteran Tanner Pearson, he of the two Stanley Cup rings. He knew Pearson would be ready to step in and that he could play him up and down the lineup if necessary.

Pearson didn’t find his way onto the scoresheet. He only played 8:49, the least TOI of any Golden Knight. Yes, he was a minus-1 for the contest. But still, he was able to block a couple of shots, had four shots on goal and he probably deserved more time than he got.

But the big move by Cassidy was his willingness to separate his two stars — Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. The duo had been struggling going into Game 4 and by having Stone play with Tomas Hertl and Brett Howden skate with Eichel, the Wild couldn’t focus all their defensive attention on Eichel; and Stone. Both finally got their first points of the playoffs, Eichel assisting win Shea Theodore’s first-period power-play goal, Stone getting the helper on Hertl’s third-period goal that gave Vegas a 3-2 lead.

And Theodore, who had one of the worst nights of career when he was a minus-4 in the 5-2 Game 2 loss, also bounced back with a more Theodore-like performance in Game 4. Cassidy probably could’ve done something drastic like bench his star defenseman, but that would’ve probably done more harm than good, especially within the Knights’ room.

Instead, he showed confidence in Theodore, kept him on the ice with Brayden McNabb, his longtime partner, and Theodore responded with a strong Game 4.

Cassidy also showed trust in his staff. When Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon scored near the midway point of the third period to tie the game 3-3, Cassidy could’ve challenged for goaltender interference. If he was wrong, it would’ve meant a delay of game penalty and potentially more momentum for the Wild.

He has complete faith in video coach Dave Rogowski to determine whether or not to challenge. And he wisely used his time out to make absolutely sure what to do.

Ultimately, the Knights didn’t challenge, Spurgeon’s goal stood and we played on. But Cassidy’s trust in his staff (there’s that word again!) paid off.

“It’s a two-way street,” Cassidy said Monday after practice at City National Arena when it came to trust. “It’s something you build over time.

“We had a good playoff run the first year. That’s a great way to build trust. You try not to take them out of their element, a tweak here and there. But the lines are different. You’ve got to talk to players and see how they feel about that. Because the top guys are under a lot of scrutiny so you’re trying to help them out.”

Stone said Cassidy’s track record makes him easy to trust when it comes to making changes.

“You have to have trust in your coaches and the coach has to have trust in his players,” Stone said. “You have to believe together. You’re not going anywhere if your coach doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing and I think if the coach doesn’t believe in his players, he ain’t going too far either.

“Sometimes you just need a spark, you need a change. We really weren’t producing 5-on-5 as a whole. So we changed things up and sure enough, we started to take over the game. We created a lot of O-zone time in the second half of the game and I thought the chemistry was pretty good even though we hadn’t played together a lot. So it was a good time to switch things up. You make the switch and hope it works and it worked.”

Look for Cassidy to leave things as they are when they drop the puck at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. But if things aren’t going well, don’t be surprised if he hits the blender button once again. Whatever he does, he’ll do so knowing the players have his back and that he has theirs.

Trust. It’s a beautiful thing. Especially when change brings with it the desired result — that being success.