They were tied with the Winnipeg Jets for the last wildcard spot in the Western Conference with a record of 24-19-6 and were sporting a goals differential of minus-1. Less than seven months after playing in the Western Conference final, the San Jose Sharks fired DeBoer, and he was brought in a month later to replace a guy who had been to the Stanley Cup final with one of the most unlikely teams in NHL history 20 months prior to that.Any resemblance between the team that went to the Stanley Cup final two years ago and this season’s Golden Knights is purely coincidental. There won’t be any fanfare in these games. DeBoer also leaned a lot more on his top-four defensemen more than Gallant did. We’ll all be at home together, watching what could either be a remarkable playoff run, or another shocking disappointment.Who will be the X-Factors as Vegas tries another run at the Cup?Related: Welcome to what might be the weirdest Stanley Cup Playoffs we’ve ever seen.The Knights will square off against St. Louis, Colorado and Dallas.Hockey on TV. And with it, the quest for the Stanley Cup … The Golden Knights leveraged their expansion draft thievery and the players and prospects they gained from it to make substantial additions to their roster. In the seven games the Golden Knights played after the deal, Lehner played in three and won all of them, sporting a .940 save percentage. We’ll find out.Welcome to the show for the third straight year.Buckle up, and get ready for Golden Knights playoff hockey yet again. There’s reason to believe this one could do that team one better on the ice as well.Ken Campbell, The Hockey News' senior writer, is in his second tour with the brand after an eight-year stint as a beat reporter for the Maple Leafs for the Toronto Star. That led to 10-bellers going the other way, chances that seemed to be going past Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban far too often. Steve Marcus. 1. The Knights progressively got back to being the speedy and dangerous team they were in their first season.The addition of Alec Martinez at the trade deadline basically coincided with the Golden Knights defensemen being more assertive and offensively productive, but there’s no doubt his addition bolstered the blue line and gave the players on the roster the impression that management was willing to make a move to try to put them over the top. From their inception, the Knights had forged their identity with speed and puck movement, but leading up to Gallant’s dismissal there didn’t seem to be much discipline in their game. ... Trotz coached 1,524 regular-season games and 108 more in the playoffs before getting the opportunity to coach in the Stanley Cup …