RALEIGH – Mere seconds into the first shift of Tuesday's Stanley Cup final opener, Shea Theodore made the kind of mistake that would have crushed the younger version of himself.

A bad pinch at the offensive blue line, a turnover, and Nik Ehlers was gone. One clean finish later, Vegas was down 1–0 before the half-minute mark.

Lenovo Center exploded.

It was the sort of moment that used to unravel him.

Kevin Bieksa remembers those days well, because he lived them. As Theodore’s first NHL defence partner in Anaheim, Bieksa saw a talented but fragile kid who could be derailed by a single miscue.

“He would let one mistake really get him down, and it would eat at him for a while,” said the Hockey Night in Canada analyst.

“He didn’t have that maturity yet.”

On Tuesday, Theodore simply glanced up at the Jumbotron, watched the replay of his error, smiled, shook his head, and moved on. That reaction — that calm, that confidence — is exactly why he was the natural to succeed Alex Pietrangelo as the Golden Knights’ No. 1 defenceman, the heartbeat of their blue line, and the player everyone looks to when things wobble.

And it’s why the rest of the team subsequently followed his lead, en route to a 5-4 comeback victory to steal home-ice advantage from the Hurricanes.

Because after that early mistake,........

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