This was a game of 2 teams headed in different directions. The St. Louis Blues had lost their last 3 games; their goaltender, Jordan Binnington, had given up 15 goals in his last 3 games and was pulled in his last game. The VGK were 5-1-1 in the last 7 games and Marc-André Fleury had a 1.64 GAA on the road, the best in the league.
The stage was set for Vegas to finally win a game in St. Louis, which they hadn’t done in the previous 3 games played in St. Louis.
They turned in a good solid performance in the first period. They responded quickly to the first goal by Mackenzie MacEachern 4:52 into the game when Max Pacioretty scored just 25 seconds after MacEachern’s goal. Then William Carrier added his 4th goal of the season at the 12:28 mark to take a 2-1 lead into the 2nd period. It was Carrier’s 9th point of the season in 33 games. Last year, Carrier played in 54 games and had 9 points for the entire season (8G, 1A). This season, he has 4G and 5A. Things were looking like the trend of both teams were going to hold form and Vegas would keep their foot on the gas pedal and win in St. Louis for the first time.
Not so. The Blues have a record of 12-0-4 when they score the first goal and weren’t going to roll over. Even though Alex Tuch had his 2nd breakaway on Binnington off the opening faceoff of the 2nd period, he was denied again. If Tuch scored there, things would have been different, as a 3-1 lead would have been a tough task for the Blues to overcome, especially with Fleury between the pipes.
But the Fleury we all saw on Tuesday night against Chicago wasn’t the same goaltender we saw last night. His 1.64 GAA was pierced when St. Louis scored 3 unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead they never surrendered.
The Blues came out for the 2nd period on a mission. They were quick on the puck; they pressured the defense of Vegas and took away the stretch pass that Vegas had found once again in their last few games. Vegas offered no resistance to the Blue surge in the 2nd period — minus the breakdown that allowed Tuch’s breakaway seven seconds into the 2nd period.
The results of the 3 unanswered goals by the Blues in the 2nd period were more than enough to seal the deal for the 4-2 victory.
Head Coach Gallant had this to say about the game and more specifically about their performance during the 20 minutes of the 2nd period.
“I thought we had two great periods, the first and the third, but the second wasn’t obviously nearly good enough. Lot of missed chances, but we were loose in the second. That cost [us] the hockey game.
“It was a good hockey game, two good hockey teams playing against each other, and when you give up three in the second like that … We turned the puck over, we gave them odd-man rushes, and you’re not going to beat a team like that.”
The Blues scored three goals and outshot the Golden Knights 17-8 in the second period.
Fleury was honest about his performance. “I thought we played very good in the first and the third, but they came pretty hard [in the second period],” Fleury said. “They put the puck on net. Had a lot of bodies there and that fourth one, that’s on me. I wish I would have stopped that one.”
Yes, the 4th goal gave St. Louis a 2-goal lead and Vegas has yet to come back from a 2-goal deficit all year, one of 4 teams in the league who have yet to accomplish that. Jaden Schwartz and Robert Thomas scored 39 seconds apart to give the Blues a 4-2 lead, which was the dagger that pretty much ended any hope for a VGK comeback.
Jon Merrill was inserted into the lineup as Nicolas Hague was unable to play due to the “flu.”
My 3 Stars of the Game: Jordan Binnington (bounce-back performance after surrendering 15 goals in his last 3 games with 27 saves on 29 shots), Oskar Sundqvist (1G, 1A ), Max Pacioretty (1G, for the quick response to the early lead the Blues took. It was also the 2nd game in a row that Max has scored in, for his 12th of the year, one goal behind Reilly Smith, who leads with 13)
Next game is tonight vs. Dallas Stars 5 p.m.
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Lan Byester submitted these comments
This is why I like reading your articles. You can sum up 60 minutes of play in 60 seconds of reading. 👍🏾
Glad I was gossiping with Deanna Thompson during 2nd period.
Short and sweet just for you Lan Byester, well it really wasn’t so sweet except for the William Carrier discussion after the game which was hysterical.
Lan Byester responded with
Joe Pane OMG you’re killing me!! lol.
Lan Byester runs the Vegas Golden Knights Misfits Fan Group on Facebook if you haven’t checked it out please do it’s a great group that organizes many free events for VGK fans throughout the city especially on game nights when the VGK are on the road. Fun group with good hockey discussions and lots of free giveaways from Lan.
It’s a private group that you will need a invite for, so if you are interested contact me on Facebook or contact Lan Byester for the invite. Tell Lan Joe sent you. If she let me in anyone can get in 🙂