How often, in hockey, do you hear the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses”? It usually refers to the struggle to maintain your daily responsibilities, while keeping pace with your neighbors, who for simplicity sake we call the Joneses.
But in last night’s game, Martin Jones was the better goaltender. Yes, in no games of the Knights’ first seven in the playoffs could you say that Marc Andre Fleury wasn’t the best goaltender on the ice. You could in last night’s game and no one would give you an argument. Also, the San Jose Sharks were the better team, as they shut out the Knights by a score of 4-0.
It was a game San Jose had to win. If they’d lost, it would have put them down three games to one, with the next two games played at T-Mobile. That would have been all but an insurmountable lead for San Jose to overcome.
Likewise, the VGK missed a golden opportunity tonight to put a complete stranglehold on this series. But San Jose played a desperate game and it showed with a complete 60-minute effort. They created traffic in front of Fleury, which for the first 3 games they didn’t; they neutralized the speed of the Golden Knights with speed of their own.
All season long and in the playoffs, Vegas has produced offense from their power play and even when they didn’t score, it changed the momentum of the games in their favor. Last night, San Jose offered up five power play opportunities on a golden platter, of which Vegas failed to take advantage. There also could have been at least one or possibly two additional penalties called on San Jose for using a play that’s 100% legal in the NBA, but 100% illegal in the NHL: the pick.
On the first San Jose goal, Alex Tuch was clearly picked off, preventing him from staying with his check on San Jose forward Marcus Sorensen. This illegal pick allowed Sorensen time and space to carry the puck across the zone and beat Fleury on his stick side. If Tuch were allowed to continue his check, this play most likely would have never developed. Coach Gallant was visibly upset at the non-call and his vocal displeasure might have paid dividends, as just 1:06 after Sorensen’s goal, Mikkel Boedker was assessed a penalty for interference. But Vegas couldn’t capitalize on this opportunity or on their other four power plays. San Jose continued to use this pick play throughout the game, but was called on it one more time in the 3rd period, when Timo Meier was whistled for this infraction.
Throughout the season and especially in the playoffs, the Knights’ success both offensively and defensively has been due, in large part, to contributions from the first line to the fourth and from the first defensive tandem to the third. Last night, four Vegas forwards didn’t register a single shot on goal: Tatar, Tuch, Perron, and Bellemare. The defensemen also add to their offensive output by being aggressive on the offensive side of the puck, but in last night’s game, three too no shots in the game: McNabb, Merrill, and Schmidt. It’s not often that an opposing team’s fourth line outplays the VGK’s fourth line, but that occurred as the fourth line couldn’t get a fore-check established. The results of the fore-check never seem to make the score sheet, except when the other team is scoring, because of the unimpeded path toward their offensive zone; last night, San Jose faced little resistance to that portion of their game.
This was the Vegas’s first playoff loss on the road and the first time they’ve been shut out since Feb. 19.
What a roller coaster this has been. Winning Game 1 7-0, they completely dominated San Jose. That was followed by a heartbreaking 4-3 loss in double OT, especially when it appeared Vegas had won the game in the first OT period. Game 3 was another EKG overtime experience for VGK fans and players. Last night’s game was the worst Vegas has played in in their playoff appearances.
With just 6 seconds left in the first period, Vegas allowed Joonas Donskoi to skate the entire length of the ice, starting from deep in his own zone to just inside the blue line, where he fired a seemingly innocent shot at Fleury that would have ended the period with San Jose leading 1-0. Fleury admitted post-game that he didn’t pick up the puck as it went through the legs of Brayden McNabb. For all intents and purposes, the game was over right there, as Vegas never recovered from that goal. Goals late in a period, especially in playoff games, are huge momentum factors for the scoring team and have the complete opposite effect on the team scored on.
The Golden Knights aren’t often unprepared or emotionally flat for games, but last night they were visibly un-Knight like. This series is a long way from being over and if the short history of this series holds true, Vegas will be back on course, especially with two of the three remaining games played at home.
Being back at T-Mobile with 18,000 fans rocking the building should be exactly what they need to be focused and back to the kind of hockey that got them where they were after 82 games + 7 previous playoff games.
Game 5 is Friday night at T-Mobile 7 p.m.
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