At first, many called the early success of the Vegas Golden Knights a fluke. Others said it was a bubble that would eventually burst. Some suggested that the VGK all had a chip on their shoulders, which would be knocked off sooner than later. Opposing teams seemed to think of it as the “Vegas flu,” for which they’d prove to be the cure.
Believe it or not, more than a few hockey purists think that everything about the VGK is a conspiracy, that the NHL wanted to make sure its first expansion team in 17 years was at least a little successful.
Well, here’s a question for all the doubters: After 96 games total, 82 in the regular season and 14 in the post-season, including last night’s 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets and just one win away from playing for the Stanley Cup, are you still waiting?
Pause and consider that for a moment before you continue reading.
There is no Vegas flu. There never was. Here’s the news flash: The VGK is the hardest working team in the National Hockey League.
This is a team of resiliency that has a response to anything with which they’re faced. They never sag. They never blink, not even when they’re scored on in the playoffs, where momentum and swings change with goals that tie a game or close a two-goal gap down to one.
They never felt sorry for themselves when they were forced to play the fourth-string goaltender early in the season. Even the fifth-string goalie got into a game.
They broke just about every expansion-team record, some that were 100 years old.
In their seven playoff home games, Vegas has scored 10 first-period goals, while surrendering none. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Scoring first in the playoffs has a huge effect on the final outcome. This year, the team scoring first has won 59 games and lost 19, a 67% win ratio. Last night, Team Resiliency once again scored first and once again kept Winnipeg off the scoreboard in the first 20 minutes. The VGK are 6-1 at home in the playoffs.
In the first round, the L.A. Kings were supposed to be the bigger and better team, at least according to the experts who were still waiting around for the bubble to burst. We know how that worked out: a 4-0 sweep, with Marc-Andre “Merci Beaucoup” Fleury pitching two shutouts in just four games.
In the second round, the big bad bloodthirsty San Jose Sharks, who made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final in 2016, were expected to deliver the knockout punch, so that one of the remaining seven established teams could hoist the Stanley Cup. After all, this is supposed to be the toughest championship of any sport to win, so a team that started playing together a mere eight months ago couldn’t possibly even come close. What happened? The Sharks were outplayed in all but Game 4 in San Jose and the other one they won was a gift. Merci Beaucoup and his Team Resiliency shut them out twice as well.
Still, the pundits had it all figured out, calling the series between Nashville and Winnipeg the real Western Conference Finals. Though the VGK would face one of them, they wouldn’t have home-ice advantage to give them the extra game at T-Mobile.
What happened? How about a succession of magical lineup changes for which Coach Gallant seems to have an uncanny knack. The next man up is Team Resiliency’s secret weapon. One game it’s Ryan Reaves, the next it’s Tomas Nosek, then it’s Tomas Tatar, then Luca Sbisa. Nate Schmidt, who had trouble making the starting lineup for the Washington Capitals, is now giving us 200-foot rushes up the ice in Bobby Orr fashion. Jonathan Marchessault, a minus 21 last year with Florida, is a plus 36 this year—a 57-goal differential.
Marchessault has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists), tying the record for most points by a player in his team’s first postseason (Jude Drouin, 1975, New York Islanders; Igor Larionov, 1994, San Jose Sharks).
Granted, Winnipeg got off to a blistering start in Game 1 of the Conference Finals. Since then, the VGK has led 86.2% of the time and the score has been tied 13.8% of the time. That adds up to 100%. Winnipeg hasn’t led for even a second since Game 1.
Winnipeg’s goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who claimed after Game 3 that his game is better than Fleury’s, is now saying, “The stars are aligned for them, but it’s not going to stay that way.” Another doubter — who gave up the puck right in front of his net and allowed Tomas Nosek of Team Resiliency to score just 43 seconds after his team tied it up. If I were Connor Hellebuyck, I’d worry more about cleaning up my game and puck-handling skills than making predictions about the stars. Has he forgotten that he also gave up the puck to Erik Haula in Game 3 behind the net, allowing James Neal to score? Or that he’s given up three or more goals in six out of the last 10 games? Better than who?
I know there’s still one more game to win, but the only time a team has come back from a 3-1 deficit in a Conference Final was when the New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers in 2000, 18 years ago.
In last night’s game, the VGK had a big problem that Marc-Andre rendered into a small problem. Once again, the Knights had a less than stellar third period. When Tyler Myers tied the score at 2-2, 5:34 into the third, it was once again white-knuckle time at T-Mobile.
Team Resiliency didn’t respond quickly to Myers’ goal and it seemed like the entire period was spent in the VGK zone. But with just under seven minutes left and Winnipeg firing shot after shot on Fleury, the puck was passed out to Dustin Byfuglien, moving into the puck from the blue line. The Buff has a big booming shot and the consummate Reilly Smith was heading toward Dustin, prepared to get in front of it. Just as Dustin wound up to blast the puck, it bounced over his stick. And with Smith already moving in that direction, he had speed, while Byfuglien was flat-footed. Reilly skated into the offensive zone and before the trailing defenseman could catch him, he blasted his own perfect shot over Hellebuyck’s right shoulder for the 3-2 lead.
That was the final score, giving the VGK a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Winnipeg managed to pull their star-aligning goaltender with 1:02 left in the game. They tried to get him off the ice with 2 minutes to go, but a certain team that doesn’t get flustered kept the puck deep in Winnipeg’s zone. Even when the Jets did get an extra skater on, they had no real scoring chances.
VGK scorers: William Karlsson (6), Tomas Nosek (1), Reilly Smith (2) GWG + 1 assist.
My Three Stars of the Game: Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Marc-Andre Fleury
Game 5, an elimination game for Winnipeg, is tomorrow at 12 noon Pacific Time at Winnipeg.
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