The Montreal Canadians did their best to welcome back Max Pacioretty to Montreal, a city that was the only home Max knew as an NHL player for 10 years prior to being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights right before the start of the season. But the end result of what could have been a memorable night for Max and the VGK turned to disappointment when Montreal took advantage of a number of miscues by Vegas and overcame leads of 2-0 and 4-3 to eventually win 5-4, dashing any hopes of the Knights climbing back to a .500 record. Last night’s loss leaves the Knights at 7-9-1.
Max and the Knights seemed ready and poised to make sure that this night was one that Max and his team could use to springboard their season in a different direction than its currently on. They scored two first-period goals to take a 2-0 lead and one was a power-play goal by Brad Hunt, who’s making the most of his ice time with both Merrill and Engelland being scratches over the last few games. Jonathan Marchessault, who continues to shine, contributed the second goal — his eighth of the season and team high — with just 1:23 left in the first period, sending the team into the locker room with a respectable 2-0 lead and keeping Montreal off of the scoreboard. Why was holding Montreal scoreless in the first period noteworthy? Because coming into last night’s game, Montreal led the league in first-period goals with 30.
The Knights’ power play, which has been struggling since the beginning of the season, seems to be coming to life. In the last two games they’ve scored four PPGs in their last five chances, while holding Montreal’s power play scoreless in two opportunities. Their tempo and speed seems to have been resurrected and their scoring ability, which was the key to their success last season, has scored nine goals in the last tw0 games.
This was a game the Knights could have and should have won. But they surrendered three goals in just 3:53 of the second period. Alex Tuch drew Vegas even at 3-3 when he scored his fourth goal of the season late in the second period.
Max Pacioretty was fully engaged last night, seemingly wanting nothing more than to beat the team that traded him, and scoring goal would have really been special. Max had a season high nine shots on goal in the 20:46 minutes that he played, the most ice time among the 12 forwards.
When William Karlsson scored the fourth goal of the game early in the third period, Vegas seemed to regain control of the game. It was their second power-play goal and Wild Bill’s third point of the night, as he had assists on both first-period goals. Karlsson’s goal made the score 4-3 for the VGK.
It appears by just looking at the final stats that Fleury had a bad night, surrendering five goals on just 27 shots for a save percentage of just .815 — far below a normal night for the Flower. But truth be told, Fleury played well and was hung out to dry by a number of turnovers that were committed in his zone.
Montreal tied the score when Andrew Shaw scored his second goal of the game just under six minutes after Karlsson’s power-play goal. But the real dagger of the night came when Tomas Tatar, who was the key player that Vegas sent to Montreal to acquire Max, scored Montreal’s fifth goal, which turned out to be the game winner. Tatar’s goal wasn’t even a shot on Fleury. It was an intended to be a cross-ice pass in front of Fleury that hit Shea Theodore’s stick and miraculously slipped between Fleury’s pads, ruining what was hoped to be a bon retour (“welcome back”) for Max Pacioretty,
My 3 Stars of the Game: Andrew Shaw (2 goals), Antti Niemi (27 saves on 29 shots), and William Karlsson (1 goal, 2 assists).
The VGK’s next game is today at 4 p.m. vs. Boston. It’s the last of a four-game road trip and a win would somewhat salvage the result.
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