Knights on Ice — Friday Night Blues

The only thing that’s consistent with the Golden Knights so far this season is inconsistency, and believe it or not, we’re nearly 25% through the 82-game season. The VGK record for their first 20 games is 8-11-1 and 17 points.

Tonight’s debacle came at the hands of St. Louis. The Blues outskated, outworked, and outscored the VGK 4-1 at T-Mobile where the Knights actually had a three-game winning streak going prior to last night’s game.

Their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final last season had every VGK fan thinking that this season would be like, making the playoffs? No worries. Winning the Pacific Division? Why not?

And why shouldn’t they have thought that? For the most part, it was the same team. David Perron and James Neal, lost to free agency, were replaced by Max Pacioretty and Paul Stastny. The scouting report claimed that Stastny and Pacioretty were an even trade on the goal production that Vegas lost, plus they brought a defensive edge that Perron and Neal lacked.

Well, so far, that hasn’t happened. Pacioretty has 2 goals and 2 assists in 16 games and is a minus 6. Stastny has played in only three games out of the first 20 and has zero offensive production. And he won’t score any goals or accumulate any assists anytime soon; his injury has caused him to miss the last 17 games with no timetable on his return.

On the flip side, David Perron, who last night returned to T-Mobile in a different uniform, has 5 goals and 6 assists for St. Louis first 16 games and a plus 1. James Neal is struggling in Calgary with just 3 goals and 1 assist in 19 games and is a minus 4.

I spoke with David post-game and as always, he was gracious and really appreciated the reception he received at T-Mobile during the game. He also told me that he was recognized by a lot of VGK fans as he walked around Vegas on Thursday. He loved his time here and wished things would have worked out, so that he could have remained here. Unfortunately, the business of hockey doesn’t always allow players to remain with a team once their contracts have expired.

The lack of offense by Vegas is in no way, shape, or form to be laid on the shoulders of Pacioretty. The first line, a veritable scoring machine for Vegas last season, has yet to find its groove 20 games into the season. If you eliminate two power-play goals by Marchessault, three by Karlsson, and three by Smith, the entire first line has 9 goals total at 5-on-5 and only one game-winning goal.

The second line has been a merry-go-round of players with all the injuries. Alex Tuch missed eight games, Stastny played in only the first three, and Pacioretty missed four. Haula went down with an injury that appears to be serious enough to warrant surgery. The line of Tuch and Pacioretty, centered by Stastny, hasn’t played a single game together yet.

The third line lost Eakin, who moved up to replace Haula, leaving a makeshift line of Tomas Hyka, Tomas Nosek, Ryan Carpenter, and in some games Oscar Lindberg. The two Tomases, Ryan, and Oscar have a combined total of two goals.

Which brings me to the scoring line. Yes, the fourth line is the one consistent element 20 games into the season. You know your team is in trouble if you’re dependent on your fourth line for goal production. Bellemare-Carrier-Reaves have a total of 10 goals and if you take away Reaves’ power-play goal, they have the same number as the first line. They also have two game-winning goals, one more than the first line.

You can’t always rely on Fleury to throw a shutout. Last night, he surrendered four goals. Two were deflections. The other two resulted from turnovers deep in the VGK defensive zone. Fleury kept the game from getting totally out of hand with two huge saves early in the second period.

Vegas played a decent first period and even scored first 6:03 into the game when Bellemare lofted the puck from just inside his blue line and it skipped between the legs of Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson. Carrier was approaching at full speed toward Jake Allen. It was the only goal that Allen gave up out of the 23 shots he faced.

The VGK would like to forget the second period, when St Louis extended their lead to 4-1.

Entering the third period and trailing by three, you’d expect a push by Vegas, but that never happened. To make matters worse, Vegas committed three minor penalties in the first 12 minutes. You might be able to justify a penalty if it’s committed while attempting to nullify a scoring chance. That wasn’t the case, as Carrier went off the ice 56 seconds in for high sticking, then at 5:29 Eakin went off for slashing, and Nosek left at the 12-minute mark for hooking. That left just six minutes of playing time after Nosek’s penalty expired to score three goals on Allen, whom they’d beaten once in the previous 52 minutes — too much to ask for on a night filled with inconsistency.

The VGK’s next seven games of eight are against Pacific Division teams. The results will greatly impact the rest of the season.

One silver lining to the black cloud they seem to be under is that Nate Schmidt’s 20-game suspension is completed. His presence will be a boost to the defense and it couldn’t come at a better time, as Nate will be seeing a lot of the fastest player in the NHL. Conner McDavid has 10 goals and 16 assists in just 18 games, along with 5 power-play goals. Nate and the Knights will have their hands full in Edmonton on Sunday.

“It’s tough to put your finger on it,” Marc André Fleury told me when I asked about the differences between this game and the last, which the VGK won. “Consistency is probably the biggest thing. Pretty good first period. I thought we played solid and had some chances. Once we were down in the game, we slowed down a bit. It’s frustrating to not be able to string a few wins together and get a few points and up in the standings a bit. I feel embarrassed to have given up so many goals and lose by so much.”

Then I asked if he had a message for the rest of the team. “We got to find a way and not wait for anything or anyone to save us. It’s us in the room. Got to find a way to make it work and fast. We can’t be sliding too much in the standings. We all know how tough it is to make the playoffs and how close it is in the standings. Got to find a way to get a little more consistent with our game.”

Finally, about Nate Schmidt. “He plays a lot of big minutes on both sides of the ice, so he’s good in our defensive and offense zones. It’ll be good to have him back, but we can’t rely on him to fix all our problems or think we’ll win every game because he’s back. It’s more than that and we have to figure it out.”

My 3 Stars of the Game: Ryan O’Reilly (2 goals), Jake Allen (22 saves on 23 shots), the VGK fourth line (another consistent performance).

The next game is on the road vs. Edmonton tomorrow evening (Sunday) at 5 p.m.

Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you may contact me directly at [email protected]

And for the most comprehensive coverage of the Vegas Golden Knights’ historic inaugural season, take a look at our book Vegas Golden Knights—How a First-Year Expansion Team Healed Las Vegas and Shocked the Hockey World.

To see videos of my interview with David Perron, click the links, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.