The title of my last post after the Golden Knights 3-2 OT win against Arizona was “Not So Fast.” I wrote that this team has played one good game followed by a stinker for most of this season. They hadn’t won two games in a row in more than a month. But yesterday, they seemed, finally, to be headed on a slow and steady path and playing the style of VGK hockey that we were treated to throughout the 2017-2018 season.
Coming into yesterday’s game, Calgary was the Pacific Division leader. With the VGK’s 2-0 win over the Flames, Vegas now has won three of their last four games against Pacific Division teams.
So far, they’ve played six of 10 games in the division since their disastrous road trip and have accumulated eight out of a possible 12 points. It’s important to understand that those eight points came against division opponents, which makes them in reality four-point games, since the VGK pick up two, at the same time they deny their division opponents any.
Last night, the line of Eakin, Pacioretty, and Tuch continued to be the source of most of the Knights’ recent offensive production. Last night, this line accounted for four points with a goal and an assist for Tuch, while both Eakin and Pacioretty registered an assist. Pacioretty extended his point streak to four games with his assist on Tuch’s sixth goal of the season. Tuch added an assist on Colin Miller’s power-play goal, which gave him his fifth multi-point game since Oct. 24. Tuch has registered 10 points in 9 games with 3 goals and 7 assists.
Eakin continues to be Mr. November since moving up to the second line after Haula was injured vs. Toronto on Nov. 6. In the 12 games so far this month, Eakin has five goals and four assists.
A small problem that’s lingering around this team is the lack of offense up and down the lineup so far. In their first 24 games, the Knights have scored only 63 goals, an average of 2.6 per game. This forces Fleury or Subban to be near perfect. Last night, the Flower was exactly that. It was his fourth shoutout in the 20 games he has played out of the 24, which leads the NHL.
I recently saw an article that used the newly touted Corsi numbers with which hockey pundits and teams evaluate player performances. According to the Corsi formula, Fleury isn’t having a good season so far. Call me crazy, but from what I’ve seen, in no way, shape, or form is our number-one goalie having a bad year. He’s simply not getting the offensive support that his teammates bestowed on him (and the other four goaltenders who saw action) last season.
Granted, a lot of VGK players had career years last year and expectations were high for this season. As I’ve written several times, the silver lining to this season’s slow start is the overall slow start in the Pacific Division. With last night’s win, Vegas moved up three positions to fourth place, after being mired in seventh since the beginning of the season.
They’re still not in a playoff position. Eight teams from the Western Conference will qualify, three from the Central Division, three from the Pacific Division, and two wildcard teams with the most points among the remaining teams in the conference.
Here’s the playoff picture as of the completion of yesterday’s games:
Pacific Division
San Jose 28 points
Calgary 27 points
Anaheim 25 points
Central Division
Nashville 33 points
Minnesota 30 points
Colorado 28 points
Wild Card
Winnipeg 26 points
Dallas 26 points
Vegas trails the last wildcard playoff spot by three points with their 11-12-1 record and 23 points.
Last season, five teams that were outside of a playoff spot on Thanksgiving Day reached the playoffs, the most since the 2000-2001 season.
Here are the numbers of teams that qualified for the playoffs after being in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving Day
In 2013-14
13 of 16
2014-15
13 of 16
2015-16
12 of 16
2016-17
13 of 16
2017-2018
11 of 16
Speaking of slow starts, James Neal, who returned to T-Mobile last night for the first time since being traded to Calgary, is also off one one: nine straight games without a point and only one goal in his last 12.
In the last two games vs. Calgary, the final game of the 2017-2018 season and the game just three days ago, Calgary scored 14 goals total, while the VGK scored three. Last night, the VGK once again didn’t score more than two goals against the Flames, but when Fleury is perfect in net, they can get away with this.
T-Mobile continues to surpass 100% occupancy in all of the 10 home games so far. Last night’s attendance was 18,206. T-Mobile has 17,500 seats for hockey games.
It’s hard to believe, but last night was Alex Tuch’s 100th game in the NHL. He plays like he’s been in 500. He’s a complete player who plays all 200 feet of the ice. And he’s still only 22 years old.
After the game, I asked James Neal about the loud reception he received. “Yeah it was very nice of them. It’s great to be back. This place was rockin’ like always, probably the best rink in the league. The fans are unbelievable and I loved playing here again.”
And how did it feel being back? “I have a lot great memories here. Playing here last year is one of those things I’ll never forget — my teammates and everything that went with our team and the city. We had quite a run. I had a special bond with the guys and it was emotional coming back for sure.”
I also asked Nate Schmidt about all the fans with face-paddle pictures of him during the warm-ups, celebrating his first home game after serving a 20-game suspension.
“Honestly, it felt like another dimension out there, like I was staring back at myself. In the locker room, the guys just kind of stared at me with open eyes, like: ‘Whoa! Never seen anything like that.’ It was pretty cool, though. It’s fun to be back. Tonight was such a fun game to be part of. I love when we play our game. It’s fun hockey. It’s the reason you play the game. You take your lumps sometimes during a game, but I thought we did a really good job of doing what we had to win the game tonight.”
My 3 Stars of the Game: Alex Tuch (1 goal, 1 assist), Marc-Andre Fleury (29 saves in his league-leading fourth shutout), Colin Miller (first power-play goalof the season, three blocked shots)
Next game is today against the San Jose Sharks at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile. The Sharks currently lead the Pacific Division with 28 points and Vegas by five.
Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you can 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 all the videos from after the game, click on the links.
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