Knights on Ice — Finally

Finally, Malcolm Subban gets a win and with this win, the Vegas Golden Knights become the last of the 31 NHL teams to have a win credited to their backup goaltender.

Truth be told, this should have happened sooner; in the prior five games Subban started, Vegas scored only six goals total. He played well enough to win in his last start against the Columbus Blue Jackets, giving up just one goal. Problem was, the VGK were shut out. In yesterday’s game, they scored four goals in their 4-1 win over the L.A. Kings, who had beaten Vegas twice this year so far. Subban has given up only two goals in his last two games. Sounds very Fleury-like.

This also provides the coaching staff with more confidence in giving Fleury some days off, especially on back-to-back games. Vegas has already played them five times this season; Subban played in and lost three. Yesterday’s victory, combined with his performance against Columbus, affords this luxury to Gallant and goaltending coach David Prior.

Fleury played in the November 23-24 and in the December 22-23 back-to-backers. Today’s game will be their sixth and they have four to go: February 1-2 and March 9-10, 17-18, and 29-30.

The Kings game was the VGK’s 41st, exactly the halfway mark of their 82-game schedule. Only two other teams have played as many games as the VGK. Both Vancouver and Chicago also played their 41st games yesterday.

So far, this is a tale of two seasons — the first 20 games and the past 21 games. In their first 20 games, they posted a record of 8-11-1 for 17 points. In their next 21 games, it was 14-4-3 for 31 points. The Golden Knights have a point in five straight games (3-0-2) and nine of their past 10 (6-1-3).

The big difference between the two seasons is what I’m calling the “SS Factor,” which stands for Schmidt and Stastny. Nate Schmidt missed the first 20 games and his absence was clearly a major problem in the team’s inability to move the puck out of the defensive zone quickly enough to catch opposing forwards deep in their offensive zone and unable to help on the defensive side of the puck. This was a huge weapon that Vegas employed last season; teams were often taken by surprise. In yesterday’s game, Nate did this twice, once to spring Karlsson on a breakaway and again allowing Stastny to catch the Kings flat-footed and totally out of position.

Which brings us to the Paul “Walnuts” Stastny part of the SS Factor. Stastny missed 30 games after being injured in the third game of the season. Since returning to the lineup, he has seven points in eight games: four goals and three assists, with three multi-point games.

In yesterday’s win, the Knights completely dominated the Kings, who went the last 12 minutes of the first period without a shot on net until Anze Kopiter scored with 4.4 seconds remaining. The VGK had multiple chances to clear the puck out of their zone and failed. It would have ended the first period with a 1-0 score in favor of Vegas. It was the only blemish of the day for the team.

Often-maligned Jon Merrill had a good outing, with a nice rush into the offensive zone and a quality scoring chance as he broke in on Jonathan Quick. Merrill wound up with a +2 rating along with three shots on goal and two blocked shots. Merrill has the least number of shots on goal by a VGK defenseman who’s played in at least 20 games.

Alex Tuch scored his 13th goal of the season and it was his sixth game-winner. To have 46% of your goals be game-winners is mighty impressive.

One thing was wrong yesterday: Brandon Pirri didn’t score a goal or register an assist. However, he created the play that ended with Alex Tuch’s winning goal as he worked the puck off the wall, but because a King briefly touched it before it got to Stastny, Pirri — you know, that guy who doesn’t play defense so well? — wasn’t credited with a well-deserved assist on a hard-working defensive play. Sometime labels are hard to lose.

William Karlsson was held without a shot on goal in the last two games, but he got back to his offensive ways as he also scored yesterday on a breakaway in which Wild Bill showcased some world-class moves that left Jonathan Quick frozen in time. It was his team-leading 15th goal of the season to go along with his 15th assist. Karlsson is second on the team with three game-winning goals.

Since the disaster in Calgary on November 19 when Subban and the entire team were hung out to dry with an embarrassing 7-2 drubbing, Vegas has won 13 of 19 games and collected points in 16 of them with a record of 13-3-3. They sit comfortably in a playoff spot in third place in the Pacific with 48 points. They trail Calgary, leading the division with 50 points, and San Jose with 49. Just think: If Vegas hadn’t given away two points in their last two OT games vs. Montreal and L.A. at T-Mobile, they’d be in first place in the Pacific. Keep in mind they dominated both OT periods, only to lose on the only shot they gave up.

Though they’re still hampered with injuries to Pacioretty and Miller, the team is starting to mesh. William Carrier is playing so well, he was moved up to the third line to play with Cody Eakin and Ryan Carpenter. The move paid off as Carrier scored his eighth goal yesterday, a career high for him; he also leads the league in hits with 204, of which 200 were bone-crunching.

I’m not 100% sold on breaking up the wrecking-crew line of Carrier and Reaves, but time will tell. It sure seems like Gallant has his fingers on the pulse of this team as all of his moves seem to work. He also should be commended for not panicking in their first 20 games. He believed in his team then and he believes in them 41 games into a season of high expectations.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Malcolm Subban (30 saves on 31 shots faced), Alex Tuch (game-winning goal), and Nate Schmidt (two assists and points in three straight games).

Next game is today vs. Arizona at 5 p.m. to close out the 2018 portion of this season.

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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.