With just 20 games left before the real season begins, will this one point that Vegas left on the ice last night at T-Mobile in their 3-2 shootout loss be a concern?
I would love to say it will, but by the looks of things, the VGK will be opening the playoffs on the road either in San Jose or Calgary. They currently trail San Jose by 9 points for second place. They trail Calgary by 12 points. Both San Jose and Calgary have 22 games left to play. Vegas has two remaining games to play against the Flames (March 6 at T-Mobile and March 10 in Calgary). They also have two more against the Sharks (March 18 and March 30, both in San Jose). So even if they win all four of these games, they’ll still need help from other teams to overcome such a large margin this late in the season.
There’s no one to blame for this. Things happen. And to expect all the pieces to fall into place like they did last season is really asking a lot.
Last night Coach Gallant said in his post-game press conference (the link is at the end of this post) that he was pleased with his team’s performance. He once again mentioned they either seem to make the other team’s goaltender look amazing or they’re just playing good teams gearing up for their own magical run at Lord Stanley’s cup.
Boston is a good team. Last night, they pushed their season’s longest win streak to seven games behind an impressive performance by Jaroslav Halak, who made 31 saves and allowed only one VGK shooter to beat him in the shootout, which had to be extended and took six rounds before David Backes beat Marc-André Fleury to seal Boston’s shootout win.
Fleury made 25 saves and has lost now his last four consecutive starts. Fleury played well. Halak played better.
Boston held one-goal leads twice in the game. The first was in the first period on the opening goal scored by Jake DeBrusk at the 11:17 mark.
Reilly Smith brought Vegas even when he picked up Cody Eakin’s rebound at the 18:24 and scored his 10th of the season to send both teams to the locker room tied at 1-1. It was Smith’s first goal since Dec. 30 vs Arizona.
The second period was scoreless, but it didn’t take long for Boston to regain their one goal lead when the NHL’s “pain-in-the-ass” Brad Marchand, who was actually well-behaved last night for a change, ripped a shot past Fleury just 1:09 into the third. With the current trend of how Vegas has performed in their third periods, a positive response from Vegas didn’t look promising.
But Nate Schmidt took a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone from Reilly Smith, took the puck deep into the Bruin zone, went from forehand to backhand and back to forehand before lifting the puck up and over Halak’s left shoulder just 27 seconds after Marchand’s goal. Most of the 18,222 fans jumped to their feet and the buzz in the building returned. There hasn’t been much home-ice advantage so far this season and the buzz that was there all 41 home games last year has been mostly left behind.
There weren’t as many Bruin fans in attendance as there were Maple Leaf fans on Valentine’s Day, but there were enough to hear them throughout the game. Are that many season ticket holders selling their seats to out-of-town fans? I hope this trend doesn’t hold true come the postseason.
In a season of disappointments, inconsistent play, and lackluster third-period responses, last night’s 65-plus-minute performance was refreshing. Gallant liked it. It’s nowhere near where this team needs to be post April 6. But it’s a good stepping stone to use to gain higher expectations.
Reilly Smith was a monster last night. Even though he registered only two shots on goal, he made the most of his offensive-zone time count with one goal and the primary assist on Nate Schmidt’s third-period tying goal.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Jaroslav Halak (31 saves on 33 shots—it’s getting old real quick always listing the opposing goaltender as one the stars of the game), Reilly Smith (1goal + primary assist on Nate Schmidt’s goal), Nate Schmidt (a highlight-reel goal to tie the game and get Vegas a valuable point).
The next game is tomorrow vs. the Winnipeg Jets at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile.
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