Maybe if you’re the coach, it was a perfect game. But for the 18,367 in attendance, they were subject to a game that lacked emotion, had no urgency, and had zero passion from either team. The VGK have nothing to play for; they can’t move any higher or drop any lower in the standings. They’ll open the playoffs in San Jose on either Wednesday April 10 or Thursday April 11. Edmonton won’t be playing beyond their 82nd game on Saturday in Calgary.
Midway through the first period, the Oilers were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs when Colorado earned one point in their shootout loss to St. Louis. Did this result wind up to be more than it was meant to be? Was this the cause of the crowd no longer being engaged?
But for his part, Coach Gallant loved the game. “Tonight was a perfect game, for me, going down the stretch,” he said post-game. “The games don’t mean anything in the standings, but keep guys going and keep them going well, and I thought they played a solid game tonight.”
The only thing that was perfect about this game, in my opinion, is that the VGK snapped a five-game losing streak, the longest in franchise history. The victory for Malcolm Subban also helped him feel better about himself. Subban’s record at T-Mobile this year is an impressive 6-1-1, but barring any setback, Subban will be sitting on the bench wearing a baseball hat, while Marc-André Fleury will assume the familiar position of being the leader and face of the franchise and the player with the most playoff experience on the team.
In yesterday’s game, Cody Eakin opened the scoring 15:27 into the first period with his 21st goal of the season, which is his previous career high. The period ended 1-0 in favor of the Knights.
Marchessault wasted zero time in increasing the lead to 2-0 just 51 seconds into the second period. But when Connor McDavid scored his 41st goal of the season 4:01 into the second period, T-Mobile became a bit uneasy. No one wanted to lose a sixth game in a row.
Getting back on the winning track is paramount in getting the team back into a positive mentality heading into the playoffs — like they had following the trade deadline on Feb. 25 where they ripped off a 10-1-1 record after Mark Stone was obtained. In that sense, if last night’s win accomplishes this, then it was a perfect game like Gallant said. At this time of the season, a positive mindset is more important than entertaining the fans.
The fans will have plenty of time to be entertained, especially in the first round when the VGK meet the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks, in my opinion, have laid down the gauntlet for their game plan. They will attempt to be physical against the top two lines, especially Marchessault, Karlsson, and Smith, who do not play with an edge. Marchessault will if needed, but that would fit right into the Sharks’ game plan. Getting Marchessault to drop the gloves or take matching minors with a Shark play who is not as offensively gifted is a good tradeoff for the Sharks. The Reaves and Carrier portion of the BOOM line will need to respond to whatever level of physicality the Sharks bring. With the first two games in San Jose, the Sharks will have the luxury of the last line change and the ability to match up their physical players against the offensive weapons that the Knights have, which could be the difference in this upcoming first-round series.
The Sharks do have a better defensive makeup than the VGK. It’s no contest in net, as Fleury is head and shoulders above Martin Jones or their back up Dell. The VGK can and will roll four lines against the Sharks and this could also be the difference in the outcome of the first round.
In last night’s contest, the physical play we all witnessed was no way near the shape or form that was present on Saturday in San Jose. On Saturday, each team had 40 hits for a total of 80. Last night, both teams combined for 47 hits total.
Both teams had two power-play chances and both failed on their power plays. With the score 2-1 and 44 seconds left in the game, the VGK were assessed a two-minute penalty when Tomas Nosek interfered with Connor McDavid and with Edmonton on the power play, the goaltender Mikko Koskinen was pulled for an extra skater, creating a 6-on-4.
Leon Draisaitl’s shot got past Subban, but hit the right post and caromed over to the left post where it landed right at the feet of McDavid, who couldn’t pick up the puck quick enough to put it past Subban.
Seconds later, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare chased down a loose puck at center ice, skated with the puck just inside the blue line, and deposited it into the vacant net for his sixth goal of the season and another shorthanded goal for the VGK. It was the 11th shorthanded goal scored by the VGK, eight at T-Mobile and three on the road. The eight put VGK in second place for shorties scored on home ice. The 11 are third best throughout the league.
Bellemare, who was scratched from five of the last six games, had a strong performance last night. In addition to his goal, he had four blocked shots and five shots on goal in his 12:10 of ice time.
Gallant is resting guys over the last few games and getting guys like Pirri some ice time. Pirri was inserted back into the lineup after not dressing for the last five games and only playing once in the last nine games. Brayden McNabb returned to the lineup after missing the last game in San Jose and Deryk Engelland was a healthy scratch. William Carrier was a healthy scratch after playing the last five games. Paul Stastny, who was a late scratch after taking warmups in San Jose, did not play yesterday.
There’s some good new as Marc-Andre Fleury was back on the ice at City National during the team’s morning skate. He was also in the locker room post-game, putting a fake snake in the middle of the scrum of reporters surrounding Marchessault. It’s good seeing Fleury, as it appears he’s ready to return.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Cody Eakin (1 goal and a complete game), Nate Schmidt (+2 along with a diving save, preventing a goal while Subban was caught out of position), and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (short-handed goal, 4 blocked shots, and 5 shots on goal).
The next game is Thursday against Arizona at T-Mobile at 7 p.m. This is the last home game of the season for the VGK.
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Comment I received
didn’t attend last night’s game because it wasn’t an urgency for me. 😁
Joe, is it too much to ask if you could bring three books to Thursday night’s game? One for me and the other two for Deryl Sandrock and Sarah Marie Brown. TIA
I will bring 3 books to T-Mobile for Thursday’s game