Knights on Ice —Bischoff and the Pad

Contributed by Eddie Rivkin       

Marc-André Fleury and his legendary right pad came up huge again, as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0, for his 57^th career shutout and the franchise’s 100^th victory. With career win 445, the Flower ties Terry Sawchuk for 7^th for all time.

Fleury made 29 saves, the rest of the VGK blocked (give or take) 20 shots, and a beautiful set-up by Cody Glass led to Paul Stastny’s 4^th of the year for the game-winning power-play goal. The VGK finished off the night with a couple of empty netters (William Karlsson’s 1^st and Mark Stone’s 6^th) late in third period with the Pens pressing to tie.

The other storyline for this game was the NHL debut of Jake Bischoff. His first game as a Golden Knight was unremarkable and that’s great for the young man and for the VGK.

Now, everyone, just hold your water for a couple of minutes while I explain why unremarkable was just about perfect.

Bischoff had 16:06 of ice time in his debut, including a little time on the vaunted VGK PK. And in 16:06, Bischoff did everything right! He made the smart passes on the breakout. He showed patience under pressure in the D zone. He effectively moved the puck all night, while exhibiting excellent decision-making. That sounds like a good game for an NHL defenseman and it is, but for an NHL debut? Bischoff was outstanding! He’s not going to wow anyone. He doesn’t have a huge offensive upside like some of the other rookies. What he does is everything very well. If last night is any indication, Bischoff will be spending a lot of time with the big club. On the third pair with Deryk Engelland is a good fit, as he’s a much better skater and reduces the defense liability for the VGK.

I hope he gets a bunch more games to get comfortable, like what Nic Hague got to start the season.

My 3 Stars of the Game: The Flower, of course (29/29 and a few that should be on the Sports Center TOP 10), the PK units (another clean sheet of 0-4, making it 2-33 while down a man), and Cody Glass (1 assist, 1 goal post, and numerous other quality sets-ups that led to scoring chances).

(Just a side note on the second star. In addition to pitching a shutout on the PK, the VGK added a shorty to make it a league-leading four for the season. Think about it this context: the VGK have scored more goals short-handed than they’ve given up short handed.)

Notes from the couch:

The VGK took four more penalties tonight and continue to lead the NHL in penalty minutes. This disturbing pattern has got to stop and soon. They’re putting way too much pressure on the PK and the Flower and there is no way the PK can maintain its excellence.

Leading the NHL in penalty minutes and shots allowed is a significant issue for a team with (apparently) a single goalie they trust. As much as I understand the total blackout of information on injuries, it sure is frustrating having to watch the Flower get shelled night in and night out with no end in sight. Something has got to give and soon. Either give Oscar Dansk a night between the pipes or bring up Jordan Sparks, who has a bunch more NHL experience, having played 20+ games with the Maple Leafs. Just do something, to avoid having to give Fleury a 3-week injury (cough cough rest) break leading up to the playoffs.

Thanks as always to my friend Joe Pane for letting me share his spot on the Internet. I hope you enjoy our thoughts and opinions.

A Special Night

by Joe Pane

Marc-André Fleury played 691 games with the Penguins before joining the VGK. He won 375, while losing 216, with 66 overtime losses (and 2 ties in his first year in the league, 2003-2004, before the 5-minute overtime/shootout became part of the game). I’m sure he played in a lot of special games while wearing the Penguin logo, but last night’s game, the 100th win overall for the VGK in just 173 games played, was very special for him It came against his former team and it wasn’t only a win, but a shutout, the 57th of his career and his 13th as a VGK. The Flower is currently at a .934 save percentage, the highest he’s ever achieved in his 16 years in the NHL. His previous high came as a VGK; in his first year Fleury registered a .927 save percentage. 

All good. But this pace of minutes played and shots faced just 9 games into this young season is a ticking time bomb. He’s played 520 minutes in 8-2/3 games, plus 5 minutes of OT vs. Ottawa, of a possible 540 minutes. He replaced Subban after the first period in the game against Arizona when Subban went down once again with another mystery injury. Fleury has faced the most shots of any goaltender in the entire league in the first 8 games.

Something has to give here, if you have high expectations for this team come playoff time, Fleury will need a reliable backup. There’s a good chance that the Flower gets the night off in Chicago, as that will be a back-to-back game on Tuesday night following the game on Monday in Philadelphia. 

I called it a special night for more than just Fleury, as the special teams of the VGK are the reason they’re 6-3 and have won 4 of their last 5 games to right the ship. Their penalty kill is off the charts, killing off 33 of 35 and in the process scoring 4 shorthanded goals. The power play is smoking hot with last night’s winning goal on the power play set up by no other than Cody Glass with another blind pass to Stastny, who basically had an open net to shoot at. Yes, the same Glass who some fellow media gurus were saying wouldn’t make the team out of training camp. Don’t look now, but the kid is here to stay for a long time; he’s a natural. 

Last night was the first time the road team won in the Pitt/Vegas games as the teams had a 2-2 record in their past games. 

Maybe there was a bit of divine intervention and no matter what the Penguins did, the fate was sealed, as #29 made 29 saves in last night’s shutout.

Pittsburgh was averaging 4 goals a game coming into last night’s game and riding a 5-game winning streak. #29 took care of that.

Reilly Smith has been on fire, but was held off the scoresheet last night. Please note, however, that last year Reilly Smith didn’t score his 6th goal of the season until game #32. Smith scored his 6th this year in his 8th game.

Vegas scored 2 empty-net goals in 23 seconds to seal the 3-0 victory.

My 3 Stars: Marc-Andre Fleury, the power play and penalty killing units, and Tomas Nosek (double-shifted in the 3rd period, replacing Brandon Pirri on the 3rd line for defensive purposes; that move by Gallant was instrumental, as Nosek blocked multiple shots on the Penguin power play late in the game with their goaltender pulled for the extra skater, creating a 6-on-4.

Next game is Monday at 4 PM Pacific Time vs. The Flyers

Your comments and opinions are welcome here on Las Vegas Advisor or you can contact me directly at [email protected] or visit my Facebook page of the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy

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