Knights on Ice — Shake, Rattle and …

Coach Gallant has obviously had seen enough looking back, not only on the last 4 road games, but the 3 previous home games, where leads were lost through a lack of getting his team to play a complete 60-minute game. Last night’s game was a clear indication that he was going to shake, rattle, and roll out 3 completely different lines in his attempt to get the team’s attention. Well, it worked. The VGK looked like a team on a mission, a team that regained their lost passion. Even the forecheck made an appearance in last night’s game, at least in the first 2 periods. 

The only line Gallant didn’t tamper with was the one with Nicolas Roy centering and Ryan Reaves and William Carrier on the wings — the energy line. The other 3 lines were dismantled and reconstructed and for the first 20 minutes of the game, it appeared that Gallant’s crystal ball was shining bright. The 4^th line opened the scoring when William Carrier tipped a shot from the point from Nick Hague past Corey Crawford, who was the star of the game, stopping 39 of the 42 shots Vegas tested him with in Chicago’s 5-3 win.

Carrier’s goal, his 3^rd of the season, was followed up by a power-play goal by William Karlsson for a 2-0 lead. Yes, the dreaded 2-goal lead that has been the Achilles heel for the VGK just 20 games into the season, especially at T-Mobile.

This is painful to write, but the VGK do not have a winning record at T-Mobile, a place where in the past, the other 30 teams used to be beaten before Carnell Johnson was finished singing the National Anthem and the crowd screamed “KNIGHTS!” Their record in 10 home games so far this season is 4-4-2. In 4 of those losses and 2 OT losses, they’ve blown leads, some as late as the 3^rd period with a 2-goal lead.

In their game against Boston on 10/8, they had a 2-goal lead in the first period before losing the game 4-3.

In their game against Nashville on 10/15, they had a 2-1 lead in the first period before losing the game 5-3.

In their game on 10/31 against Montreal, they had a 2-goal lead late in the 3^rd period before losing the game in overtime 5-4.

In their game on 11/ 2 against Winnipeg, they had a 3-1 lead going into the 3^rd period before losing the game 4-3.

Last night with the Shake Rattle and Roll lines, they once again had a 2-0 lead just 6:29 into the game, only to see Chicago score 5 of the next 6 goals to give Vegas a record of 1-3-3 in their last 7 games.

The Shake Rattle and Roll lines that created a lot of offense, especially in the first 20 minutes, looked like this: Alex Tuch (#89), who returned to the lineup, was playing alongside Cody Glass (#9) centered by Paul Stastny (#26); Max Pacioretty (#67) was playing alongside Reilly Smith (#19) centered by William Karlsson (#71); and Jonathan Marchessault (#81) was playing alongside Mark Stone (#61) centered by Cody Eakin (#21).

These 3 lines, along with the Roy-Carrier-Reaves line, scored 2 goals and had 16 shots on goal just in the first period and led 2-1 after 20 minutes. On Sunday vs. Detroit, the VGK had just 19 shots total for the game. So as you can see, the entire team came to last night’s game with a purpose. Gallant’s message was heard loud and clear.

Then it appeared Vegas had extended their lead to 3-1 when Alex Tuch snapped a shot over Corey Crawford’s shoulder. It was ruled a goal by the on-ice referee. Only problem was that all goals scored or ruled as scored are reviewed by Toronto and once the replay was shown, it was clear Tuch’s shot first hit the crossbar, then the post to Crawford’s right, before bouncing back out without crossing the goal line. Okay, we moved on. Vegas seemed to have complete control of the game and had Chicago hanging on thanks to Corey Crawford. But a change of momentum suddenly occurred just after Tuch’s goal was waived off. Chicago scored 2 goals in 45 seconds to jump ahead 3-2, a lead they never lost.

Chicago managed only 26 shots on Fleury, who faced more than his share of odd-man rushes and even a penalty shot just 44 seconds into the game when Nick Hague hooked Zach Smith who broke in alone on Fleury. Fleury stopped Smith on his penalty shot.

Penalty shots are rare in a hockey game. In the 2016-17 season, only 44 were awarded; in 2017-18, 49 were taken; in 2018-19, 43. Keep in mind that during the 82-game season, the 31 teams play a total of 2,542 games, so seeing a penalty shot is rare and seeing 2 in one game is like a cold day in Las Vegas in August. But last night there were 2; the second was when Corey Crawford threw his stick at the puck in an attempt to hinder Jonathan Marchessault’s wraparound scoring chance. Marchessault also missed his chance to tie the game at 3-3 on his penalty shot. So far this year, there’s a jump in the frequency of penalty shots, as 16 already have been awarded just a quarter of the way through the schedule.

The VGK played well in the 1^st period and without a few miscues in the 2^nd, they were playing a lot better than they have been, but it all fell apart in the 3^rd when Chicago extended their lead to 5-2 before Nate Schmidt added a goal that cut the lead back to 2 goals. Fleury was pulled for the extra skater with 53 seconds left in the game, but Crawford stood tall and turned away the VGK, who despite a good first period, are in the midst of a 4-straight-game losing streak, with 1 win in their last 7 games.

I should point this out, since I noted in my last 2 posts that the VGK forwards have shown a lack of offense. Last night there was a vast improvement on their shots: 2 forwards had 5 shots on goal (Karlsson and Pacioretty); 3 forwards had 4 shots on goal (Marchessault, Tuch, Stone), 3 forwards had 3 shots on goal (Glass, Smith, Carrier).

Roy, Reaves and Eakin didn’t register a shot on goal, but in defense of Eakin, he was was reported suffering from cramps and only played 55 seconds in the 3^rd period.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Corey Crawford (39 saves on 42 shots), Patrick Kane (1G, 2 A), William Karlsson (1 PPG, 1 A)

Chris Chapman of Fox sports radio asked Nate Schmidt after the game if he thought that Vegas was a good team right now and Nate said “NO.”

The locker room, which is usually open to the media shortly after the game has ended, was closed last night for what seemed like at least 10 minutes. My guess is that the players had a closed-door players-only meeting. If this is true, it was for sure needed. The coach can only say so much.

To say that a win Saturday (1 p.m.) against the L.A. Kings is paramount is not an exaggeration. L.A. is currently the worst team in the league with only 13 points in 18 games. But we know what happened when VGK played the other bottom team in the East, the Detroit Red Wings.

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