Knights on Ice — Dell-nied

It wasn’t your typical Vegas-San Jose game with Martin Jones between the pipes for the Sharks, which always seems to benefit the Knights, especially at T-Mobile Arena, where Jones has made it a habit of allowing his fair share of goals early and often and an early shower, which then finds Jones being replaced by Aaron Dell.

San Jose Sharks’ coach Peter De Boer rolled the dice and went with his backup Aaron Dell, letting his number-one goaltender Jones occupy the last seat on the bench. That move paid off in dividends, as Dell stopped all but one of the 38 shots the VGK got on goal, along with his teammates blocking 19 attempted shots in San Jose’s 2-1 OT win over the VGK.

Last night was Dell’s first start since Nov. 2 when he lost 5-2 vs. Vancouver and his first win since Oct. 24 on the road in Montreal when he recorded a 4-2 Shark victory. It was also Dell’s first win vs. Vegas, as he had a previous record of 0-2-1 before last night’s game.

San Jose got off to a horrible start this season, losing their first 4 games, with 2 of them coming against Vegas on Oct. 2 and Oct. 4 by scores of 4-1 and 5-1. In those 2 games, the VGK scored 1 power-play goal and 3 shorthanded goals.

Last night the VGK power play went 0-3 and seemed to have neither a smooth entry into the zone nor rebound shots, as Dell made the first save and limited their 2^nd and 3^rd shots, along with any quality scoring chances against the Sharks’ penalty kill, which is #1 in the league at 89.9%. Vegas’ penalty kill at a point earlier in the season was the best PK unit, but has since fallen to 4^th place with an 86.2%.

It wasn’t the penalty-filled game that most were expecting. Only 3 skaters received penalties: 1 to Cody Eakin and 2 to San Jose’s Branden Dillon for interference and Logan Couture for tripping. San Jose also sustained a team penalty for too many men on the ice and Fleury picked up a tripping penalty. The expected battle that always seems to find a way onto the ice when these 2 teams meet didn’t materialize. They only meet one more time this season, on Sunday Dec. 22 at San Jose.  

San Jose stumbled out of the gate this season, but has since gotten back on track. Coming into last night’s game, they’d won 6 of their last 7. With last night’s win, they’ve accumulated 14 points of a possible 16 and now have closed the point differential between Vegas and themselves to 3 points and SJ has played one less game.

Vegas had their share of scoring chances, but not many 2^nd chances off rebounds. The one juicy rebound that did occur came off a Cody Glass shot in OT that Shark defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic cleared away from the front of the net and pushed up through the neutral zone to a streaking Logan Couture, sending him in alone on Fleury. Ironically, it was Couture’s 2^nd breakaway in the OT that ended at the 3:20 mark of the 5-minute period.

Vegas seemed to have control of the game for the first 20 minutes, with 14 shots on Dell in the first period, while San Jose only managed 6 shots on Fleury. Dell was the difference last night and the failure of the VGK power play didn’t help matters.

The SJ win in OT was their first this season and Vegas remains winless in their 4 OT sessions.

San Jose played a good game by not allowing Vegas to establish a rhythm or momentum. The Sharks pretty much sat back and lined up 3 players across the blue line, challenging Vegas to just dump the puck in and take away the ability and strength of Vegas to carry the puck into the zone, which would have forced the Shark defensemen to back up.

Vegas did have some quality scoring chances in OT, with Nate Schmidt and William Karlsson twice, but Dell denied the 4 shots that Vegas got off in a nonstop OT period with multiple breakaways. On the winning goal by Couture, Fleury made the save on the first shot, only to see the puck come to a stop right in front in the blue paint. Couture, to his credit, kept his stick on the ice and was able to bang the puck past Fleury while it was lying there.

You can’t expect to win games when you only score 1 goal, even when Marc-Andre Fleury is your goaltender. The one goal that San Jose did score in the second period was basically a one-on-one contest between Timo Meier and Nate Schmidt. Meier powered past Schmidt down the right wing and beat him to the front of the net. In Tuesday’s game vs. Toronto while sitting next to Eddie Rivkin in the press box, I mentioned to Eddie that Nate’s speed and ability to track down forwards on the rush seemed to be a step off and last night that observation came into play. Has the knee injury Nate suffered against the Sharks on opening night cost him some mobility? I’m not sure, but it’s rare to see Nate beat back to the front of the net by opposing forwards.

The only silver lining to last night’s OT loss was that it came in OT, which made it a 3-point game and prevented the Sharks from picking up what in reality would have been a 4-point difference. It also allowed Vegas to pick up a point on the other 5 teams currently behind them in the Pacific Division. Vegas was in the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division off their 2-game winning streak, but have now fallen into the 2^nd and final wild-card position based off of Vancouver’s 6-3 win last night over Nashville. That’s how close the Pacific Division and Western Conference are. You can earn 5 points out of a possible 6 and fall 2 positions. Winnipeg owns the first wild-card playoff position with a record of 13-9-1 for 27 points, while Vegas is 11-9-4 for 26 points.

The task ahead doesn’t become any easier and the point lost last night makes tomorrow’s game against the Pacific-leading Edmonton Oilers a very important contest. Edmonton leads the Pacific Division with 31 points and with the speed of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the defense of Vegas will be put to the test. Look for Holden to return to the lineup to replace Engelland to help counter the speed of these 2 players. They have 31 goals between them and the Oilers have a potent power play led by former VGK James Neal, who has 13 goals already along with 9 power-play goals, 2^nd overall among all NHL players. Neal is one goal behind David Pastrnak, who leads the league with 10 PPG. McDavid, Draisaitl, and Neal’s 44 goals combined account for 57% of the team’s total of 77 goals. So you can see the #1 key to beating Edmonton on Saturday is keeping these 3 off the scoreboard. Easy to say, not so easy to accomplish. The 6 VGK defensemen will be put to the test on Saturday.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Aaron Dell (37 saves on 38 shots, 4 in OT), Logan Couture (game-winning goal in OT), Brayden McNabb (goal that got the game into OT for the valuable 1 point that prevented this from being a 4 point game)

Next game is Saturday at 7 p.m. vs. Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile

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

Has Anyone Seen the Intensity?

By Eddie Rivkin

After two seasons and two games, there is no question that the VGK’s rival is San Jose. With the Sharks winning six of their last seven and the VGK winners of two in a row, expectations were high for an all-out war at the Fortress last night: up and down the ice, bone-crushing hits, playoff-intensity-type hockey, and a raucous crowd.

Well, aside from the bone-crushing hits by the 75 and 28 trains, this game met none of the expectations and frankly I have no idea why.

That being said, the VGK played a very good game.

They dominated the first period statistically, territorially, and just about every other way a team could dominate its opponent. The 75 Train smashed into everything in a white jersey. For a period that ended 0-0, I’m sure Coach Gallant was quite happy with how the game was going.

The second period was closer statistically. The VGK continued to out-hustle the Sharks. The Flower just missed a poke check on Teemu Meier and the Sharks led 1-0.

In the third period, the VGK continued to pour on the shots (68 total attempts) and win the territorial battle. The VGK finally broke through when Brayden McNabb’s wrister from the left point beat Aaron Dell low glove to even the score at one. That’s how things ended in regulation and it was off to bonus hockey.

For a couple of minutes, the high-intensity game we were all expecting broke. Up and down the ice both teams went and Grade A scoring chances were everywhere for both teams. The crowd at the Fortress finally came alive. Unfortunately for the VGK, the offensive-zone pressure led to a breakaway going the other way and Logan Couture had a breakaway from center ice. Flower made the initial save, but the rebound lay right in front of Couture and he nagged home his own rebound for a 2-1 OT win for the Sharks.

If you think this is about the most boring review of an NHL game you have ever read, you’d be correct, and it’s intentional. Why, you ask? Because from the couch, so was this game.

As the kids say, “Don’t get it twisted.”

I’d say Coach Gallant was very happy with the VGK’s game and effort tonight. They carried the play to the Sharks and won all the statistical battles except the scoreboard. They tightened up their play in the D zone and there was no extended zone time by the Sharks at all. The PK was perfect. All very positive indications that the rough patch/losing streak is behind them.

And I’ll bet any of you Fleury’s next dozen shutout donuts that Sharks’ coach DeBoer would say his team played a near-perfect road game.

Though they dominated statistically, the VGK had a small number of Grade A scoring chances. Most of the shots came from outside the dots and with little or no traffic in front of Dell. Even a goalie with a losing record and a sub .900 save percentage is going to stop every shot from the outside with no traffic.

So in the end, the VGK get a point. That makes 5 out of 6 on the homestand with the Division-leading Edmonton Oilers next up in the Fortress tomorrow night. Yes, the Division-leading Edmonton Oilers. Who knew I would ever type those words?

Quick observations:

1. The fourth line was the best line for the VGK last night. At least 20 hits and their high-intensity play led to the turnover and the VGK’s only goal of the night.

2. The PP was 0-3 against the Sharks, number one in the NHL PK. For the first time in a long while, the PP looked a little out of sorts against the high-pressure PK from the Sharks.

3. I hate to say I told you so. There wasn’t even a whiff of the heavyweight tilt the crowd in the Fortress was hoping for. In Tuesday’s post, I guessed the only way Reaves v Kane at center ice happened was if the VGK jumped out to an early lead. They didn’t and it didn’t. Every point matters and taking an extra 2-minute penalty for instigating could have cost either team the game.

4. A prediction for tomorrow. The game will be much more exciting than last night’s game. The Oilers feature the best player in the NHL, Connor McDavid. Together with his linemate Leon Draisaitl, they have a combined 87 points!

My 3 Stars: the VGK 4^th line, Logan Couture, Brayden McNabb

One last thought: I really wonder what my friend Joe is going to write about. Most nights we chit chat on occasion during the game. Last night we swapped less than 5 total messages. Was his view from the press box very different from mine on the couch? Did Joe see some highlights that I didn’t? I’m coming back tomorrow morning to read his article!