Knights on Ice — You Were Warned

It’s not often I speak about what needs to be done for an upcoming game. Almost 100% of the time, my posts are usually about the game just played. But after the San Jose Sharks game, I wrote, “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.”

As much as I would like to say I told you so, it gives me no pleasure to be spot on about what was needed to be accomplished in order for the VGK to defeat the Edmonton Oilers. Not only were the 6 defensemen put to the test, with Nick Holden inserted into the lineup to help counter the speed of the Oilers as I said he’d be, I thought Engelland would be the healthy scratch. But Coach Gallant instead sat Jon Merrill instead.

It didn’t matter whom he sat or inserted in the lineup: The VGK as a team showed up unprepared and without a purpose. At this point in the season, with a record of 11-10-4 with last night’s 4-2 loss to the Oilers, that’s not something to be proud of. Worse still, the loss dropped their record at T-Mobile to 6-5-3.

One would think that, in a division game against the current leaders of the Pacific Division, in front of 18,319 with a good number of the crowd in their orange Edmonton Oilers sweaters, there would be a better effort than the one that was put on the ice last night at T-Mobile.

The Vegas Golden Knights have never had a losing record at T-Mobile in their 96 regular-season home games, the 13 home playoff games, and the 14 home games played so far this season. Now they’re just 2 home losses away from ending this impressive accomplishment.

Last night, Connor McDavid scored 2 of the Oilers’ 4 goals. Leon Draisaitl had 3 assists for his 29^th through 31^st assists through just 25 games. Let that sink in. McDavid has 46 points with 18 goals, along with a current 10-game point streak that consists of 12 goals and 11 assists. Last night, McDavid’s 2 goals added up to 7 goals scored in the last 5 games, while his line partner Draisaitl has 47 points total (16 G and 31 A), with 31 of his points in his last 15 games.

I sat in the press box last night, trying to figure out if the Edmonton Oilers are just this good or if the VGK are touted as a better team than they actually are. I truly do not know what the correct answer is, but I do know this: Edmonton sits on top of the Pacific Division for a good reason. They’re a good fast team with the top 2 scorers in the league currently. And that exposed the lack of speed on the back end of the VGK, especially last night.

On the first Edmonton goal scored by McDavid, a complete defensive lapse was committed by Nicholas Hague, who is normally paired up with Shea Theodore, but he was on the ice with Brayden McNabb on this particular shift. The puck was in the corner to the left of Fleury, and when McNabb fell to the ice, Hague vacated the front of the net and headed into the corner. Leaving the front of the net completely vacated is usually a problem, but when Connor McDavid is in the corner and the front of the net is empty, it becomes an even bigger problem. When McDavid came out of the corner with the puck, he was headed right for Fleury and a ton of unoccupied ice.

Reilly Smith tried to track down McDavid, but there was just not enough time to catch up to him. He swooped across the front of the net and got Fleury to drop to his knees, expecting a quick shot, but McDavid skated all the way to Fleury’s right and slipped the puck past him for a lead the Oilers never lost. Ethan Bear scored the second Oiler goal with 4 minutes to go in the first period and things were not looking very good for the VGK in a game they didn’t show up for.

Cody Eakin did give the fans at T-Mobile a glimmer of hope when he scored off a slap shot from Nic Holden that hit Max Pacioretty and bounced in front of the net. Eakin tapped it under Mike Smith, the Edmonton goaltender, with just 20 seconds left in the first period. It was also Eakin’s 3^rd goal in the last 4 games. Late-period goals are usually good omens for a team, especially one that was being outplayed and outworked for the entire 1^st period,

But 12:04 into the 2^nd period, a 4^th line winger, Markus Granlund, scored his 2^nd goal of the season to send Edmonton back up by 2 goals. It’s tough enough to beat this team with the skill of McDavid and Draisaitl, but if you’re going to allow a 4^th line player to dent the net, the job of beating Edmonton becomes ever more difficult.

Shea Theodore did get the team back to just a one-goal deficit and the crowd at T-Mobile back into it on a nifty Bobby Orr-like move, skating the puck himself into the offensive zone, then slipping between 2 defensemen to beat Mike Smith with just 5:41 left in the 2^nd period. Was there hope that the Knights could pull off the improbable comeback in a game they didn’t seem ready for or didn’t deserve to win?

No such luck. Just 2:11 into the 3^rd period, Connor McDavid scored his 2^nd goal of the game and regained the 2-goal lead.

Fleury gave up 4 goals on just 31 shots, but in his defense, he was left out to dry most of the night.

I know I’m currently the bearer of bad news, but don’t despair. The current Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues were the 31^st ranked team early in Jan. 2019. They righted their ship and went on to beat the powerful Boston Bruins with a rookie goaltender. The VGK have a world-class goaltender and with a little help, which last night he didn’t get, Fleury can single-handedly take this team on his shoulders and steal games.

But you have to score more than 3 goals in 2 games before you can hope for miracles to happen.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Connor McDavid (2 goals), Leon Draisaitl (3 assists), Shea Theodore (1G and he was on the ice for both VGK goals for a +2)

By the way, Connor McDavid will turn 23 in January. Leon Draisaitl turned 24 less than a month ago.

Next game is on the road tomorrow vs. Dallas at 5:30 Pacific Time

And here’s Eddie Rivkin’s take on the game from his couch.

E Is for Lots of Things (and Last Night, They Were All Bad)

Last night at T-Mobile, the Division-leading Edmonton Oilers were in town, led by their captain and the best player in the NHL, Connor McDavid. The VGK were coming off a decent performance in an OT loss vs. the hated San Jose Sharks. The stage was set for fireworks in a big 4-point divisional game.

Well, unfortunately for most of the 18,319 in attendance, the VGK’s performance was a rainstorm on fireworks night and the show was cancelled.

So instead of giving you the gruesome postmortem the usual way, play by play, goal by goal, etc., I’ll just share with you my 8 takeaways from the game, all observations and opinions made from my couch.

1. The first bad E was energy. The VGK were outplayed for the entire first and third periods. The second period was much higher energy and looked much more like what most experts thought the game would be like.

2. The second bad E was effort. This isn’t a blanket draped over the entire team, but a good number of skaters weren’t up to speed and par. For the VGK to be competitive and defeat teams like the Oilers, it must be an entire team effort. Last night, it was far from that.

3. The third bad E was for execution. The VGK got beat last night by a team playing VGK hockey. The Oilers played the VGK in all the zones. They forced the VGK into bad decisions and those bad decisions led directly to goals and the loss. The defensive zone was a big problem, as the VGK repeatedly tried to break out of their zone up the boards, only to be stopped and turned over. At the end of the 2^nd period, the VGK were hemmed in so badly that the defensive pair of Derek Engelland and Nick Holden were trapped in the zone for 3 minutes and 4 seconds!

4. The game ended with the VGK committing 14 giveaways to the Oilers’ 1. The VGK were outshot 31-25 and the number of Grade A’s could probably be counted on one hand. At the other end, the Flower was left hung out to dry far too many times and if it weren’t for his herculean effort, the scoreboard would have been far more embarrassing than 4-2.

5. Not to be redundant, but the VGK’s glaring weakness being exploited by opponents is team speed on defense. Nate Schmidt is the only true D man who is a great skater. Shea Theodore is absolutely a great skater, but he is much more of an offensive-minded D man than a 2-way guy who can be trusted in his own zone all the time. As evidence, just google his spectacular hands-on display as he left Oscar Klefbom searching for his jockstrap in the slot on his way to cutting the Oilers’ lead to 3-2. The rest of the D has been woefully ineffective and exposed as a step slow and guilty of bad decision-making numerous times so far this season. Something is going to have to be done to correct this if the VGK are going to make a serious run at the playoffs.

6. Interesting math for the day. The VGK earned 5 out of a possible 8 points on the recent road trip. And 5 out of 8 points on the just-ended 4-game homestand. That’s barely above .500 in possible points earned, which happens to be almost exactly what the VGK are so far this season at 11-10-4 for 26 points, 7 behind the Oilers.

7. Coach Gallant is clearly not happy with the inconsistent play of the VGK and more inconsistent results. By all accounts, the VGK went into the season with 3 of the 4 forward lines set. Coach Gallant has had to turn on the line blender way too often way too early in the season to try to shake the team out of the funk they’ve been playing in for extended numbers of games. The powers that be upstairs, GM KM and President of Hockey Operation George McPhee have been perfectly silent. But you can bet conversations are going on regarding what they’re going to do in the short-term and long. And while we’re talking above-ice level, I’d wager Mr. Foley is also not liking the direction his team is going this season and making sure KM and GM are aware of his displeasure.

8. It’s a long season, and contrary to what some others may speculate, it’s not time to panic. The VGK are made up of a roster full of very talented players who now are being victimized by several factors. And yes, some of it is self-inflicted. I’m not being a homer when I say that I believe they will right the ship and get to playing VGK hockey and winning games. They’re too talented for the recent woes to become the norm.

A few days away from Vegas might help the VGK simplify their game and get back to feeling good about themselves. They’ll have 2 tough games to see, starting Tuesday night with the Dallas Stars who happen to be 9-0-1 in their last 10 games.

3 Stars: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Shea Theodore