Knights on Ice — Panthers Were Stoned

Last night the VGK beat the Florida Panthers 7-2. But it’s more like Mark Stone beat them: He had a game for the ages and set a new VGK regular-season record of 5 points in a game.

Stone scored 5 points in a game twice when he played for the Ottawa Senators. He also scored 5 points for the VGK on April 19 of last year in Round 1 Game 3 against the Sharks at T-Mobile, a game in which he recorded his first career hat trick and had 2 assists in the VGK 6-3 victory. But playoff goals and points aren’t counted or added to a player’s regular-season stats.

In the VGK’s brief history, they have had multiple players who registered 4 points in a regular season game, but never five. Mark Stone now has that record all to himself.

Previously, 7 players jointly held the record of 4 points in a game:

1) Shea Theodore, 4 points on 12/19/17 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

2) William Karlsson, 4 points on 12/31/17 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

3) Jonathan Marchessault, 4 points 3/18/19 vs. San Jose Sharks

4) Reilly Smith, 4 points 3/18/19 vs. San Jose Sharks

5) Paul Stastny, 4 points 10/12/19 vs. LA Kings

6) Nate Schmidt, 4 points 11/17/19 vs. Calgary Flames

7) Max Pacioretty, 4 points 12/15/19 vs. Vancouver Canucks

But before you just assume that last night was a blowout, it was far from it. The game was tied at 2-2 with just about 8 minutes left in the 2^nd period. A few key plays could have turned this game in a different direction.

One was the penalty shot the Panthers were awarded when William Carrier pulled down Brett Connolly, who blew by everyone and was bearing down on Fleury. Carrier’s play prevented Connolly from getting a quality shot on Fleury. But with the awarded penalty shot, he was assured of getting one, which Fleury stopped, keeping the score at 2-1.

With that save on the penalty shot, Fleury joined Roberto Luongo as the only NHL goalies with 20 saves on penalty shots since records began being tracked in 1934-35.

When Vincent Trocheck scored on a wrap-around goal, one you don’t expect Fleury to surrender, it tied the game up at 2-2, giving the momentum back to the Panthers. But Max Pacioretty took the momentum right back when he scored just 26 seconds later to reestablish the lead at 3-2, a lead they never surrendered.

Mike Hoffman’s goal, in my opinion, should have never been allowed. Fleury’s stick was impeded by the left skate of Trocheck, which was clearly in the blue paint and prevented Fleury from moving right to left, giving Hoffman a completely empty net to shoot into. Someday the NHL will figure out what is and what isn’t goaltender interference. If Fleury’s stick had been outside the blue paint and got tangled up with Trocheck’s skate, I could live with upholding the goal. But that didn’t happen and Fleury was clearly prevented from moving from the right post to the left post to face Hoffman’s shot.

These 2 Florida goals were about as close as they were going to get in making this a game, because when Pacioretty scored to regain the lead, then and only then did the VGK take complete control of the game and it officially became a rout. Vegas scored four 3^rd period goals and held the Panthers to just 3 shots in the 3^rd period while Vegas had 15. The Panthers only had 1 shot on goal in the final 12 minutes of the game.

Besides his 5-point night, Stone made a brilliant defensive play, diving to the ice to prevent an odd-man rush on Fleury. While sliding on his stomach, Stone had the wherewithal to knock the puck with his hand into the corner and out of danger.

On his second goal, Stone picked up the puck to the left on the goal line and proceeded to skate 180 feet through the entire Panther team to beat Sergei Bobrovsky high to the glove side. Bobrovsky, the 2017 Vezina Trophy winner, was pulled from the game after surrendering 6 goals on 29 shots. He was signed as a UFA from the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 7-year $70 million contract. Last night he didn’t play like a $10 million per year goaltender.

The VGK scored early and often, especially early in each period. They scored 2:15 into the first period, 1:41 into the 2^nd period, and 17 seconds into the 3^rd period. The only negative thing that I can think of is that the VGK power play continues to struggle, going just 1 for 5 last night. But on the bright side, the VGK had never scored a PPG against Florida, so when Jonathan Marchessault scored a PPG, it was the first ever against the Panthers.

There were 5 different goal scorers for the VGK and 10 players who made the score sheet last night, a solid performance on the last game of a season-high 8 game road trip. The last 4 games of the road trip took place after the off week, which allowed Coach PDB to change a few things; the VGK went 3-1 and under PDB they have a 4-2-1 record. Still too small of a window to start giving DeBoer total credit for the improved play. I personally think the change in coaches has been a wake-up call for the players, who seemed to have lost some of the identity that they seized on in their first 2 seasons, especially their first year.

Only one other thing could have made last night a completely inspired night and that was the other 4 teams in the Pacific Division losing while the VGK won. And so it was. Minnesota beat Vancouver 4-2, Nashville beat Calgary 3-2, Carolina beat Arizona 5-3, and it’s not often that a win by the San Jose Sharks brings a smile to a VGK fan, but last night was an exception when they beat Edmonton 6-3, which allowed the VGK to climb into 2^nd place in the Pacific Division and create a 4-point night against the teams they’re fighting tooth and nail for a converted playoff spot.

In baseball terminology, the VGK hit for the cycle last night with a 5-on-5 goal, a power-play Goal, and a shorthanded goal.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Mark Stone (2G, 3A)

2) Max Pacioretty (2G, 1A)

3) Shea Theodore (1 SHG ,1A)

Next game is Saturday 7 pm vs. Carolina.

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

Penalty shot stopped by Fleury

Stone’s end-to-end goal