The VGK started yesterday with bad news, but ended it in dramatic fashion when Reilly Smith scored at 7:13 of overtime for the 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks and a commanding 2-game lead in the best-of-7 series. Teams that go ahead 2-0 in a 7-game series overall are 324-51 (86.4%) to move onto the next round.
Max Pacioretty, the team’s leading scorer who didn’t travel with the team for the Round Robin games, arrived at the Edmonton bubble just in time to play in Game 1 of Round 1 on Tuesday. But Patches was ruled unfit to play for Game 2, which impelled Coach DeBoer to start moving players around to compensate for his absence.
DeBoer didn’t know before the puck was dropped that he’d have to turn on his line blender one more time during the game, when Tomas Nosek went down with an undisclosed injury. Nosek was slotted into the meat-grinder line between Carrier and Reaves, taking Roy’s spot; he even scored a first-period goal for the VGK’s 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.
Nick Roy was moved up and reunited with Alex Tuch and Nick Cousins and that seemed to be exactly what the 3rd line needed as they were nearly invisible in Game 1. Tuch seems more creative and engaged with Roy in the middle.
With the Nosek injury, DeBoer plugged in his blender and you needed a completely blank whiteboard to keep track of where and who the remaining 11 forwards played the next shift with. But we’ve seen this DeBoer magic before and once again, he didn’t disappoint yesterday.
It’s not often that a goal scored in overtime can be attributed to the previous shift. But that’s exactly what happened as Roy, Tuch, and Cousins were cycling the puck deep in the Chicago end in the shift before the Smith’s OT goal. Their play prevented the Blackhawks from clearing the puck and getting fresh legs on the ice. Roy and Tuch changed for the fresh legs of Stastny and Smith when the Blackhawks were skating on fumes.
Cousins never changed and made a nifty play, keeping the puck in the zone, then chipping it forward to Stastny who was in the left-wing corner. Reilly Smith, who has been an offensive juggernaut in the playoffs, headed to the front of the net. Stastny, who opened the scoring with his goal in the first period, put a tape-to-tape pass onto Smith’s stick. Smith just turned his stick and before Cory Crawford, the Chicago goaltender, could react, it was in the net for the overtime winner. It was Smith’s team-leading 3rd goal in the last 2 games; he also has four assists.
It was a demoralizing defeat for Chicago, who overcame a 2-0 deficit to tie the game when the VGK had it on cruise control. Mark Stone salvaged an uninspiring VGK 2nd period when he scored to break the 2-2 tie and it appeared that the VGK would enter the 3rd period with a 3-2 lead. Vegas has dominated the 3rd period and overtime in their 4 playoff games in the Edmonton bubble, holding an 11-1 goal advantage.
But Chicago wasn’t going away without a fight and when Dylan Strome scored with just 14 seconds left in the second, it nullified Stone’s go-ahead goal and we were tied going into the 3rd. With no Pacioretty and down to 11 forwards, it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk by any means. The 3rd period was scoreless and we headed into overtime.
Both the Blackhawks and Vegas came within inches of ending the game, the first time when Chicago rang one off the crossbar, then when Brayden McNabb also hit iron before the relentless play of the 3rd line finally set up the win.
The VGK have won 5 straight games. The last time Vegas won 5 straight playoff games, they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018.
The six-four 240-pound Jonathan Marchessault now has 4 assists in his last 2 games, a +4 with 9 shots on goal and 4 hits, and continues to shine in all 3 zones.
With the uncertain status of Pacioretty and Nosek, the question is, who will be the 12th forward to dress for Saturday’s Game 3? Will it be Reid Duke, Patrick Brown, or Keegan Kolesar?
I told you that Robin “Panda” Lehner would play both Games 1 and 2 and now I will tell you that you’ll see the Flower in one of the next 2 games, most likely tomorrow’s, giving Panda 2 days off.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Reilly Smith (GWG in overtime, 1 A), Paul Stastny (1 G, 1 A on the game-winner), Nick Cousins (his relentless play in OT led to the winning goal). 3a: Patrick Kane (who assisted on all 3 Chicago goals and is the only Kane in the NHL that the VGK fan base doesn’t hate).
The next game is tomorrow at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Please note that this game will be nationally televised on NBC. Sunday’s game will be back on ATT Sports Network.
Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you can contact me directly at [email protected] or on my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy. You can also reach me at Twitter @TheRealJoePane
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It feels like a piece of normal watching our guys play and playing so well!
Mike Patterson commented
They’re playing a team that has no right to be in playoffs relax
The 2012 LA Kings had no business in the playoffs either. You know any other time an 8th seed beat the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seeds and go on to with Cup? Not that it’s gonna happen here but you can’t dismiss any team at any time. You never know when teams get hot (Last years STL Blues) and players get injured.