Knights on Ice — A Tuff(oli) Kind of Loss

Tyler Toffoli hadn’t appeared in Vancouver’s last 10 playoff games in the Edmonton bubble, but he was paramount in hanging a disappointing loss on the VGK last night. Vancouver beat the VGK by a score of 5-2 and Tyler wasted no time in leading Vancouver to an inspiring win that evened the best-of-7 series at one game apiece.

Toffoli opened the scoring 1:29 into the game and just 9 seconds into his first shift to put Vancouver ahead 1-0, a lead they would never surrender.

With the first of many defensive breakdowns committed last night by Vegas, Tyler found himself with the puck on his stick standing to the right of Robin Lehner, who was committed to the left post. Shea Theodore allowed his man to go behind the net and when Alex Martinez lost his check on Toffoli, it was basically an open-net goal for Vancouver’s 1-0 lead. We didn’t know it then, but it was the beginning of a long night for the team and the entire VGK fan base hoping for a win and a commanding 2-0 in the series.

Toffoli also assisted on 2 of Vancouver’s other 4 goals with Lehner in the net. An empty-net goal put the final score at 5-2.

Actually, Vancouver scored 2 goals on their first 4 shots, but before you have images of Fleury getting the start in goal for tomorrow’s Game 3, keep in mind that Lehner was left out to dry by his teammates’ lackluster defensive coverage. To say that the defensive pairing of Schmidt and McNabb had a bad game would be an understatement.

There was no way the VGK could win this game based on their performance, especially in the first and third periods. No matter who was in the net, they just didn’t have it last night. Their passes were in skates. Their one-time setups in front of Vancouver’s netminder Markstrom always seemed to be hampered by a bouncing puck or a puck that just wouldn’t settle on the blade for the one-timer.

Markstrom is just too good of a goaltender. If he’s given the time to square up to the shooter, he’s hard to beat.

In addition to Markstrom seeing the puck like it was a beachball, his teammates were dialed in last night. They were embarrassed in Game 1 and they responded. Not only did Markstrom face 40 VGK shots and stop 38, his teammates blocked 40 shots, a Vancouver playoff record and just one blocked shot shy of an NHL record.

Usually, when a team has that many blocked shots, it’s not a good stat. In order to be in a position to block shots, it means the other team has possession of the puck. So it’s somewhat misleading. But it didn’t matter last night. The VGK that looked like the dominant team in Game 1 was MIA last night, except for about 18 minutes of the 2^nd period when they played with passion and determination trailing 2-0 after the first period. During the first 11 minutes of the 2^nd period, Vegas had 12 shots on Markstrom, while Lehner faced 3.

At one point in the game, Vegas had a 49-11 advantage in shot attempts, but between Markstrom and 16 of the 18 Vancouver players blocking at least one shot, the writing was on the wall or in this case the ice. Vegas can’t play 18 minutes of a 60-minute game and expect a good outcome.

In Game 1, Vancouver dominated the faceoff circle, winning 64%, but I didn’t mention it in my write-up, since it didn’t play a role in the outcome of the game. Last night, Vancouver won 66% of the faceoffs. But one in particular in my opinion changed the entire momentum of the game. The score was 2-1, Vegas was the much better team during the majority of the 2^nd period, and they’d trimmed the 2-0 to 2-1 on an Alex Tuch goal at the 6:34 mark. Then with just 1:25 left in the period, Elias Pettersson found himself with the puck in front of Robin Lehner as Schmidt and McNabb were headed north, while the puck and Pettersson were headed south. This came off a faceoff to Lehner’s right. How both defensemen were caught so out of position, especially when they started the play in front of Pettersson and below the faceoff circle, is a mystery to me.

This goal, which should have never happened, killed whatever momentum Vegas had built up during the second period, including Tuch’s goal.

This late goal sent Vancouver into the locker room with the same 2-goal lead they had after the first period and regained control of the game that Vegas had reestablished during the first 18 minutes of the 2^nd period.

Goals late in a period or early in a period can be hard to overcome and Vancouver not only got the goal late in the 2^nd period, but also put one past Lehner very early in the 3^rd. They say it’s not over till the fat lady sings. Well, when Bo Horvat scored just 18 seconds into the 3rd, you could hear the fat lady clearly in Las Vegas from as far away as Edmonton.

One bright spot from last night’s game was the play of Alex Tuch, who seems to have little rockets in his skates as he explodes past defending players. His goal ignited the team in the 2^nd period until the late goal by Vancouver.

Another bright spot is the play of Zach Whitecloud, who doesn’t seem like someone who has played in only 17 NHL games in his entire career. He played one game very late in the 2017-2018 season, no games in 2018-2019, and 16 games during this abbreviated 2019-2020 season. He’s here to stay and he’s the youngest VGK defenseman who has played in the playoffs in Edmonton. He’ll turn 24 on Nov. 28. Dylan Coghlan is the youngest defenseman on the roster and will turn 23 next February 19. The Knights have a number of young defensemen in their system, which isn’t good news for Deryk Engelland and Jon Merrill, whose contracts expire at the conclusion of these playoffs.

3 Stars of the Game: Tyler Toffoli (1G, 2A), Bo Horvat (2 G and the leading scorer in the playoffs), Jacob Markstrom (38 saves on 40 shots)

Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you may contact me directly at [email protected] or on my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy or on Twitter@TheRealJoePane

Toffoli’s opening goal

Tuch’s goal

Pettersson’s goal