“His Mouth Is Running, His Feet Are Going,” Plus Interchangeable Parts

Last night, the VGK put their train back on the tracks in a dominating 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars that now squares the series at 1-1. There wasn’t much you could take from Game 1 to build on, but having Ryan Reaves back in the lineup appeared to help in straightening out the derailed VGK for this must-win Game 2.

Between the 2^nd and 3^rd periods, Nate Schmidt was asked about the impact of having Revo back in the lineup after he served his one-game suspension. Nate said, “His mouth was running and his feet were going.” On most nights, you won’t see Reaves’s name on the scoresheet, but what he brings is important to the players on the ice, on the bench, and in the locker room. Not to mention his impact on the opposing team and coaches.

In Game 1, the Knights lacked passion, desire, and the will to battle for control of the game and its tempo. Last night, all of that returned. Can we say it was due to Revo? Of course not. But we can say that the entire team played better and bigger and was willing to fight for every inch of the 200 feet of the ice surface. Call it a common denominator, but Revo inspires his teammates and intimidates the opponents. He even drew a penalty in the first period when John Klingberg went out of his way to hit Reaves along the boards when Reaves didn’t have the puck. His chirping gets other players off their game, and always has, and always will.

The other positive thing taken from Game 1 and used in Game 2 was DeBoer’s shuffling his lines in the 3^rd period to find something, anything, to get the offense percolating. It didn’t create any goals, but DeBoer saw a few things he liked and used them for last night’s game. He reunited the Karlsson-Marchessault-Smith line; he put Tuch with Stone centered by Stephenson; and he dropped Paccioretty down to the 3^rd line with Stastny at center along with Roy. The meat-grinder line of Noesk-Carrier-Reaves completed the arrangement. DeBoer used the interchangeable parts of the top 9 forwards to perfection. The trolls on the Internet who were screaming about DeBoer seem to have gone silent.

DeBoer seems to have his fingers on the pulse of this team, especially in the net. The drama that some were creating over Panda vs. Fleury should be put to rest right now. Robin “Panda” Lehner is clearly the #1 goaltender on this team as I write this. He recorded his 4^th shutout in the playoffs last night in just 11 of the 14 games that he has played for Vegas. As much as Fleury is loved and the face of this franchise, the ultimate goal is just 7 wins away. If you’re a true fan of this team, winning the Cup is the prize, no matter who’s minding the goal.

If history repeats, as some say it does, Vegas lost the first game of the Western Conference Finals in 2018 vs. Winnepeg, then won the next 4 that earned them a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. They lost Game 1 to Dallas and now have won Game 2. Is history about to be repeated? I sure hope so. Dallas has scored just 1 goal in 2 games and has gone 48 shots without scoring; their lone goal was on their very first shot 6 long periods ago.

Last night’s game was clearly won in the 2^nd period. Some people will tell you that faceoffs don’t matter. I say this: “Wake up and smell the coffee.” Or just listen to Dallas’ head coach Rick Bowness, who played professionally starting in 1972 and has coached since 1988, so it’s safe to say he has a pretty good knowledge of the game, including the importance of faceoffs. Bowness admitted that the VGK’s dominance in the faceoff circles, especially in the 2^nd period, allowed them to take control of the game and change the tempo. Vegas was on the wrong side of faceoff wins in Edmonton over their first 13 games, but last night they changed that by winning 61% to just 39% for Dallas.

Dallas was scoring bunches of goals: 28 vs. Colorado in 7 games, an average of 4 goals per game. They’re now averaging a half -goal per game against Vegas. If the Knights can keep them bottled up like they did last night, allowing them only 24 shots (and 25 in Game 1), this may very well be history repeating itself with Vegas winning the next 3 games and moving closer to what the goal was back a long time ago in October 2019.

The Tomas Nosek goal was a thing of beauty, a classic tic-tac-toe passing clinic put on by Stephenson and Roy, followed by Tomas Nosek for the 3rd and final goal of the game.

It was considered a home game last night. We know it wasn’t, but it sure felt like one when a pink flamingo was thrown onto the ice as the final horn sounded.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Paul Stastny (GWG and 1 PP assist), William Karlsson (1 PPG, which will help the confidence of the PP, which was 1 for 6 last night after going 1 for 14), Robin Lehner (who stopped all 24 shots for the shutout and now has 2 back-to-back shutouts)

Next up is Game 3 on tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. Pacific Time on NBC Sports Network (channel 220 on DirecTV).

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 or on Twitter @TheRealJoePane

Stastny’s opening goal

Karlsson’s power-play goal

Nosek’s tic-tac-toe goal