Knights on Ice — We Have Benn Here Before

No, that’s not a typo. Yes, we’ve Benn here before. Jamie Benn, captain of the Dallas Stars, has once again invested his will, his heart, his soul, and his pure determination to do whatever it takes to beat the VGK in the Western Conference Finals. He did it in Game 3 and last night he continued his personal destruction of the Knights’ Stanley Cup hopes. Benn scored the winning goal on the power play late in the 2^nd period for the 2-1 Dallas victory that leaves the VGK in the barely imaginable position of now having to win the next 3 games if there is any hope to continue their season.

What really stings is that coming into last night’s game, the Stars were 0-5 on the power play in this series and Vegas had killed off Dallas’ 3 previous power plays before Brayden McNabb took his place in the penalty box for holding.

McNabb’s penalty occurred with just 1:09 left in the 2^nd period. This penalty kill was going to have a great impact on the tempo of the game. If Vegas successfully kills it off, it makes the VGK penalty-killing unit a perfect 9-for-9 in the series. Late-period goals almost always inspire the scoring team and deflate the scored-on team. When Jamie Benn scored just 10 seconds after the McNabb penalty to take the 2-1 lead, the skies over Rogers Place in Edmonton became cloudy and gray for the VGK.

The VGK offense has been dismal in the previous 3 games and that’s being kind. Actually, it goes back to Round 2 vs. Vancouver, a series they once led 3-1 before they needed all 7 games to literally squeeze by the less-talented team.

The VGK could not have asked for a better path to get to the Stanley Cup Final. They were the #1 seed playing the 23^rd-ranked team (Chicago) in the playoffs in Round 1. Then they had a good but young team in the Vancouver Canucks, who lost their starting goaltender and an unproven goalie by the name of Demko almost ruined the VGK path to the 3^rd round. In Round 3, they were supposed to face Colorado, a team with a ton of talent. But a number of Avalanche injuries and the newly found offense of the Dallas Stars cleared the path for Vegas, or so we all thought.

Dallas scored 28 goals in the 7 games against Colorado. But they reverted back to their defensive prowess in Round 3 vs. Vegas and they have done this to perfection. They’ve given up only 6 goals in 4 games. Scored only 6 goals themselves, they still lead the series 3-1. Their goals have been important and timely and they’re just one game away from crushing the dreams of the VGK organization and the fan base here in Las Vegas.

Entering the 3^rd period trailing 2-1 and even having a 5-on-3 power play for over 1 minute, you’d think that Vegas would find a way to tie this game up or possibly put 2 goals behind Anton Khudobin to get this series tied 2 games apiece. Anton had a different vision; he once again stifled the Vegas offense, which seems to be following the NV Energy suggestions on saving power during the heatwave. The VGK not only failed to score on the 5-on-3, they registered only 1 shot on goal in a 4:08 span of the 3^rd period while trailing in a pivotal game.

It wasn’t like Dallas had complete control of the puck and was putting a lot of offensive pressure on the VGK. Dallas had 5 shots on goal in the first period, 9 in the 2^nd and 6 in the 3^rd. Twenty shots total should be a walk in the park for Robin Lehner or for that matter just about any NHL goaltender in a crucial Game 4 trailing 2-1 in a series.

Vegas had the most wins (10) in the 2020 playoffs when they scored first. Last night, they didn’t add to their league-leading total. Dallas was 7-1 when leading after the 2^nd period.

Mark Stone took a shot off his right foot and missed a portion of the game, but did return in the 3^rd period. He was noticeably hampered by this and gutted it out for the remainder. But the lack of scoring left DeBoer without many other options. With Pacioretty, Marchessault, Smith, and Tuch, to name a few, seeming to be squeezing their sticks, winning the next 3 games in a row will be a tall task.

Losing in the playoffs is not an easy pill to swallow, especially with the pre-playoff projections for this team. But when you score only 8 goals in your last 7 playoff games (not counting the 2 empty-net goals in Game 7 vs. Vancouver), you can’t expect to be rewarded. Marc-André Fleury could not have made any difference. The VGK are fortunate that Robin Lehner has had 4 shutouts, because he and Fleury are getting zero support.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Anton Khudobin (32 saves on 33 shots), Jamie Benn (who continues to impress, especially in Games 3 and 4, along with the GWG last night), Paul Stastny ( who assisted on Martinez’s power-play goal and was one of the few Vegas forwards who were going to the dirty area in front of the net and trying to take away the eyes of Khudobin).

I sure hope this is not the next-to-last post I’ll be writing for these VGK 2020 playoff games. If it is, this will go down as the year the VGK franchise self-imploded with no one to blame but themselves. Then again, 2020 is a year that has pretty much self-imploded as well.

Game 5 is tomorrow 5 p.m. Pacific Time, televised on NBC Sports Network channel 220 on Direct TV

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

Pavelski’s goal

Benn PPG

Martinez PPG

George McPhee’s reaction to Vegas not scoring on the 5-on-3 power play