Knights on Ice — So Were They Lucky To Get a Point or Did They Deserve Two?

When St. Louis comes to Vegas, things get really weird, so weird that I’m not sure if Vegas was lucky to salvage one point last night, preventing it from being a 4-point divisional game, or they deserved better than they got.

My first reaction when the buzzer sounded after 60 minutes with the score tied 4-4 sending it to overtime was that they were lucky to still be playing. St. Louis held 2-goal leads twice in the game at 3-1 after the first 20 minutes and 4-2 going into the 3rd period. St Louis held on past the very entertaining nonstop 5-minute OT to score the victory in the shootout by a 5-4 score. Jordan Binnington faced 46 shots; 83 were launched at him and we’re not even counting the 7 that hit the goal post and crossbar. Some say those shots are just a player being unlucky. But anyone who’s been around hockey for a while knows that the post and crossbar are considered part of the goaltender’s equipment. Let’s not forget Fleury’s shutout on Sunday against Arizona, when the post was very kind to him. Last night, the hockey gods evened things up a bit.

This is the 3rd time that the Blues and VGK were forced to play overtime in Las Vegas. All 3 times Vegas had to mount a comeback to get to OT. This time they came up short, wasting a Max Pacioretty hat trick, his first as a VGK and the 7th in his career.

The other VGK OT games vs. St. Louis came on 3/30/2018 when Jonathan Marchessault scored 22 seconds in to beat the Blues 4-3. On 1/4 /2020, they trailed by 3 goals in the first period, but Chandler Stephenson scored on a breakaway with just 1:59 left. Vegas wasn’t as fortunate last night.

An old friend was the thorn in their side. David Perron, an original Knight from the 2017-2018 season, continues to score goals against his former team. Perron had 2 goals within 4:03 in the first period to offset Alex Tuch’s opening goal just 3:17 into the game, the only lead the VGK would have in the game. In the 7 games Perron has played against the VGK since leaving at the end of the 2017-2018 season, he’s scored 3 goals and has 3 assists, along with the first goal in last night’s shootout.

Now to Robin Lehner, who had a night he’d like to forget. Actually, his last 2 outings haven’t been his best, giving up 9 goals (10 were scored, as one went into an empty net). In the shootout, 2 of the 3 St. Louis shooters scored on him and of course David Perron was one of them. That goal isn’t even recorded.

Just as OT ended, I got a message from Jacqueline C., a somewhat new hockey fan and a VGK supporter who asked me, “Can goalies only be changed because of injuries? I would have brought in Fleury for the OT and Wild Bill would have been my 3rd shooter in the OT.”

At the time of her question, I wasn’t aware of Robin Lehner’s OT record —the worst in the entire NHL: 23-45 in OT and 9-23 in the shootout.

Jacqueline ended by referring to herself as the “humble girl couch reporter.” Not a bad couch reporter in my book. She came up with a good idea, considering Robin’s record in OT, but I TOLD her that Fleury had been sitting for the previous 3 hours and and not warmed up, so taking Robin out of the net at this critical time would have been a nightmare for his confidence. And it wouldn’t have spoken well for the team’s confidence in their goaltender.

The VGK have 2 capable goaltenders who have completely different styles. Robin is big and not so agile, but presents an imposing obstacle in front of the net. Fleury is agile and very mobile, which tends to work in his favor in the shootout, as players have the time and space to make multiple moves as they come in on the goaltender uncontested. Fleury is the better choice for a shootout, but putting him in cold would not have been a good idea.

I might have to put Jacqueline on speed dial for future hockey tips as she sure seems to know her goaltenders and, yes, Wild Bill would have been a solid choice, but Alex Tuch has been on fire. Too bad his shootout attempt rolled off his stick before he could get a shot on Binnington.

Mark Stone picked up 3 assists last night and had the VGK’s first fight of the season. Last night’s game held more emotion and energy than in the previous 6 games combined. The speed of the game was also ramped up as both the Blues and Vegas were dialed in.

Alex Martinez assisted on 2 of Max Pacioretty’s 3 goals. Shea Theodore and Max Pacioretty had 8 shots apiece. Robin Lehner stopped only 21 of the 25 shots he faced in the 65 minutes for a .840 save percentage. At the other end of the ice, Jordan Binnington had a .913 save percentage. That was the difference between getting one point and 2 points last night. Now you can see how important the 5-1 start to the season was for Vegas and salvaging the one-point last night to keep them on top of the Honda West division.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Max Pacioretty (hat trick to send the VGK into overtime), David Perron (2 goals in the first period forcing Vegas to chase the game all night), Alex Tuch (1G and seems to have afterburners attached to his skates)

Next game is Thursday vs. St. Louis Blues again at T-Mobile at 6 p.m.

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

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Tuch’s opening goal

All three of Paccioretty’s goals