Knights on Ice — When Does an Avalanche Turn into a Snowflake?

An avalanche is defined as: 1) a sudden arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities; 2) a mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.

It’s rare for an avalanche to lose its power as it gathers momentum sliding down the side of a mountain. Unless, of course, you were the Colorado Avalanche, everyone except for a few disbelievers and 20 VGK players crowned the Stanley Cup champions before the playoffs even got started. Someone forgot to tell the Vegas Golden Knights to step aside and let the Colorado Avalanche slide its way to 16 wins.

Last night, the VGK won their 4th straight game by a score of 6-3 at T-Mobile to clinch their 2nd round series against Colorado 4 games to 2.

Keep in mind that the VGK lost the first 2 games in this best of 7. That forced Vegas to win 4 of the next 5 games, though the team needed only 4 games to cancel the party that many already had received invitations to.

The talking heads at NBCSN and NHL TV could barely contain their excitement every time they said a word about this team. They spoke about them like they just need to show up and 16 games later, Gary Bettman would hand Gabriel Landeskog the Stanley Cup somewhere around center ice.

Well, this crowning was a bit premature. As much as the brilliant hockey minds assigned to cover the Colorado Avalanche tried to remain neutral, they seemed star struck, especially when Nathan MacKinnon touched the puck. It reminded me of how I felt about my first girlfriend. I thought she could do no wrong. She walked on water. She lit up any room she walked into. Every guy wanted to be in my shoes. Just like Nathan MacKinnon glides on ice and blinds the opposing team with his blazing speed and amazing hockey skills.

True, MacKinnon is amazing, but this is a team game.

If you don’t believe me, look for Connor McDavid, John Traver, Patrice Bergeron, Alex Ovechkin, or Sidney Crosby in the box scores in recent games. Where are they? They’re watching the games in their living rooms. Individual stars cannot win a hockey game all by themselves, especially not in a 7-game series.

The VGK team had a plan for the high-powered Avalanche and played it to perfection. Yes, they got steamrolled in Game 1 by a score of 7-1. But that was the last time Colorado outplayed them. The VGK outworked, outplayed, outcoached, and had the better goaltending in 5 of the 6 games. They got their scoring up and down the lineup, especially in last night’s game, from players named Keegan Kolesar, William Carrier, and Nick Holden — names you may never hear on NBCSN or on the NHL Network. The team blocked 34 shots of the 67 launched toward Marc-Andre Fleury. It was a total team commitment.

And this is regardless of what Nathan MacKinnon claimed post game when he was asked if the Avs were gritty or defensive enough to win. “We were the best defensive team in the league by a lot of measures. Tonight, I don’t think they were grittier than us, either. We have a lot of warriors in our dressing room.”

Well, Nathan, I hate to break this to you, but the real warriors were in the other locker room. Alec Martinez had 9 blocked shots, Zac Whitecloud had 7. As I said, the team had 34. How many blocked shots did you have? Zero, except for the shot you took when you punched the back of Zac Whitecloud’s head as he lay face down on the ice at the end of the 2nd period that you never even received a penalty for. Your team was in a must-win game and they put their bodies in front of only 18 shots. Paper warriors, maybe. And by the way, you didn’t have the best defensive team in the league. The VGK did. That’s why they won the Jennings Trophy.

The VGK don’t have a “superstar,” just a good core of solid players who are committed to winning and will follow the game plan of the coaching staff led by Pete DeBoer, who should also be commended for his ability to not only shut down Colorado’s top line, but to force their coach to break them up to try to find an answer to DeBoer’s game plan.

The depth of the VGK was on full display last night, with contributions up and down the lineup: goals by defensemen Holden and Pietrangelo, goals from the 4th line by Carrier and Kolesar, and a goal from Karlsson. Max Pacioretty even found the back of the net when Grubauer was on the bench for the extra skater.

I must mention that a lot has been said about the lack of production from Alex Pietrangelo during the season and even in the first round vs. Minnesota. Well, he’s made good on the reason he was brought here and the main reason why we had to play salary cap gymnastics for the 56-game season. It cost the team the President’s Trophy and home-ice advantage in Round 2. Pietrangelo wound up with the game-winning goal when he scored with just 17.2 seconds left in the 2nd period. The Avs had no answer to Pietrangelo’s goal.

We now have home ice for the remainder of the playoffs. Plus, the goal has always been another trophy that weighs 34.5 pounds. Not to mention that the President’s Trophy sure seems like bad luck. This is the 8th straight year that the winner of the President’s Trophy did not make it to the Stanley Cup Final.

Other game notes and quotes:

The Avs, who won their first six playoff games, are only the 3rd team to lose their next 4 games. The other 2 were the 1969 St. Louis Blues and the 1999 Detroit Red Wings.

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t bury a tying goal tonight. We had so many looks, so many chances. I thought we really dominated tonight, but they’re a great team.” I’m not sure what game Nathan MacKinnon was watching, but his team didn’t come close to dominating. Fake news.

This is the 7th time Marc-André Fleury has made the Final 4; he’s reached the Stanley Cup Final 6 times.

My 3 Stars of the Game
1) Alex Pietrangelo (1G, the GWG, and 1 assist)
2) Nick Holden (1G and it came just 52 seconds after Colorado scored just 23 seconds in on their first shot — a statement response from Holden)
3) Keegan Kolesar (one well-timed goal as it regained the lead for the VGK after Mikko Rantanen had tied the score at 2-2 on his PPG early in the 2nd period)

Next game is Monday against the Montreal Canadiens at T-Mobile at 6 p.m.

If you want to hear and see more VGK content please check out the podcast I do with Eddie Rivkin on YouTube, Hockey Knights in Vegas.

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

One other note: If you’re reading this blog from Facebook or Twitter and would like to access it earlier in the morning before I share it on social media, it’s usually published by 8 a.m. the morning after a game on LasVegasAdvisor.com. What better way is there to enjoy your morning coffee than reading my take on last night’s VGK game.

2 opening goals just 52 seconds apart

Karlsson’s one-timer from Martinez

Pietrangelo’s GWG