After last night’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at T-Mobile by the score of 4-2, Captain Mark Stone was asked if he and the team could take any solace in knowing that the VGK overcame a 2-0 first-period lead by scoring 2 goals in the second period to tie the game with a lineup that’s completely riddled with injuries.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to feel sorry for the Vegas Golden Knights in this league,” he responded. “The success we’ve had in four years, nobody’s feeling sorry for us, so we’ve got to find ways to generate points, generate wins.”
Last night the VGK started the game without Jonathan Marchessault, who has the hottest stick on the team; he was scratched due to the COVID protocol. Then the VGK lost 2 more players in the 3rd period: Shea Theodore after falling awkwardly into the boards; he appeared to strike his shoulder and head. There was no update. Theodore has scored eight points (one goal, seven assists) in the past seven games. If he’s not available for the remaining 2 games on the homestand along with Alec Martinez, things on the back end will get dicey. Alex Pietrangelo’s ice time may go as high as 30 minutes.
The VGK losing key players in their lineup is like a case of the flu going through the team. It almost contagious, even though of course it isn’t. In all the years I’ve been following hockey, I’ve never seen a team with this many injuries to key players just 16 games into an 82-game schedule.
Then, just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, Evgenii Dadonov was struck in the face by the stick of Sebastian Aho as he followed through on clearing the puck out of the zone with Vegas pressing to get to their 3rd goal. The crowd was livid when no penalty was called, as Dadonov lumbered to the bench leaving a trail of blood that took 4 ice crew to scrape off the ice. Unfortunately, the non-call was correct.
NHL Rule #60 states a high stick to an opposing player that comes as a result of the player’s follow through on a shot or pass isn’t deemed a high sticking penalty. If a player wildly swings at a loose puck and strikes a player above the shoulders, that’s a high sticking penalty, while below the shoulders could be deemed a slashing penalty.
Sebastian Aho had the puck on his stick and his attempt to clear the puck was clearly a follow-through. The crowd at T-Mobile is not completely versed in all of the rules and when they saw Dadonov smacked in the face and bleeding, they were upset. The crowd should have watched the non-reaction of the VGK players and Pete DeBoer. There was no uproar from the players or the coaching staff, just the 17,737 in attendance.
But by this point, Carolina had scored 2 goals in the 3rd period to retake their 2-goal lead after the first period. Carolina currently is the best team in the NHL with a 12-2 record and .857 winning percentage. They currently sit on top of the Metropolitan Division, leading Washington by 1 point with 2 games in hand.
When this 6-game homestand began, I thought their toughest challenge would be this game. The Hurricanes are one of the best teams in the East, even after losing their top defenseman, Dougie Hamilton, as an unrestricted free agent to the NJ Devils in the off season.
Carolina didn’t even play their #1 goaltender last night. Frederik Andersen has played 11 of the first 13 games. Antti Ranta didn’t face a lot of shots, as Vegas generated 23, while Robin Lehner faced 42, with 34 coming in the first 2 periods. Carolina came into the VGK zone last night like high tide, wave after wave, and if it wasn’t for Robin Lehner, who made 38 saves on 42 shots, the final score could have easily been 6-2. Robin was perfect in the 2nd period, stopping all 19 shots. It was Robin’s first loss since Nov. 2 in Toronto. The loss also snapped the VGK 3 game win streak.
Antti Raanta made 21 saves after missing three games with a concussion.
“Obviously it was only for a week that I was out, but all the practice and all that kind of stuff I’ve been working on, I just started to feel good,” Raanta said. “Even though they scored a couple in the second, I felt like I was dialed in and ready to play.”
Even Carolina coach knew the lineup and injury problems VGK are facing
“Great game for us. It’s probably how it should look considering they’re missing a lot of players,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I thought we just stuck to our game the whole way.”
Other game notes and quotes. “If you can keep the home team off the scoreboard in the first, it’s always good,” Raanta said. “When they get a couple of goals, the building gets loud and the home team gets the edge. It’s always fun to come here, the show and everything.”
“Robin gave us a chance to be in that game. I thought he was our best player again tonight,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “They’re a team that slings a lot of pucks to the net from the point, from bad angles, and I think in my time here, we’ve taken a lot of pride in denying those pucks to the net with shot blocks or good sticks and we weren’t good in that area tonight.”
Mark Stone scored his 140th point with the Golden Knights (47 goals, 93 assists) in his 142nd game. With that point, Stone passed Alex Tuch for sixth place in the VGK’s scoring history. Defenseman Ben Hutton had an assist for his first point with the Golden Knights after signing a one-year contract Oct. 28.
The VGK had 1 power play. They didn’t score, but had 3 SOG, somewhat of an accomplishment, as they’re PP chances that sometimes create scoring chances for the other team.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Sebastain Aho (1G, 1A and the power play goal that made the score 2-0; Aho also had 7 SOG), Vincent Trocheck (1G, 1A, and his 3rd period goal that made the score 4-2 pretty much decided the game), Robin Lehner (38 saves on 42 shots, a respectable .905 save percentage)
Next game is tomorrow against the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m. Pacific Time
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.
Howden’s goal, the VGK’s first
Theodore’s goal that tied the game
Trochek’s goal that sealed the win
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Mic Jucha had this observation on last night’s game
I think Teuvo Teravinen deserves to be a star ahead of Trochek, Teuvo knows Lehner doesn’t use weathered pads and shot the puck low to set up Aho and Trochek’s goals. That knowledge is why Lehner is 0-10 all time against Carolina regular season and playoffs.
Mic Jucha great observation.
Joe P.
Shane made a comment between the 1st and 2nd period….’Carolina has taken away the wall’. I thought that VGK fell into that trap throughout the remainder of the game. All the zone exit attempts were along the wall….and immediately turned over. I kept waiting to see a change in the exit structure…..never did. Combined with an abysmal forecheck……no surprise with the result, in spite of our key guys out. Hoping for more ‘jump’ Thursday.
Hi there, Kritikal Kenneth is back!
I sat down to watch this game without being to harsh to them if they didn´win. But they weren´t able to minimize the mistakes to give them a chance to win over Carolona.
Going through the Carolina goals:
At the first one Hague made bad outlet pass that led to the goal.
At the second goal Theodore was way to far from the goal to help Lehner. It looks like Hague touched the puck and had Lehner out of position and giving up a bad rebound. For me it look that way.
At the third goal four VGK players against three Carolina forwards wasn´t enough to win the puck battle and get out of their zone. It lead to a rebound that Theodore wasn´t aware of and he didn´t mark his opponent. Jarvis scored as a result of bad defensive play by the VGK.
At the fourth goal Knights where outplayed in the D-zone by Carolina despite the Canes was playing with four men due to a late change. A good shot and a rebound where Coghlan forgot to help Lehner by marking Trochek.
All goals was a result of bad communication, unable to get the puck out the zone, no tight checking and maybe some tired legs and brains.
As Monty Python said, “now on to something completely different”.
The first VGK goal was like: “Howdy Brett, where have you been hiding?”. Great speed and a great finish. I didn´t expect that from him but now we know what he´s capable of.
The second goal was a great pressure play between Stevenson and Stone further to Theodore who was determined to score.
Great positioning by Theodore and I say it again, try playing him as a forward. He´s better in the O-zone than in the D-zone and he has a good shot. His turnovers will not be as costly if they are made far from the own goal.
I hope he doesn´t recieved an injury, but it didn´t looked good.
The “slash” on Dadonov was a bit reckless by Aho. I hope Dadonov didn´t recieve a concussion.
The guys seemed to try their best but they met one of the best teams in the NHL.
Their time is not now, but from late of February the march 😉 for the playoffs begins.
The VGK three stars of the game goes to Robin Lehner!