Last night at T-Mobile, the VGK played an important divisional game against the Calgary Flames who currently are in first place and started the evening 9 rather large points in front of the VGK. But for the first time in all but 2 games this season, the VGK finally had all top-6 forwards in the lineup. The return of William Karlsson, who missed the last 16 games, allowed the VGK to showcase this team’s depth in their 3-2-win.
The original Misfit line of Karlsson, Marchessault, and Smith was reunited and the 1st line of Stone and Pacioretty centered by Chandler Stephenson allowed Coach DeBoer to put together the 3rd line of Janmark and Dadonov centered by Nicolas Roy. The depth of the VGK has to frighten the other 31 teams — and this is without Jack Eichel, who is rehabbing and is expected to join the VGK sometime after Christmas.
Eichel’s actual return to playing a game may not happen until March, but we’re told that his centering a line is the missing link in hoisting a silver trophy that weighs 34.5 lbs. and stands 32 inches high.
But it also brings two small problems: Where does DeBoer put Eichel when he is cleared to play and how do the VGK get the payroll down to $81.5 million?
Some think that he automatically centers a line between Stone and Pacioretty, but before we go there, can you really break up the Stone, Pacioretty Stephenson line? You know the saying, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This line has been magical since it was put together and even with both Stone and Pacioretty missing significant time, Chandler Stephenson hasn’t missed a beat; he currently is the team’s leading scorer with 9 goals and 13 assists for 22 points in 24 games.
Now let’s look at the Edmonton Oilers, who have 2 of the most prolific goal scorers in the NHL. McDavid and Draisaitl have 37 goals and 48 assists combined, yet they play on 2 separate lines most of the time. Granted, they are on the #1 power-play unit, but Head Coach Dave Tippett understands that by separating them, he makes it difficult for an opposing team to try to shut them down with their best checkers.
Will DeBoer be of the same mindset and leave the #1 line as is, forcing the opposing team to choose their own poison? If that’s his plan, where does Eichel fit in? Do you break up the Misfit line? You can’t possibly pay Eichel $10 million to center the 3rd line. This is how deep this team will be sometime in March if everyone remains healthy and those that are still out returned to the lineup. This team and its depth will be a juggernaut in the playoffs.
I’m not suggesting that Eichel will play on the 3rd line; that would be absolutely ludicrous. But where he goes is the best problem DeBoer could ever imagine having.
Seeing how the line of Roy, Janmark, and Dodonov performed last night, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers best try to accumulate as many points as they can before March, because the VGK may have the best top-9 forwards in the entire NHL. Their 4th line of Carrier-Kolesar is poised to round out their 11 forwards, leaving one spot open for a few different players who are trying their best to remain when the VGK return to full strength.
My one concern is this team’s reluctance to hit opposing players. Last night the VGK had only 14 hits, which is almost unheard of; 11 VGK did not even register a hit. Four of the 6 defensemen had zero hits and Zach Whitecloud only had 1. Brayden McNabb, who is not shy about separating a player from the puck and plastering him to the boards, had 5 hits. William Carrier had 4 hits: 9 of the 14 hits owned by just 2 players. This area will have to improve, especially come playoff time, when the ice surface becomes a whole lot smaller.
Robin Lehner stopped 23 of 25 shots and that leads me to the good news. Last night in his post-game presser, he revealed that he would not be joining team Sweden for the Olympics. With the All-Star and Olympic breaks, Robin will have plenty of time to recharge his batteries and recover from any bumps and bruises that come from facing 100 MPH slap shots and players crashing into the blue paint. His workload so far puts him on an expected 55- to 62-game schedule. With this extended break in February, Robin should be rested and healthy, hopefully for the run into late spring and early summer.
Other game notes and quotes.
“Our attention to detail was really good,” DeBoer said. “I loved our start, which we know has been an issue here at different times in the first 20 games I think through 40 minutes we had hardly given up anything in the house or around the net.”
William Karlsson had one shot and one hit in 15:19 of ice time in his return after missing the previous 16 games because of a fractured foot.
“Today was kind of a test,” Karlsson said. “I felt good, better than I thought. A very positive sign.”
“That was a huge game for us,” Roy said. “I think coming into this game, we knew they have a really good team and they’re in first (in the Pacific Division) for a reason. We knew we had to play for 60 minutes.”
The Golden Knights are 7-0-0 at home against the Flames at T-Mobile. They are the first team to win their first seven home games against an opposing team since the Minnesota Wild did so against the Washington Capitals from 2000-01 to 2013-14.
Pacioretty has 7 points, 4G and 3A, in a 5-game point streak and a 3-game goal streak.
Mark Stone has a 5-game point streak going with 1G and 5 assists.
Coming into last night’s game, Calgary had won 3 straight and had earned points in 8 straight games.
Last night’s win in 60 minutes allowed VGK to make this a 4-point game.
Vegas led 2-0 with an early 3rd period goal by Nicolas Roy, but Calgary trimmed the lead to 2-1 when Elias Lindholm scored 9:19 into the 3rd period. But the newly formed 3rd line came to the rescue, with Dadonov scoring the GWG just 1:26 after Calgary scored to close the gap. With the Calgary net empty with over 3 minutes left in the game for an extra skater, Andrew Mangiapane scored to make it 3-2 and things became interesting. Robin Lehner stood tall and the VGK played sound defensively in front of him, preventing Calgary from getting the game to overtime.
My 3 Stars of The Game: Nicolas Roy (1G, 1A), Evgenii Dadonov (GWG), Robin Lehner (23 saves on 25 shots, .920 save percentage)
Next game is Wednesday vs Dallas Stars at T-Mobile 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
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Bryan Sandrock sent his opinion in
Good morning, Joe! Good read. Definitely would like to see more checking too. With Karlsson’s offensive production falling off since his amazing year 1 (and since Jack is a scorer), I would have to think that wild bill is in the cross hairs? I have seen nothing from Kolesar that impresses me all that much so when Billy goes, I hope they send Kolesar with him and get us something better there.
Bryan Sandrock, I think that Shea Theodore will be one of the players that will be a casualty of signing Eichel.
Joe P.
Bryan Sandrock wrote back
Joe Pane like all of the original misfits i will always like and appreciate what Shea did for VGK hockey, but I do think his presence on ice is not what it used to be.
Bryan Sandrock yep, his play has slipped a bit. But do keep in mind he did have that cancer issue. Not sure if there is any lingering issues because of that. He did miss training camp, but 24 games should be enough to get up to speed
Joe P.
Hey Joe! Great game in 50 minutes. About that time the TV-producer put in a sign on the screen that said “Patience and details” as the things the team must concentrate on the rest of the game.
They had done just that until then. After that they went a little bit sloppy.
Hague made a bad pass around the boards to Stevenson and the Calgary blueliner had no VGK player in front of Lehner and a tip in gave Calgary an easy goal just because Hague didn´t concentrate on the details to make a tap-to-tape pass in that short moment. Thats what it costs against a good team as Calgary is.
In the end of the game when Calgary had an empty net, Dadonov had the puck and shot it towards the net twice but missed both times. The result was two icing calls with no chance to change lines. The third time he did what should have done earlier. He just lifted the puck from the D-zone to the N-zone and Vegas changed players. That´s the details that can either give Calgary the chance to score against a tired VGK line, or get the Golden Knights a chance to defend their lead.
Otherwise it was a fun game to watch. VGK was playing more north-south hockey than before.
Calgary hit(men) 33 times and the most memorable one was when Stone went sandwiched between Lucic and Gudbranson. You can´t be hit by bigger guys on the Calgary team. Stone just shrugged them off!
William Karlsson made a huge difference on the second line. Just look at his passing tape-to-tape both in a zone and through two zones seemingly without looking at all.
If you watch him the moments before he gets to the puck, he turns his head to see were his teammates are.
It was almost like he´s haven´t been injured at all. Marchy and Smith looked like happy cows when let out for the first time in spring.
Roy was much better on the third line and he made Janmark and Dadonov better, in my mind anyway.
Roy must get to the goal as fast as he can at the PP. He found himself hanging around the boards at times and he needs to be in the face of Markstrom to take away sight and concentration from him. Just let the set-up players do their work.
Patchy did just that a few times and he got the attention from Markstrom so to speak.
All four lines played well last night.
Coghlan did a reverse “Martinez” when he fell on the red line. It might have looked funny if it haven´t been giving Calgary a breakaway.
End´s well, all´s well.
The first forty minutes was classic VGK-hockey except for a few more goals scored.
One must have in mind that Calgary is a very good team to beat. Even at the Fortress.
Kenneth you always see a lot more than most when watching these games. Your comments and insight are greatly appreciated here at Las Vegas Advisor. Yes, the 3rd line was on the ice for the entire last 2 minutes they were gassed for sure. On the hit on Stone, I thought it should have been interference as the puck was long gone. I made that remark to my fellow media guys just as the hit was delivered. It didn’t appear that Karlsson missed any time at all as he looked good, and it was good to see the reunion of the Misfit Line. Question is when Eichel is set to return will this be the line that is broken up. Interested to hear your thoughts on where DeBoer put Eichel. Its a problem but like I said a good problem.
Joe P
Paul Lomaglio sent this in in regard to who the VGK may move to make room for Jack Eichel
Joe Pane 27 is likely to get more in return than anyone else, including 71. 71 and 19 are way more valuable imo.
Paul Lomaglio, I said that exact same thing on the last podcast I did with Eddie Rivkin. Defenseman who logged much more ice time than a forward tend to be more valuable for a team looking to shore up its defense. The podcast can be found on YouTube. It’s called Hockey Knights in Vegas. It’s also posted on my Facebook page. Would love for you to listen in and then let me know what you think of my opinion.
Joe P.
Thank´s for your kind words, Joe. That makes me warm, especially when it´s -10 C or 14 F in Stockholm now.
As I don´t see Stevenson as a natural center, he would be a perfect winger on the third line. Just as Tuch was before.
Stevenson is a scorer not a passer, but a center on the first line must have both scoring and playmaking abilities. Chandler has great speed and a very good scoring touch but Stone is the playmaker on the first line.
Janmark, who is is a good skater, thrived on the speed of Tuch and Stevenson is in the same mould as Tuch.
Therefore Dadonov is the expendable player who should be sacrified togheter with Theodore.
By letting Theodore and Dadonov go in exchange of a few draft picks, the moneybag is 10,2 M$ lighter all of a sudden.
Roy is a good third line center and with two speedy wingers, Stevenson and Janmark, there´s a good balance on that line just as it was when Tuch was on the third line.
The Misfit Line must stay intact, their play against Calgary was a proof of that. They must be one of the best second lines in the league.
In twenty years they will be at the VGK museum, three players in full gear under the sign: “The Misfit Line. Three players, one brain”.
The only place for Eichel is as centering the first line. He´s the first no. 1 center the Golden Knights had since day one.
If the chemistry works well between Eichel, Stone and Patchy VGK will have a first line as good as any of the best teams.
The fourth line will be the best of the rest amongst Carrier, Kolesar, Howden, Patrick, Amadio and the young guys in Henderson.
They´ll do a good job whoever is on the ice.
It must be good to be in the press box unless you are a player.
I envy you, Joe.