It was headed in the wrong direction quickly last night at T-Mobile. The Dallas Stars had 3 power-play goes on just 3 shots against a team that has one of the best PK units in the league, especially at T-Mobile. Robin Lehner was yanked from the net after giving up 3 goals on just 10 shots and replaced by Laurent Brossoit who stopped 12 of 13 shots in the remaining 32:15 for an amazing 5-4 comeback win that revived the 17,843 in attendance who, along with the VGK, had the air sucked out of them.
Following the lead of their Captain Mark Stone, whose enthusiasm is just contagious to his teammates, the team and the fans were treated to a heart-pumping adrenaline rush in the 3rd period when the Vegas Golden Knights put 3 goals behind Brayden Holtby, making his first appearance at T-Mobile since that dreadful evening back on June 7, 2018. But a funny thing happens when the VGK play at even strength: They erupted for 5 goals at 5-on-5 to extend their winning streak to 3 and pushed their record to 15-10 after starting the season at 1-4.
Look no further than Mark Stone as the absolute perfect choice for a captain. The VGK waited 3 full seasons before picking a captain and you know that old saying, “Good things come to those who wait.”
The management of the VGK have had their issues public relations wise with some of their decisions concerning past coaches and fan-favorite players, but on this one, they hit a home run. Stone, a first-time captain, is among other proven captains in Max Pacioretty and Alex Pietrangelo. But even Pietrangelo remarked post-game how Stone embodies what a captain does, not only verbally, but with his hockey skills. Pacioretty seems to flourish in his role here in Las Vegas, not being under the spotlight like he was in Montreal. He answered my question about enjoying his time away from the spotlight here in Vegas. That video can be found on my Facebook Page.
Stone looked down the bench when Tyler Seguin missed a wide-open net that would have most likely sealed the Dallas victory.
“I just looked at the boys and kind of had that feeling that we were going to find a way to get it done,” he said. “Those kinds of things are critical in a game that can go either way. If he buries that goal, I think the bench gets pretty down and it’s a huge hill to climb.”
Did I mention that Stone, who had just 1 goal this season and that was into an empty net, put 2 behind Holtby, who has never won a regular-season game at T-Mobile, even with Dallas owning an 8-0-1 record entering the 3rd period with a lead. Well, the captain and his boys broke that streak and the crowd of 17,000-plus, minus a few Dallas fans at T-Mobile, were walking on air as they left the barn last night.
The new and relaxed Pacioretty, who scored with just 4:06 left in the game for the GWG, now has his 2nd in 8 games and his 7th goal in just 8 games.
Coach DeBoer’s choice to pull Lehner was not because of the 3 PPG he surrendered. It was more of a wakeup call for the team.
“You feel for the goalie, because you can’t hang that all on him,” DeBoer said. “That’s a last resort for me; I don’t pull goalies very often. I just felt it was the right thing to do tonight.”
Other game notes and quotes. Mark Stone: “I guess I could say it was about time. I haven’t scored on a goalie since Game 5 of the playoffs.”
It was Stone’s ninth game of at least three points since joining Vegas in 2018-19. Only William Karlsson (13), Pacioretty (12) and Marchessault (12) have more.
Speaking of Marchessault, last night he played in his 300th game as a VGK, the first player to reach that milestone. And to add a candle to his cake, he scored his 11th goal of the season to trim the Dallas lead from 3-1 to 3-2 with just 3:24 left in the 2nd period.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Mark Stone (2G, 1A, and a +3 for the game), Max Pacioretty (GWG, 1A, and a +3), Pete DeBoer (for once again pulling Robin just in time to wake the team up and save the day)
Warning Warning Warning: Next game is tomorrow against the Philadelphia Flyers at T-Mobile at 7 p.m. Pacific Time. The VGK have to be careful not to look past this game, knowing that the Flyers are in a complete freefall, giving up 17 goals in their last 3 games, losing their last 10 games in a row, having a –26 in goal differential. Some would call this a “trap game.” The VGK will be huge money-line favorites, but proceed with caution with your Christmas gift money as you walk by the sports book.
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.
Stone gets Vegas on the board
Stone ties it up at 4-4
Pacioretty GWG
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Don’t you do a podcast too?
Oh, and you could have ended the sentence after power-play and penalty-kill suck. LOL
Yes HKV
Eddie Rivkin and I do a podcast that is all VGK it can be found on YouTube and on my Facebook page. It’s call Hockey Knights In Vegas.
We are working with Anthony Curtis the head honcho here at LVA to have it also on here.
Yes, I could have without an ounce of embellishment added SUCK for the Power-Play and Penalty-Kill 🙂 But I chose to take the high road.
Joe P
Lynda Israel wrote
Perfect review except for my 6 min happy dance the last 6 min of the game. 🤠❤️🏒
Lynda Israel I would have paid to see that. Do you have a video you can share with me? I promise it goes no further than my eyes.
Joe P.
Lynda Israel responded to my request for a video of her dance
Joe Pane next game, maybe. 💃🏻
Scottie Maiello sent this comment in
Yeahhhh but we won go knights go
Scottie Maiello It wasn’t easy they needed a 3-goal 3rd period against a team that is known to lock it down with a lead going into the 3rd period they were 8-0-1 when this occurs. Make that 8-1-1 now 🙂
Joe P.
Yes you really said it! I was listening on my IPad streaming from NHL with Gary Loveless and Dan ?___great announcers!! Great game at the end!!🏒🥅🧡🖤🇨🇦🍁#goKnightsgo #🙏
As always a good review, I enjoy reading them after a game. I am sure to be roasted for this but I find it classless that the fans would cheer a goalie being pulled from a game. I remember a couple of games that the flower got pulled for the same reason with a completely different reaction…..you are right about tomorrow’s game. Hopefully they come out looking the way we expect them to
Sara you are 1000% correct how can a real fan of the team boo the goaltender who has for the most part saved them this season while they play with a shortened lineup filled with AHL players. He wasn’t specular last night I will give you that, but the first goal he never saw. The other 2 he should have stopped but keep in mind that the PK unit offered him very little assistance.
Joe P
Bryan Sandrock sent this opinion in.
I have called the alleged power play the “powerless” play for years now… i think we play way better with one less player on the ice…seems like we just try harder. I think “shame shame shame” should be the chant when we don’t score on a pp. I’m not a
Lehner fan, probably never will be. We likely cannot win the cup with a non-existent power play or a goaltender with a 3+ GAA… imho. Both need serious consideration.
Bryan Sandrock for sure they will have to make adjustments on the power play but with the same voice and same system of Steve Spott can we really think change will come. Also, as you pointed out the defensive miscues have to stop way before the playoffs, this is not like a light switch that you just turn on and off on a whim.
Joe P.
Bryan Sandrock replied to my comments
Joe Pane … Deryl and I were saying all off season that “we would have paid the best power play coach whatever s/he wanted in off season so that we came out crushing that part of the game”. So important and such a killer to the heart for most teams who get whipped by it. We can’t be allowing 3+ goals in per game either, not a long-term winning formula. Defense and goalie need to be better
Bryan Sandrock
Hard to imagine that a power play coach who is that good would be available, they are few and far between. Keep in mind Steve Spott is DeBoer’s man and he is not going to replace him unless he is forced too by KM or GM.
Joe P.
Bryan Sandrock responded
Joe Pane I offer my services for free…if they work, pay me and if they don’t … nothing lost at all except a little time. They obviously are okay with wasting time because whatever they are being shown now isn’t working. 😉😂
Thanks for the recap, Joe!
Is it true that Lehner got cheered in a negative way when he was pulled from the game?
Otherwise, I feel sorry for Lehner who was standing alone in front of his goal to many times. The D-men was on their heels and puck-staring when Dallas players were skating around without being hit. Vegas lost almost every duel in the corners in their own zone.
Dallas created a lot of chances from the corners and in to the slot. As it happened i all three periods, it must be changed in the game against Philly.
I liked the determination to turn the game around the VGK had from the second period. They did it against a team which had seven wins in a row.
The shot report said that Vegas shot 45 times at Holtby but a lot of them was easy saves without no VGK player in front of the net.
I told my girlfriend between the first and second period that as bad as Holtby played last season in Vancouver he´s gonna do some bad decisions and he did. He shot a puck to icing totally unprovoced. That gave Vegas some momentum and later on Stone scored on a juicy rebound from Holtby who was out of position sitting on the extension of his lower back 😉.
On Patchys gamewinning goal Holtby was too aggressive after have saved the shot from Stone. As he tried to swat the puck away he lifted his right knee and Patchys shot went in right between the legs of Holtby. Small details that can change the outcome of a game.
As Joe wrote the miss by Seguin was as important as those Holtby did.
The aggressive play by Vegas made the Fortress go wild and that must have fuelled the players to go on attack with rarely seen energy.
The O-zone entries was bad in the first period but it was much better in the rest of the game.
The face-offs must be better, it hurts the team when they lose them and the wingers get blocked. If it was in the O-zone Dallas could easily build up a zone entrancy without a Vegas player in front of them.
If it was in the D-zone Dallas could start a cycle play that was hard to stop.
On the PP Vegas was 0 for 4 in face-offs and Dallas scored three times! I know Dallas is known for a good face-off percentage, but..!
I take it for guaranteed that the VGK players had been instructed by the staff that they must concentrate on the face-offs and on keeping Pavelski away from the net as he´s the best player in the league on tip-ins.
If so, that information was gone at the first face-off of the game. It can be hard to be a coach sometimes.
When Pavelski is so involved in a game against Vegas it gives me some bad thoughts, but this time the Golden Knight had the last laugh.
It was a fun game to watch.
Pietrangelo, Stone and Pacioretty are my stars of the game.
Kenneth
Yes, their cheered as he was pulled from the net. The fan base has been sour over the Lehner/Fleury saga and truth be told they will not let it go. The game against Chicago in the 2nd week on January at T-Mobile might be a real indication of how upset a large portion of the fan base is towards the VGK organization. They don’t have a problem with any of the other players but there is a large portion of the fan base that refuses to accept Lehner as their #1 goaltender. I have one of my readers who sends me a picture of a dumpster on fire every time Panda gives up a goal. It has become amusing to say the least. I expect that it will be a house divided when the VGK play Chicago. The hockey gods made up for the SNAFU that happened to Flower in Montreal with the puck being misplayed resulting in a key goal. Tonight, in Montreal not only did he get to 500 wins but he threw a shutout on top of that. he is only the 3rd player in the NHL to have at least 500 wins pretty impressive.
Joe P.
That´s mankind in a nutshell (Nutcase rather) nowadays.
You root for a team and you like special players on the team.
If your favorite player is traded to another team, the team staff is to be blamed by you. Not the player who takes your favorites place, in this case Lehner.
If you like the player more than you like the team, pick the new team of your favorite player to root for.
I saw the first game Vegas played in 2017 and I liked the way they played. Me and my girlfriend quickly became fans of the VGK.
I´ve been behind them in all moments, mostly positive but sometimes bad.
I´ve been critical to the way they´ve played and how the staff choosed the lineup at times.
It´s the priviledge of being a fan to be a couch-coach.
It´s no secret that I don´t think Theodore is as good as experts say he is.
But that gives me no reason to hate him at all.
It´s not his fault the experts and I have different opinions on his greatness.
I want the Golden Knights to win every game and if they don´t, me and my girlfriend discuss what went wrong.
We don´t like the loss but we accept it and looking forward to the next game.
We watch 9 out of 10 games on Swedish cable-TV so we follow Vegas closely.
If we misses a game we have “Knights on Ice” for a great recap.
In hockey and in other sports it´s big business with a lot of money involved.
Vegas has had one player with star quality that have left the team, and that´s Flower.
Think about the fans of Ottawa who lost Mark Stone, Erik Karlsson a few others of their best players to rebuild both the team and the economy of the owners.
Their fans must have been strong in their believe in the future of Ottawa when still rooting for their favorite team without having any starplayer on their roster.
Stand by your team, not by your “man”.
Paul Lomaglio sent this comment in.
Joe Pane doesn’t matter who the PP coach is. We don’t have guys that are good on the PP. between 81s errant cross ice passes and 27s bumbling miscues we don’t stand a chance. Watching 71 trying to create on the push forward is painful to watch. IMO it’s the players more than the system. Maybe 9 will be the answer.