Just 1:41 into last night’s game, the Devils’ newly signed UFA Dougie Hamilton’s slap shot from the point created a juicy rebound off Robin Lehner’s right pad. It was scooped up by Jack Hughes after Brayden McNabb lost his defensive coverage. Hughes had swept in from the top of the faceoff circle and beat Lehner, who was down on his pads and could not recover in time. Hughes basically had a wide-open net to deposit the first goal of the game. It was the only lead the NJ Devils would have in the VGK 5-3 victory at the Rock in New Jersey.
However, in the 3rd period, the Devils scored 2 goals to trim a comfortable 4-1 VGK lead with 11:50 remaining to 4-3 before Jonathan Marchessault scored into an empty net to seal the game at 5-3 with 1:07 left on the clock.
After Hughes’ opening goal, Vegas scored the next 4 goals, including another power play goal by Dylan Coghlan, who was inserted into the lineup after it was determined that Shea Theodore was not going to play due to an undisclosed injury. Coghlan’s goal tied the game at 1-1; it was Coghlan’s 2nd of the season and his 2nd power-play goal. Coghlan has made the most of his power-play time.
In previous game recaps, I’ve mentioned the VGK’s dismal power play, especially in their first 10 games of the season, going 0-19, but of late they’ve responded with PPGs in 4 straight games, which they haven’t done in over 2 years, and have scored 13 PPGs in their last 55 attempts, for a very respectful 23.6% success rate.
The top line of Stephenson, Stone, and Pacioretty was held scoreless and limited to just 5 SOG. On a normal night, Max Pacioretty has 5 SOG himself, but last night the Devils’ game plan was to prevent the top line from beating them and they did just that. The only problem was that the VGK have 4 complete lines with 12 forwards who can create offense and last night they did just that with goals by William Karlsson, Nicolas Roy, and William Carrier.
But when former VGK player Tomas Tatar scored a PPG halfway through the 3rd period, followed by a shorthanded goal by Jimmy Vessey just 2:23 later, the situation became dicey to say the least. This now had the potential to be a complete disaster for the VGK, who are known for shutting the door on opponents with leads in the 3rd period, especially 3 goal leads.
The VGK held on and Marchessault’s empty -net goal had the large contingent of VGK fans who made the trip back east happy. The NJ Transit train back into Manhattan from the Rock after the game was filled with VGK fans who were enjoying not only the VGK’s current 3-game winning streak but also the unlikely fall-like temperatures in the middle of winter in New York City. As someone who grew up there, temperatures in the 50s in the middle of December are almost as rare as the VGK blowing a 4-1 3rd period lead. They didn’t blow the lead, but the temperature in Las Vegas is colder than in New York.
Other game notes and quotes.
“We did just enough to win,” Pete DeBoer said. “We will take the two points and move on. I liked our first period, hated our second, and we were opportunistic in the third.”
Robin Lehner has played in the last 3 games for VGK. Look for Laurent Brossoit to get the start tonight against the NY Rangers as my feeling is DeBoer will have Robin in net on Sunday against his former team. Robin did reveal post-game that his wife is flying in for Sunday’s game. He also mentioned that he owes a lot to the NY Islanders organization and their fans; he says they helped save his life. It appears it will be an emotional return to Long Island for Robin on Sunday. His candor and honesty are appreciated by not only myself, but also the rest of the VGK media who cover this team. Sometimes it’s difficult to get a player to speak exactly what is on his mind. For the most part, the man we know as Panda does.
Max Pacioretty had a seven-game goal streak end; he and Mark Stone each had a nine-game point streak end.
Alex Pietrangelo kept his point streak alive to 5 games with an assist. In this streak Pietrangelo has seven points, which include one goal and six assists. Alex played almost half of the game, logging 28:37 of ice time.
Another recurring stat that cannot be ignored is the lack of hitting from the VGK. They only had 6 hits for the entire game last night, and this is not an anomaly; this is happening game after game.
My 3 stars of the game: Dylan Coghlan (1G, 1A his one goal was the only power-play goal Vegas would score in the 4 attempts), William Karlsson (1G, 1A), the second, third, and fourth lines (picked up the offense when the Devils game plan was to shut the top line down)
Next game is today at 4 p.m. Pacific time, and it should be an emotional day as the VGK will be facing their former coach, Gerald Gallant, and a former VGK player and fan favorite Ryan Reaves at Madison Square Garden.
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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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.
The juicy rebound
Coghlan’s PPG
Roy’s GWG
Karlsson’s blistering shot makes it 3-1
End of game shenanigans
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Nick Steffen wrote this and asked this question
I’ve also noticed the lack of hits by the VGK this season. I remember when Reaves and Carrier were both often in the top five in the NHL for hits. I realize Reaves is gone, but Carrier can’t hit without him? It’s confounding.
Nick Steffen It’s a potential problem, especially in the playoffs. Hits wear down teams over a potential 7 game season and right now the VGK are avoiding hits like the country is trying to avoid COVID. As far as Carrier goes, I have no answer for you as to why he has stopped hitting it makes no sense unless he is having shoulder issues.
Joe P.
Nick Steffen wrote back
Joe Pane, the only reason I could come up with, and I may be way off base, is that with so many injuries early in the season some players might be worried about being injured/re-injured. The Knights used to be one of the hardest hitting teams in the league.
Nick Steffen not only do I think you are correct When I was making this point, I wrote that explanation in a previous article when I referenced their reluctance to take the body otherwise known as “Hits” in hockey
Joe P.
Hey, Joe.
The winning streak Vegas have without me able to watch the game is as long as my arm by now.
Do you think DeBoer want´s to stop me from watching the games to make it easier for the team to win? 🙄
As I wrote in one my comments after the game against Boston, I want more hits but they have to be clean.
All hits to the head must be penalized with a game penalty, a suspension and a huge fine.
The price is high for the team to have a player suspended especially now when Covid-19 is making big holes on the roster.
Late hits must be treated the same way.
Most teams has a cheap-shot artist who get away with lot of dirty plays, like Corey Perry for example.
As Mr Bet(t)man want´s a faster game with lots of goals, he could watch a highlight reel from Perry using his stick as a spear against any given goalie any given night. That plus a lot more antics especially in a scrum around both goals.
A player like Tom Wilson, who has played to many PC-games were you are rewarded by the amount of headshots you kill the enemies.
Youtube has a lot of material that could be used by a psychiatrist to explain to the NHL why that sort of play should be banned from hockey.
Ref´s must be able to penalize players without having the feeling that they blowing the game to pieces if they blow by the book so to speak.
The NHL must stand behind the ref´s decisions in all 60 minutes.
Normal players don´t want to injure a player in another team. They just want to stop them from making a play by hitting them.
They know that old school coaches like Lindy Ruff will send in the bad boys to get you on the next shift even if you hit their star player with just a hard check.
Coaches should be fined or suspended if they are using players who´s only goal is to create havoc in the last minutes of the game.
Against the Devils, Geertsen was on the ice to knock down Pietrangelo, and they went after Janmark who is a pacifist, he has only two hits this season. No wonder Panda turned in to a Polarbear.
In Vegas, Kolesar has 77 hits and McNabb has 66 hits. Then it´s Carrier with 39 hits and after that no one is over 29.
Is there a new tactical finesse by DeBoer? Turn the other cheek and so on. I´m just joking.
You and Nick Steffen is probably right in a way, but ask DeBoer on a media meeting after the next game.
Hopefully he gives an honest answer, otherwise we keep on guessing which might be good. That´s why we´re writing all this stuff.
Keeping our hockey brain working.
Hey Joe was the first single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1969 I bought the compilation album “Smash Hits” and that´s why I write “Hey Joe” when I leave a reply.
Smash Hits isn´t a compilation album of hits by The VGK. Maybe an compilation EP of hits. ☮