Robin Lehner had a bounce-back performance last night against a team he has history with. The last time he faced the Washington Capitals was on April 6, 2019, while he was with the NY Islanders. On that night he shut them out by a score of 3-0 stopping all 29 shots. Though Lehner had been struggling a bit, as I pointed out in my last article, last night he regained his form and did what has come natural when he faces the Caps —not allowing them even a sniff of a goal in the VGK 1-0 victory at the Capital One Arena.
Last night he stopped all 34 shots that he faced, which included a 1:57 two-man power-play advantage for the Capitals. One of the 34 was a blistering shot off his mask from Alex Ovechkin. The shot was hard enough to break the mask; Robin had to don his mask from last year to continue the game.
Maybe getting on the road and away from T-Mobile was exactly what he needed mentally. It’s no secret that he is scrutinized unfairly at T-Mobile from the fans still sour about the departure of Marc-Andre Fleury.
So, I owe Robin an apology after blaming him for his performance in the game against Montreal. Last night he made me eat my words as he led his team to their 7th straight win on the road. It was also Robin’s 6th consecutive start and 17th career shutout; the win improved his record to 17-11-1. It was the first shutout for the VGK this season and it took them 42 games to get it.
This was Robin’s 3rd shutout as a VGK and it could not have come at a better time after the less-than-stellar 8-game homestand in which they went 3-3-2. It’s also a good start to what some are calling the VGK’s toughest road trip, not only this season, but maybe any season. They’re facing the winners of 3 of the last 4 Stanley Cups: Capitals (2018) and Tampa Bay Lightning (2020, 2021). Their other 2 opponents are the Carolina Hurricanes, who currently have the best winning percentage in the Eastern conference (.737), a record of 27-9-2, and +45 goal differential. Finally, the Florida Panthers sit on top of the Atlantic division with a .726-win percentage, a record of 28-9-5, and a +48-goal differential. So there is zero embellishment as to how difficult this road trip is, and last night’s win is an excellent way to get it going.
There were video tributes welcoming back former VGK players and Gerald Gallant at T-Mobile during the 8-game homestand. Last night was the return of former Washington Capital Chandler Stephenson, who joined the VGK on Dec. 2, 2019. Chandler, who played on the 4th line for the Capitals, has blossomed since becoming a VGK. He went from the Caps’ 4th line center to centering for the most part the #1 line in Las Vegas between Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone. In 133 games as a VGK, he has scored 34 goals and accumulated 95 points. While he was with Washington, he played in 168 games, scoring 14 goals and accumulating 33 points. It’s safe to say that Chandler has become a proud misfit here.
Michael Amadio was playing in his 200th NHL game last night and never had a game-winning goal; now he has one less bucket-list item to check off. Last night’s goal was all the VGK needed. It was Amadio’s 4th goal of the season. Amadio has played in 24 games for the VGK thus far this season. His career high is 6 goals in 68 games with the L.A. Kings in the 2019-20 season.
Other game notes and quotes.
Robin Lehner made 14 saves just in the 3rd period.
“It’s nice when I get a shutout, for sure, but it’s just nice to start
the road trip with a win,” Lehner said. “Big road trip and it was two big points for us.”
“We don’t win tonight unless our goalie’s really good. We needed that from Lenny,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said.
“I found myself in front of the net trying to battle. I snuck behind their defenders and just tapped it in,” Michael Amadio said about his GWG.
“It was a really hard shot to take in the head. He broke my cage,” Lehner said about Ovechkin’s shot. “It was a little scary. I felt the cage kind of bend into the cheekbone a little bit. I was lucky it wasn’t a little bit harder.”
It was the first time this season the Golden Knights won when scoring less than three goals.
Vegas is 17-1-0 when leading after two periods. You want to know what their only loss was? It was the dreadful blown 3-0 lead to the Pittsburgh Penguins just a week ago when Pittsburgh scored 3 third-period goals in their 5-3 win at T-Mobile a game Vegas led 3-0 after the first period.
Nicolas Roy left the game in the 3rd period and did not return after taking a Shea Theodore slap shot off of his ankle.
Nic Hague returned to the lineup after last playing on Dec 28 vs the Kings.
Laurent Brossoit was back on the bench backing up Robin Lehner. He hasn’t played since Jan. 2 vs. Winnipeg. Look for Brossoit to be in the net tonight vs. Carolina, the 2nd game of the back-to-back on this road trip.
Shea Theodore, who has had 18 points in his last 18 games, was held off the scoresheet last night.
Other promising news is that Max Pacioretty, Alec Martinez, and Jack Eichel made the trip back east, all skating with the team. Very promising news for the team, but not for the potential Salary cap debacle that is just around the corner
Reilly Smith missed the game and has entered Covid Protocol with Mark Stone.
My 3 stars of the game: Robin “Panda” Lehner (stopped all 34 shots, even one off of his head), Michael Amadio (1G, the GWG), Alex Pietrangelo (a game-high for both teams 6 SOG and 4 blocked shots and quietly gets it done game after game)
Next game is tonight at 4 p.m. vs. Carolina Hurricanes
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
For more VGK content, check out the Hockey Knights in Vegas Podcast that can be found at this link or on my Facebook page.
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.
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Drew Thrasher sent this opinion in
Maybe they just needed to get on the road
Drew Thrasher It sure seems like that helped them regain their swagger.
Joe P.
Drew Thrasher added this
Were probably going to get murdered tonight. It’s just a really bad spot on a back-to-back. Canes been sitting at home for three days thinking about that beatdown they got from the devils.
Drew Thrasher I’m afraid you have hit the nail on the head here. It’s a tough spot for the team and most likely for Laurent Brossoit.
Joe P.
Joe,
As always a wonderful article. Thank you for seeing what panda was able to accomplish last night. I want to also mention that the defense was on point last night. That shot he took to his head scared me to death. I agree with you that some in this fan base is really unfair to him and it must be hard to be booed by your own fan base. Hope that we have another positive outcome this afternoon.
Sara
You are so kind with your encouraging words about my article. Yes, without a doubt he has a tough hill to climb with a portion of the fan base at T-Mobile. They are new to the business side of the NHL. It’s not Robin’s fault that Marc-Andre was moved to Chicago. It rests on the shoulders of the front office of the team that signed him to an extension following his miracle run to the Stanly Cup Final. When they did that the fan base that is really pissed off right now assumed the Flower would retire as a VGK and Bill Foley didn’t help matters by publicly stating to Fleury that he would retire as a VGK.
Joe P.
Bryan Sandrock sent this is about Robin Lehner
Good morning, Joe! I said to Deryl last night that I believed your article would be about Lehner—as it should be since his performances last night made a real difference in the VGK win…but let’s never forget that his performances many other nights made a real difference in the VGK loss. Lehner is capable, yes but he replaced a legend on the premise he was the future of the VGK and good enough now to displace the face of the VGK-he hasn’t shown that, certainly not to me. I believe the VGK cannot win the Stanley Cup with Lehner between the pipes unless he consistently delivers under 2.0 GAA, and he has most definitely not done that; and my guess is can’t do that although i absolutely hope he does and then, I won’t apologize to him for my harsh words during his less than stellar times but instead I will praise him for finding a way to reach the potential that others must have seen in him to do Fleury so dirty. Food for thought 😉
Bryan
Your comments are noted and very accurate, a reader of my blog who I ran into last night while having dinner at South Point after the game asked me if I thought that VGK were good enough to win the Stanley Cup this season. I told him as the team is right now it was a firm NO. But there are 40 games to go, a lot of missing players and the wild card of Jack Eichel and seeing exactly how much of an impact he will have on this team going forward. If Jack is Jack and he adds the offensive fire power that we are being told he will bring then and only then with Robin playing up to his potential and the defense playing well in front of him or Brossoit then they do have a chance a slight chance because there are a number of teams who are poised to make a deep run this year and Vegas is just one of 4-5 teams that have their eye on the silver gem of a trophy.
Joe P.
Paul Lomaglio responded to Bryan Sandrock
Bryan Sandrock and guess what?! The team couldn’t win a cup with 29 either. In fact, his boneheaded play in the playoffs
Directly affected the team’s chances of winning. Three playoff years he hurt us. 90 doesn’t have to win the cup to be better than 29 because 29 never did it.
John Edmond replied to Bryan
Bryan clearly you are skewed in your analysis of the team since you clearly think Lehner was to blame for the recent loses. It is a shame that you ignored the fact that last night Lehner had the support of the defense which had been missing the key players like Martinez and Whitecloud, and support players like gauge on the blue line. Hague came back last night, and the defense gave up less high danger chances and made it so Lehner was not left out to dry.
This is a pure fact, that shutouts are more about team defense and not just the goalie’s performance.
The fact that you actually think Fleury was a cup winning goalie shows you had not watched him in the playoffs since his only win in 2009. Fleury is a choke artist and consistently found ways to lose playoffs series and knock his team out of a chance to win the cup. Hell, he did it in Vegas 3 times, and I could argue that his agent’s sword tweet destroyed team chemistry in the bubble killing the team’s chance to win the cup. It’s easily proven that once that tweet happened all forms of offense died.
But you obviously forgot about his falling apart vs the Caps, blowing a 3-1 series lead followed by allowing 4 goals in 5 minutes, and his spectacular primary assist to Anderson of the Canadians when the team was leading a series tying game.
It’s pathetic that so many “fans” of the team will root against and boo Lehner simply because the last name on his sweater doesn’t say Fleury. You “fans” hate him at all costs and even when you say he had a good game, you still bag on him because it’s forbidden you give him a Genuine compliment.
John Edmond it was actually the San Jose Sharks that the 3-1 series lead was lost. But I put part of the blame on Gallant for not calling a timeout to slow things down a bit and stem the momentum that San Jose had from the phantom 5-minute major to Cody Eakin.
Joe P.
Paul Lomaglio responded to John Edmond
John Edmond If I didn’t know better, I think you are eavesdropping on me! This is what I’ve been telling the Pink Hat Fleury fans for the last two years!
The two goals he gave up in game six, at home, to the sharks were very weak. One in OT. Then the four goals in a five-minute penalty was horrendous. And of course, we lost that one in OT.
His agents’ actions in the bubble absolutely took the focus away from the team and put it on him. A selfish move for sure. And finally, the Error in Montreal…. Overall, I agree with you. Nothing he did in playoffs for the VGK scream Stanley Cup winner.
John Edmond responded
Wrong. We had a 3-1 series lead in the sharks. Here you got making excuses for pathetic goal tending by Fleury. He let in 4 goalies in 5 minutes. If that had been Lehner, you guys would have been stringing a noose up to hang him.
Hey Joe! Thank´s for the recap.
Not only stopping all these shots, Lehner also saved my day.😰
I`m on the covid list and my comments will be short this time.
I suggest that the SC playoff will be a round-Robin tournament in a bubble.
I hope that Juicy-Fruit is sponsoring Robin with a boatload of gum.
Stay healthy, we didn´t.
It almost went south but here in the north it can only can go that way.
Kenneth
Sorry to hear the news of you being on the Covid protocol list. Let’s hope you are cleared to play/write your opinions on my game recaps soon. Coach Deboer needs your input and line-up suggestions. And i always LQQK forward to your hockey knowledge.
Joe P.
Joe
Thank´s. I´ll be back, as Arnold once said.
Brian Mishefske sent this comment in
Great article Joe
Brian Mishefske thank you; I do appreciate your feedback both positive and if you see fit negative. I’m not always right when it comes to this team. Case in point my critical words about Robin Lehner following the Montreal game.
Joe P.
Brian Mishefske responded
Joe Pane every one of us let our emotions out and it’s commendable when we see our mistakes. We have been extremely spoiled with the VGK and when anything goes wrong, we react. I played goalie for 26 years not professional, but it is a position that requires dedication and discipline to play. I’m happy to see the Panda worked with coaches to get back and now with a shutout his confidence is back.
Deborah Hunter wrote this about a portion of the fan base at T-Mobile
The comment about Lehner getting so much criticism from the fans made me sad. T Mobile is the place the players should want to be, not feel like they’re unwelcome visitors. It’s not his fault Fleury is gone. It’s the ones who made that decision, yet it’s dumped on Lehner.
Deborah Hunter exactly I just wrote this very same explanation to another reader.
Joe P.
Barb Sinatra Burdo responded to Deborah Hinter
Deborah…we ALL love Flower…but trades and salary caps are part of the sport……we all know that. We were spoiled with the amazing players we started with. Very rare for an expansion team in any sport
Daphne DeVane Smith added to this conversation about Lehner
Agreed
Kristi Scott Smith wrote about me apologizing to Panda
You are not the only one
Kristi Scott Smith makes it clear she wasn’t one of the crowd that needed to repent to Panda
I am not one of them…Team defense has been the issue
Kristi Scott Smith I’m more than happy to apologize. When the team plays well the entire city is happy. When Panda play well like he did last night good things happen even if we just score 1 goal. Thank you, Michael Amadio, your first GWG came at the perfect time.
Joe P.
Kristi Scott Smith also said this
Joe Pane good articles I enjoy reading them
Hagle Patricia had this to say about last night’s game
Was a great game!!
Bill Dickerson wrote
No apologies needed. This was a good game, but he needs more of them. Too many games lacking a full 60 minutes. We can acknowledge last night was good while acknowledging what led up to last night has not. Most recognize he was capable of better and last night he showed he is.
Bill Dickerson Spot on more performances like this from not only Panda but the other 18 skaters and we will be in the mix come playoff time. And adding Jack Eichel into the mix makes this upcoming spring/summer very interesting to say the least.
Joe P.
Bill Dickerson replied to my comment to him
Joe Pane I’m honestly wait and see on Eichel and how he goes with this surgery. Plus, how do we get under the cap
Bill Dickerson there will be 2 scenarios that will fit Eichel in. One is they use the Tampa Bay game plan and keep a player or 2 on LTIR until the playoffs begin and then Salary cap is no longer in effect. Or they will have to move 2 contracts at or before the trade deadline which is April 12th at 3PM Eastern Time. That gets you Eichel playing at the VGK being cap compliant.
Joe P.
Bill Dickerson replied
Joe Pane yeah but clearing enough cap space loses quality players. It kills depth which is already a little worrisome.
Bill Dickerson but it’s the only way to have Eichel in a VGK uniform. Reilly Smith will be an UFA at the end of this season and Vegas will lose him for nothing. Moving him at the trade deadline to a team that believes they are one or two players from winning the Stanley Cup will send the VGK some draft picks for the ability to rent Smith for the playoffs and then decide if they want to re-sign him in the off season.
Joe P.
Evgeni Dadanov had another good game last night. He made a couple of good passes which unfortunately did not result in goals. He is always around the net and is effective on the PP. I like his spin pass where he sees where he wants to pass it and then does a complete spin before releasing. It does surprise the other teams players.
Bruce
Dadanov has been a pleasant surprise coming over from Ottawa where he was for one season after being drafted by the Florida Panthers in the 2007 draft. He has scored in excess of 20 goals 3 different times in his career with Florida and with 10 goals in 40 games this year he is on pace to do that once again. His career high is 28 goals, and he has done that twice with Florida in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. In the 2019-20 season he missed a number of games but still scored 25 goals.
Joe P.
Christopher Couch wrote this about Panda
I’m thinking Panda might be our road goalie.
He’s far better on the road than at home.
Christopher Couch he definitely squeezes his stick a lot tighter at T-Mobile. He knows he is always being scrutinized there as a portion of the fan base has not fully accepted him as their #1 goaltender.
Joe P.
Christopher Couch wrote
Joe Pane I agree
Douglas Carle sent this opinion in
I simply believe he knew the comments that are being made about his performance and stepped it up. The problem is getting that for more than one game in a row
Douglas Carle excellent point he does pay a lot of attention to social media, he has admitted that on numerous occasions.
Joe p.
Douglas Carle replied
Joe Pane that is absolutely the case. In previous games it isn’t that he doesn’t have the skill it’s just he made no effort. With the firestorm about his efforts and talk about moving him in the last week he finally stepped up his game. Good for him. He needs to play desperate for a while.
I believe he is an excellent goalie skill wise. The problem is his mental game. That’s always been an issue with him wherever he has played. He gets emotionally petulant, and it affects his play. He needs to play like a guy who is on the cusp of being traded to a Canadian team if his play doesn’t improve!
Douglas Carle also added this
Joe Pane Also quite frankly, as I commented before, he simply needs to concentrate on being the goaltender for the VGK and not some Twitter social warrior.
Douglas Carle, I have never seen a professional athlete respond so frequently as he does on social media.
Joe P.
Betty Ramsey sent this opinion in
Lehner seems to do better away from T-Mobile Arena. He played a good game last night.
John Edmond
Paul i didn’t start going anti fleury till the bubble when he had his agent attack the coach. He had a horrible year with the death of his father.
Last year he had a great year, but he had a very solid #2 goalie behind him, an insane defense in front of him and the weakest division in the league.
If we would have kept Subban, Fleury would have had to play more games last year and his save percentage would have dropped well below Gru and Vas. The fact he played fewer games and faced 1,000 less shots the Vas is the only reason his numbers were enough to give him the Vezina. But the Flower Children as I call them refuse to accept that.
Bryan Sandrock also added this about the non-timeout call from Gallant
Joe Pane I agree with the timeout not being called too!
John Edmond
Bryan that time-out not being called didn’t give SJS the 5-2-win game 5 or the 2-1-win in game 6 to tie the series and send it to game 7
Paul Lomaglio responding to John Edmond
John Edmond accurate description. But he was the “face” of the franchise…
Not to mention his fake story about having no idea he was gonna be traded. Even the pink hat Karens knew months before that he was leaving
John Edmond wrote
Paul he was the face of the franchise because the Summerlin soccer I mean hockey moms loved his smile and were jealous of his wife.
It’s funny how people say he didn’t know but the rumor after the bubble post season was the team was shopping Fleury, but no teams would take him without wanting us to hold salary and give up a 1st.
Paul Lomaglio added this
John Edmond yup. But you can’t say that out loud!
that 2-1 win in OT in game five was because of two bad goals. Very bad.
John Edmond wrote back
Paul I still remember the OT goal. I just sat back in my seat at T-Mobile on shock that it actually went in from that far out with fleury.
Paul Lomaglio wrote
John Edmond and the earlier goal was a very similar shot. I love 29 but I want our team to win a cup. He was never gonna be that guy, and, well, that $7 million salary was hurting.