Welcome Home Tucky and a Few familiar Faces

Alex Tuch and a few familiar faces were at T-Mobile last night, but the VGK had no plans to roll out the welcome mat beyond the video tribute in their dominating 5-2 victory over Buffalo at T-Mobile last night.

You can almost call the Buffalo Sabers “VGK East.” They have 5 former VGK players on their roster: Alex Tuch, Cody Eakin, Peyton Krebs, Colin Miller, and Malcolm Subban. Miller and Subban were not available due to injuries, but Tuch, Eakin, and Krebs were and the crowd of 18,235 gave both Eakin and Krebs a warm welcome.

Alex Tuch’s reception was very different and the crowd at T-Mobile made it clear that even though he no longer wears the sweater of the VGK, he’s still loved immensely in Las Vegas.

Tuch was clearly moved by the reception he received from the crowd and when he scored the first Buffalo goal, a good number of VGK fans cheered and clapped. That the score was 4-0 in favor of the VGK at the time certainly had a lot to do with the crowd’s excitement at Tuch’s scoring a goal on a sheet of ice he called home between October 2017 and November 2021 when he was traded, along with Peyton Krebs, in the blockbuster deal that brought Jake Eichel to Las Vegas.

The VGK, who just returned from a 4-game road trip in 6 days against some of the top teams in the East, wasted no time in getting down to business. Reilly Smith scored the first VGK goal just 33 seconds into the game on a nice cross-the-crease pass from William Karlsson.

Historically, teams returning from a road trip that requires traveling 3 time zones in one direction, then returning through 3 time zones, have been known to get out of the gate slow and sometimes not have a decent performance at all. But Coach DeBoer had his team prepared and wanted them not to waste their strong road performance in picking up 5 points of a possible 8. He spoke about making a statement on home ice where they’ve struggled and not letting these 2 points go to waste against a struggling Buffalo team who also were playing their 3rd game in 4 nights on their own road trip through 3 different time zones.

By 24:27 into the game, Vegas had a 4-0 lead, which included a power play goal by Jonathan Marchessault and a shorthanded goal by the man with hands of stone, Keegan Kolesar, along with an even-strength goal by Brett Howden. It was Howden’s 3rd goal in his last 3 games and he continues to make a case for himself to stay in the lineup when the team is at full strength.

Alex Tuch’s goal came with just 4 minutes left in the 2nd period. Tuch used the speed we’ve all seen for the past 4 seasons to beat Robin Lehner with a blistering shot coming down the right wing. Tuch had another glorious chance on a breakaway in the 3rd period, but Robin Lehner won that one-on-one battle. Tuch had his dad and girlfriend in attendance last night at T-Mobile and despite the 5-2 loss, they had to be proud of his performance.

With last night’s win Vegas, leapfrogs back over Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead with 57 points. Anaheim has 55 points, but has played 2 more games. The team to keep an eye on is Calgary, 7 points behind the VGK, but with 5 games in hand. Last night Calgary overcame a 3-1 deficit against Dallas on the road with just 5:24 left in the game by scoring 3 goals and erasing the 3-1 lead for a 4-3 victory. Calgary is well coached and will be a force in the 2nd half of the season.

Other game notes and quotes.

Mark Stone scored the 5th and final goal for the VGK; it was his first since Jan 6 against the NY Rangers.
Last night’s victory was the VGK 200th win in their franchise history. They’re the quickest NHL team to 200 wins: just 337 games.

“We were staring at the four-game road trip, four really tough teams and Buffalo to end it before the break, and we wanted to find another level to make sure we went into the break in a good place,” DeBoer said. “And I think everybody did that.”

The Sabres started a line of Tuch, Krebs, and Cody Eakin, who also played his first game at T-Mobile Arena since being traded to the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 21, 2020. That didn’t exactly work out as both Tuch and Eakin were on the ice when Reilly Smith scored just 33 seconds later.

“That was pretty special,” Alex said about the video tribute. “Vegas gave me a lot and the tribute is just another thing to add to the list.”

Alex Tuch is getting more ice time in Buffalo then he was here, where he pretty much played on the 3rd line. And it has shown in his results with Buffalo getting top-line minutes.

Tuch has scored 13 points (five goals, eight assists) since making his debut with the Sabres on Dec. 29.

Marchessault set a Golden Knights record with his fourth 20-goal season.

My 3 Stars Of the Game: Brett Howden (1G, 1A and +2 for the game), Jonathan Marchessault (1PPG, 1A), Robin Lehner (Stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced)

The VGK are off for the All-Star Break and don’t return to the ice until Feb 8th in Edmonton, followed by a game on Feb 9th vs. Calgary. These 2 games were rescheduled because of travel restrictions into Canada due to COVID.

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.

Marchessault PPG
Kolesar shorthanded goal
Tuch goal on his return to Las Vegas