The original title of tonight’s blog was the simple “Duck that!” You know what I really wanted to say, but VegasWithAnEdge.com is G-rated, so I had to get a little creative to express my exact thoughts on the first 39 minutes of last night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks at Anaheim.
This game last night reminded me of why counting cards can be frustrating and playing poker can drive you out of your mind. In blackjack, card counters have an edge over the house, which is why we’re often backed off or barred. Yet even with this edge, we don’t always win. In poker, you can outplay your opponents, getting them to put their money into the pot with inferior hands, only to see them receive a miracle turn or river card to squash your superior play.
Last night, the VGK were the superior team, but the scoreboard hardly reflected that for the first 39 minutes of the game. The superior team was being denied by John Gibson, the Anaheim Ducks goaltender who, for those 39 minutes, was the number-one, number-two, and number-three star of the game. Gibson turned away shot after shot after shot. Indeed, the VGK set a team record with 49 shots on John Gibson.
That was a double-edge sword, because in Gibson’s career when facing 40 or more shots, he’s undefeated with a 7-0 record. This year alone, he’s 4-0. Ah, but this is the VGK, who continue to set or break records of their own game after game.
The VGK outshot the Ducks 20-7 in the first period. In the second period, 12 shots got to Gibson, five shots missed the net, and four shots were blocked by a Duck. At the conclusion of the second period, the VGK had 53 shot attempts, compared to Anaheim’s 22.
The VGK didn’t score their first goal until John Gibson had already saved 30 shots. That brought the score, at the end of the second period, to 2-1. They never looked back, scoring another three goals in the third period. On defense, in the third period, the Ducks went without a shot on net for more than 10 minutes. The VGK completely shut them down and controlled the game, which ended with a score of 4-2.
It was frustrating to watch them outplay, out skate, and outshoot the Ducks and have nothing to show for it—until, that is, they refused to accept that Gibson was unbeatable in the game.
This team is amazing. They play like anything but an expansion team. They’re even the envy of at least one coach. A day before this game, Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle was asked what he would like to see different about his team. “I wish my team played like a team, like the VGK do.” This is from a man who played in 1,055 NHL games and has coached for 13 years in the NHL, with 806 regular-season games and 86 playoff games. He knows what a team effort looks like.
Goal scores tonight for VGK: Marchessault (6 total for the season), Miller (3), Neal (11), and Karlsson (10).
If anything shows that the VGK play as a team, it’s the balanced scoring. They lead the entire NHL in the number of players who have five or more goals: Eight players have achieved this 20 games in.
With last night’s comeback win, not only are the VGK in a playoff spot, they’re in first place in the Western Division, after the L.A. Kings lost their game.
In four of the past five years, 13 of 16 teams that have been in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving have gone on to make the playoffs. The other time, it was 12 of 16. The VGK are in that position right now. Since 2000, the NHL’s last expansion year, 78% of teams in playoff spots on Thanksgiving Day have made it to the postseason.
The VGK’s record against west coast teams are a league-leading 9-1—almost unbelievable for an expansion team.
Where this is all headed, I wish I knew. But one thing I can tell you for sure is that Las Vegas has a legitimate NHL team, which is making the entire NHL say, “What the duck?!”
The VGK’s next game, Friday at T-Mobile vs. the San Jose Sharks, starts at 3 p.m.
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