Last night’s game saw a multiple of problems, including one that I labeled the team’s Achilles heel in my last post: the third-period meltdown. The Golden Knights were tied going into the third, but once again they lost control of the game and allowed the Jets to score five goals.
This was a game that could have gone in the Knights’ favor as they entered the final period tied at 2-2 against the Winnipeg Jets, who’ve won their last four games at home and are 7-0-1 in their last game eight. It was a good 40 minutes of a road game against a hot team. But the game is 60 minutes. This problem needs to be corrected by the coaching staff and with a three-game losing streak, the confidence of the team can be shaken very easily now. I hate to put so much emphasis on a game this early in the season, but their next game at home vs. Arizona looms as a must win for the VGK.
A strange lineup change was made in the nets for the VGK as coach Gallant play his number-four goaltender Max Lagace, instead of his number-two goaltender Malcolm Subban (the number-one goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, is still on IR). What’s strange about this is that coach Gallant was singing praises for Subban performance against Minnesota in their last game, so the change came as a surprise. Why play your fourth-string goalie when your team is already thin in the nets and your second-string goalie is healthy and available?
I understand they were playing back-to-back games and three games in four nights, but with the team on a two-game losing streak and playing on the road vs. the red-hot Jets, Coach could have played Subban last night, and given him two days off and played Lagace at home against the Arizona Coyotes a team that Vegas has beaten in their previous meetings so far this year.
Coach Gallant has pushed all the right buttons and made the necessary adjustments so far in the first quarter of the season, but he might have rolled the dice on his goaltending choice tonight and it didn’t work out as he had hoped. Knowing that their solid defense man Deryk Engelland wasn’t going to play in last night’s game, because of that shot he blocked against Minnesota on Thursday, one wonders if playing your best available goalie would have been a better choice on the road against one of the hottest team in the Pacific Conference.
Of course, it’s easy to second guess a coach and his decisions, but with Subban only playing six games so far this year, I’m sure fatigue was not the issue that kept him out the lineup. I think coach Gallant was trying to steal a victory and give his number-two goaltender a night off.
The VGK appeared to take a two-goal lead in the second period when Colin Miller’s slap shot found the back of the net. The play was challenged by the Jets coach, who believed the Alex Tuch was offsides entering the zone. Tuch’s left skate entered the zone legally as his right skate was still on the other side of the blue line, but his right skate hit a Jets’ player’s skate, which caused Tuch’s skate to leave the surface of the ice. You’re considered offsides if one of your skates isn’t in contact with the ice on the center-ice side of the blue line. This challenge may have been the turning point of the game as a two-goal lead more than halfway through the second-period is tough to overcome. But that goal was taken off the board and the Jets went on to score a goal of their own less than three minutes later on a shot from Hendricks that Lagace should have saved. The score at the conclusion of the second period was tied 2-2 instead of a 3-1 VGK lead.
That was the beginning of the Knights’ problems. Kyle Conner scored 32 seconds into the third period, followed by a Patrik Laine goal two minutes and 16 seconds later. Nikolaj Ehlers added the third goal scored by the Jets just 3 minutes and 28 seconds after Laine’s goal. Just like that the Jets turned a 2-2 game into a 5-2 deficit for the VGK.
The VGK’s Haula and Miller also scored in the third period, but it wasn’t enough. Mark Scheifele also scored for the Jets and Kyle Conner who opened the scoring for the Jets in the third also closed the scoring with a empty-net goal to send the VGK to their second three-game losing streak this season.
Cody Eakin and William Karlsson scored for the VGK in the first period. Karlsson’s was his 14th goal of the season, which leads the team.
Since Fleury was injured, the goaltending situation that everyone assumed would be a major problem never really materialized. The backups played well enough and the team was scoring well enough to stay on top of or close to the top of the Pacific Division. But we may be at a critical time now that the goaltender situation is back to being a concern.
The VGK are in a critical situation in their next game. It’s a must-win against a team they should beat and stop this three-game losing streak before it becomes a problem of the night.
Our next game is Sunday Dec. 3 at T-Mobile vs. Arizona at 5 p.m.
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It will be a “good” win to beat Arizona today but it is far from a “must” win. A “must” win is when you are facing mathematical elimination from getting into the playoffs or an elimination game once in the playoffs. Nothing more, nothing less.