The impressive offensive showing of six goals in last night’s win, combined with Tampa Bay’s loss on home ice, gave the Vegas Golden Knights the sole possession as the number-one team of 31. Yes, a first-year expansion team is once again the best of the NHL.
Tonight’s opponent was none other than the team that owns the distinction of winning the most Stanley Cups in the history of the NHL, 23 to be exact.
The Montreal Canadiens have won the most sought-after championship among any sport in North America 23 times. Even though they haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 24 years, this franchise has always been the face of the NHL. They’re one of the original six teams and their fan base stretches all over North America. At one time, opposing teams dreaded playing at the Montreal Forum, where the Canadiens won many home games and where they hoisted most of their 23 Cups. The hockey gods were even said to live there and they didn’t treat visiting teams very well. The Canadians played 2,366 games in the Forum and won 1,491 of them, while losing only 528 for a .704 win percentage (games ended in ties before overtime became the way to determine a winner and eliminate ties).
It’s ironic that T-Mobile Arena, where the VGK play their home games, is currently the new Montreal Forum. Visiting teams often leave T-Mobile with a loss and a bad feeling, as Vegas has the best home record in the NHL at 22-4-2. With last night’s 6-3 win, they also tied the NHL expansion record for home wins and still have 13 more games at home. Vegas has outscored opponents 103-64 in goals during their home games so far. They’ve scored four or more goals at home in 10 different games.
The current Montreal Canadians are nowhere close to the team that they once were and their new home doesn’t have the same effect on visiting teams that the Forum once had. They currently sit 13 points out of the last remaining playoff spot in the east, with only 51 points, compared to Vegas’ 82. Montreal has won only eight games on the road all year and is tied for last in that statistic. They’re 8-18-1 on the road and have now lost 11 of their last 12 road games.
The Canadiens only have 22 wins of 58 games, the fewest in the last 15 years. Obviously, these two team are going in two different directions. Here is a stat that points this out. When entering the third period with a lead, the VGK is 22-2-1, while Montreal’s record when trailing entering the third is 2-23-2 after last night. They’ve scored one goal or less in 20 games this season. Their current losing streak is now five in a row.
Last night, the VGK scored two goals on their first four shots and when they scored their third goal at the 9:51 mark on only their sixth shot of the first period, Antti Niemi, Montreal’s starting goaltender, was headed to the showers.
All three goals scored on Niemi were on his glove side. I’m not sure that was by design thanks to an excellent scouting report. Cary Price replaced Niemi and he also surrender three goals.
Montreal was trying to become only the fourth team to beat the Knights twice this season. Montreal won their first meeting in the team’s disastrous first east coast road trip where they were playing their third- and fourth-string goaltenders. The only teams that have beaten Vegas two times this season are the Minnesota Wild, the Edmonton Oilers, and the New York Islanders.
Reilly Smith was a beast in this game, scoring the opening goal just 2:16 in for his 18th of the season and later added number 19, along with an assist, which extended his point-scoring streak to seven games and 12 points. With his assist, he’s reached a career-high 32 assists — with 23 games still to be played.
Brad Hunt, who was scorched on the first two Montreal goals, redeemed himself with a goal, his third of the season; he has two straight games with a goal and three straight games with at least a point.
Another VGK who’s burning up the score sheet is David Perron, with 19 points in his last 14 games.
Ryan Carpenter is also making it difficult for Coach Gallant not to play him every game. He’s now scored in three straight games and has five goals in his last seven.
The VGK power play continues to shine. With tonight’s PPG, the unit has a goal in 12 of the last 13 games, with 15 PPG on 36 attempts.
The team continues to get scoring up and down the lineup. In their last game vs. Edmonton, 11 different players made the score sheet. Last night, 10 different VGK earned at least a point.
Jonathan Marchessault’s three assists last night was a career high for him.
Montreal did appear to make it a game by scoring two goals in the first period, which ended 3-2. But when the VGK scored two goals just 39 seconds apart in the second period, it was 5-2, the game was as good as over, and just the final score remained to be determined.
Ever since returning from his injury on Dec. 12, Marc Andre Fleury has been a rock in nets. He has an 8-2-2 record now and coming into the game, he had a league leading 1.44 Goals Against Average, a .953 save percentage, and two shutouts. In his 26 starts this season, he’s given up two goals or less 18 times. Last night, he stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced, giving up three, which is above the norm for Fleury.
Success in the playoffs will only come with the scoring evenly spread out among all four lines. Opposing teams will be attempting to shut down Karlsson, Neal, and Smith. The third- and fourth-line players will need to contribute if Vegas wants to get beyond round one. Right now, all the pieces are meshing together well, but there’s still a lot of hockey to be played. And right now your VGK are playing like they’re the best team in the NHL.
Wait! They are!
VGK goal scorers: Ryan Carpenter (5), Brad Hunt (3), Tomas Nosek (5), Nate Schmidt (5), Reilly Smith (18) PPG (19).
Our next game is Pacific Division rival Anaheim — a 4-point game, Monday 7p.m. Pacific Time at T Mobile.
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