The last time these two teams met was back on Jan. 30 in Calgary and the Flames were leading 2-1 with just 1:46 left in the game. Then the VGK had one of the most incredible finishes this year, scoring three goals in 53 seconds. It may be a while before that kind of finish is surpassed.
It did appear that Calgary was going to try to duplicate what the Anaheim Ducks accomplished so successfully in beating Vegas 2-0 on Monday. That plan involved clogging up the neutral zone, taking away the VGK’s effective stretch passes out of their zone, keeping them to the perimeter in the offensive zone, and not allowing any traffic into the blue paint. I asked Coach Gallant for his thoughts on how his team responded to Calgary trying Anaheim’s game plan.
“I thought we played more aggressive at the net,” he responded. “We scored that first goal and that was big for us. A lot of our goals were around the crease and that’s a big part of our game when we play fast and put pucks to the net. We had some point shots and I think three of our goals were directly from point shots and people at the net. And we were more passionate tonight with our game. We played a good game the other night, but tonight we were more passionate.”
VGK reacted well to the game plan that stifled them on Monday. They got bodies to the front of the net and took shots from all angles without looking for the next perfect pass.
The first goal was scored at the 2:28 mark in the first period. It was Ryan Carpenter’s sixth in his last nine games. Ryan’s goal came with his back to the net and he shot the puck between his legs, completely fooling Flames goaltender David Rittich, who never expected that! It was more like a Lebron James blind pass through his legs. Ryan, obviously, wasn’t looking for the next pass; it was go to the front of the net and shoot the puck, even if you’re facing in the opposite direction.
Calgary was so intent on slowing down the Knights that they didn’t register their first shot on net till almost 11 minutes into the game. They did score a goal on their fourth shot on Fleury, who once again wasn’t too busy in the first period, as the Flames wound up with just six shots in the first 20 minutes. But they did manage to eventually hit Fleury with 31 total shots; the VGK’s amazing goaltender stopped all but three in the 7-3 win.
Yes, from zero goals in their last game to a whopping seven last night. What a difference getting traffic in the blue paint and players to the front of the net make. William Karlsson wound up scoring his 31st of the season late in the first on the power play deflecting a Reilly Smith shot. The first period ended 2-1 in favor of Vegas.
Vegas never trailed, but give credit to the Flames who abandoned their plan when they realized that it worked for the Ducks on Monday, but Coach Gallant had a plan of his own to counteract that if the Flames tried the same.
The teams traded goals with Vegas always having the lead until the Flames tied it at 3-3. Vegas went ahead 4-3 a mere 2:51 seconds later on an Alex Tuch goal. It appeared that Calgary once again climbed back into the game when they scored to tie it at 4-4.
But on advice from his video replay coach, Gallant challenged the goal on the grounds that Calgary entered the zone off-sides. This was a risky move; if the challenge is denied, the score is now tied at 4-4, Vegas receives a penalty for a delay of game, and puts Calgary on the power play—either way, a possible momentum changing decision that sparks the Flames and deflates the Knights or vice versa. Sure enough, when the goal was removed from the scoreboard, the entire complexion of the game changed and the Flames appeared to lose their focus. The VGK smelled the flame being extinguished and proceeded to score the last three goals for the 7-3 victory.
“That was a close call tonight,” Coach Gallant explained. “That situation was real tough. When I looked at that on the bench, you don’t see as much as they see in the video room. It was offsides, but it was a tough one to call. But we take Tommy’s word for it and hope for the best. We trusted him. If he’s wrong, we’ll be upset, but we’ll move on. He does the best he can. He’s like anyone else. He’s an important factor to our coaching staff and that was a big call.”
The victory gave the VGK their 84th point of the season, breaking a 24-year-old expansion-team record set by the Florida Panthers in the 1993-1994 season. The win was also the VGK’s 23 home victory in 29 home games, which broke another NHL expansion record, this one 38 years old from when the 1979-1980 Hartford Whalers won 22 games in the 40 games they played at home. Our guys are setting and breaking records that have stood for years in the NHL and in my opinion, these records may never be broken ever again.
After giving up on trying to slow the game, the Flames switched gears and attempted to slow down the VGK with crunching body checks all over the ice. The Flames averaged 19 hits per game through their first 61 games; last night, they were credited with 41 hits, more than double their average.
Frustrations were evident when that new game plan didn’t work, as the Knights just kept getting up from the checks or even skating through them. Finally, Travis Hamonic challenged Alex Tuch to a fight with a little more than nine minutes left in the game. Hamonic’s plan to change the momentum backfired as the Knights scored two goals in 3 minutes and 28 seconds after the fight, as he watched from the penalty box.
A hat trick in hockey comes when you score three goals in a game. Then there’s the Gordie Howe Hat Trick: a goal, an assist, and a fight in the same game. So when Tuch accepted Hamonic’s challenge to fight, Alex had scored a goal and assisted on Luca Sbisa’s goal, thus completing the VGK’s first-ever Gordie Howe Hat Trick.
The crowd loved it and Tuch was awarded the win in the fight as he landed the better shots in a pretty long fight with lots of punches thrown and a bloody lip for Hamonic.
When asked about his Gordie Howe Hat Trick, Alex said, “I wasn’t really thinking about that. Emotions are high; you’re going at it with a defenseman. The guy was probably my size. I didn’t see who it was. He’s probably got a few more fights under his belt than I do and he’s a pretty tough guy. So it was good to get the first one under my belt, and I thought I held strong and did pretty well.”
This was Tuch’s first NHL fight and he said he was glad to get it out of the way and that he held his own. I think he was just being modest—he did real well in throwing some big bombs.
Goal scorers for the VGK tonight: Carpenter (6) + 1 assist, Karlsson (31) PPG, Smith (20) +1 assist, Tuch (11), Sbisa (2) +1 assist, Nosek (6), Eakin (7), Perron 2 assists.
It was a tough night for our Canadian friends who were here in Las Vegas. Their Flames lost and the USA Women’s hockey team beat Canada in the Gold Medal game in a thrilling shootout. Congratulations to the women of the USA for bringing home the gold.
The Canadian women’s team had won the gold medal in hockey the last four Olympics: 2002 2006 2010 and 2014.
The VGK are back on the ice for a game vs. Vancouver tomorrow at T-Mobile at 7:30 p.m.
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