Knights on Ice — 65 Minutes  and 11 Goals, Entertaining for the Fans, Not So Much for the Coaches

A normal hockey game lasts 60 minutes. In today’s NHL, goals come a lot more frequently than they used to and the tally of goals has increased dramatically over the last few years. There is zero tolerance for stick infractions and any other penalty deemed to slow the offensive player’s progress. So there aren’t many 2-1, 3-1 or 3-0 final scores in this era of the NHL.

To make sure even more goals are scored, this season the goaltenders’ equipment was once again reduced in size; their equipment keeps getting smaller and smaller. It’s almost to the point where it’s become risky for the goaltenders, who are facing shots in excess of 100 mph in some cases. The shots are faster, the equipment is smaller, and it’s a problem that has no real solution for the health of goaltenders. It’s the price of making the games entertaining.

The league wants goals. The league wants to showcase its offensive stars. Scoring goals, lots of goals, fills seats, not that this is a problem at T-Mobile. Last night 18,281 attendees found their way into a building that seats 17,500.

These new policies usually account for somewhere between five and seven goals scored in a game. Last night, the Knights needed six to outduel the Florida Panthers, who scored five of their own and had multiple leads throughout the game.

One lead was 3-1 before Vegas tied the score at 3-3 in the second period. Florida regained the lead when they scored twice after Vegas went ahead 4-3 in the second period. Vegas tied the score at 5-5 on Reilly Smith’s second goal of the game that sent it into the five-minute overtime that was scoreless. In the shootout, Shea Theodore lifted a beautiful backhanded shot over Roberto Luongo’s shoulder to score the sixth goal for Vegas, the 11th goal of the game. A fun game for the fans, but a nightmare for both coaching staffs.

Mike Hoffman scored two power-play goals in the first period just four minutes apart that nullified Paul Stastny’s opening goal that gave Vegas a 1-0 lead just 3:09 into the game. Stastny, who normally sets up goals with his accurate tape-to-tape passes, created his goal all by himself. He won the faceoff to the left of Luongo, then fought for the puck that had found its way between the skates of three Panthers. With pure precision, he drew the puck out of the scrum and fired it past Luongo for a rare 1-0 lead for Vegas, who have been giving up the game’s first goal recently.

Credit should be given to Vegas, who overcame two-late goals in the first period, which often create big momentum swings. They responded with three goals in the second period to regain the lead. They then had to overcome another goal by Florida with just 54 seconds left in the second that tied the score at 4-4.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored his 18th goal of the season at the 3:18 mark of the third; along with his three assists, it gave him a four-point night that once again gave Florida the 5-4 lead.

Reilly Smith, who is more of the setup guy for Karlsson and Marchessault, had a night to remember with a two-goal performance and a between-the-legs pass to himself before putting it behind Luongo. Smith’s second goal tied the game, forcing OT with 4:18 left in regulation.

It’s to be noted that the VGK defensemen played a key role in this victory. Colin Miller scored a goal, Jon Merrill scored a goal and had one assist, and Nate Schmidt had one assist and seemed highly engaged, often very deep in the offensive zone. Shea Theodore scored the goal in the shootout and had two assists.

Coach Gallant had Schmidt paired with Engelland, while Theodore was paired with McNabb. These pairings seem to give Nate and Shea more freedom to move the puck deep, knowing that Engelland and McNabb can and will be more defensive with their partners engaged with the puck more than normal.

The hope following their last game on Tuesday night vs. Dallas was that the VGK, who have been a confusing example of consistency so far this season, would pick up right where they left off, using the input of a former Ottawa player whose mere presence seems to galvanize not only Max Pacioretty, but the entire team.

Well, a former Ottawa player did just that. The only problem was it wasn’t Mark Stone who took over the game and stole the entire first period. It was Mike Hoffman, one of many former Ottawa Senator players now sprinkled all around the league, as Ottawa is just not rebuilding, but seems to be in the business of seeing how low they can make their payroll. Yes, they’re stockpiling draft picks and prospects who will make their payroll goal very easy to accomplish, while they’ll still be equally sharing in revenue. Not a bad business plan if your fans will tolerate this direction.

In Las Vegas, the ownership and management are poised to make a deep run once again in the playoffs and Bill Foley has committed his checkbook to this plan, which was the case in getting Stone and making him the highest paid player on the VGK going forward. The once-cap-friendly VGK are getting close to having some sticky situations in this upcoming off season. The building is over 100% capacity every game, but that won’t help the cap crunch starting to develop on the horizon. The same can’t be said for the Ottawa Senators or a few other teams that are comfortable with putting a watered-down product on the ice night after night.

Last night’s victory was very important, as Vegas was able to remain 6 points ahead of Arizona, who also won last night in defeating Vancouver, another team nipping at the heels of Vegas.

With the win last night, Malcolm Subban remains undefeated at T-Mobile this season and has a record of 11-1-0 in his two seasons at T-Mobile. Subban had 32 saves in the victory.

Last night’s victory was the first time Vegas won two games in a row since Feb. 5-7 and now have a 3-2-1 record in their last six games.

Reilly Smith has scored three goals in his last four games after going 12 previous games without scoring.

Alex Tuch, unfortunately, looks lost on the third line. Ryan Carpenter doesn’t help set up Alex at all. I said in an interview with Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com between the first and second periods that Vegas needed to score the next goal to get back into the game. If they didn’t, I had a feeling the Gallant would move Alex up to the first line, trying to get him going. I’m glad I was wrong as Reilly Smith would have been the player making the switch with Tuch. I had half of my prediction correct and it was the right half. Reilly Smith had a whale of a game after the first period.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Reilly Smith (2 goals), Shea Theodore ( shootout winner + 2 assists), Jonathan Huberdeau (1 Goal, 3 assists)

The next game is on the road this evening at 7 p.m. against the Ducks in Anaheim.

Your comments and opinions are welcome and appreciated here at Las Vegas Advisor (to comment, you just have to register on the site, which takes all of 30 seconds and is free, of course). You can also contact me directly at [email protected] or visit my Facebook page, Vegas Hockey Guy.

And for the most comprehensive coverage of the Vegas Golden Knights’ historic inaugural season, take a look at our book Vegas Golden Knights—How a First-Year Expansion Team Healed Las Vegas and Shocked the Hockey World.

Links to the videos:

Reilly Smith

Shea Theodore

Malcolm Subban

Paul Statsny

Coach Gallant Part I and Part II