Most of the time, you can review the score sheet and see who made an impact on the eventual outcome. Well, today wasn’t one of those games.
Two Golden Knights had a huge impact on today’s results and neither scored a goal. Yes, William Karlsson scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season. But Marc Andre Fleury really made the difference in the first period. He was the only player of the 19 who skated (the 20th, VGK backup goalie Malcolm Subban, never left the bench) who deserved his salary for the first 20 minutes. The rest of the team was MIA.
In my last post, I wondered aloud if there might be a problem for this team based on their recent performances at home, but I left the answer till today, taking a wait-and-see attitude as to making the needed corrections to end a four-home-game losing streak. After watching every game this team has played this season, I had no doubt that they could. But as I watched the first 20 minutes, I couldn’t help thinking that maybe I was wrong. The VGK were so bad in the first period that they allowed a season-high 20 shots on goal for the Calgary Flames in the first period while mustering only six shots for the entire period and a mere pair of shots on Calgary goaltender Mike Smith in the first eight minutes.
They weren’t getting the puck deep into the zone and when they dumped it in, Smith, who handles the puck well, quickly moved it to one of his players, who headed back to make Fleury face a number of high-quality scoring chances. Not only were they swarming all over the VGK and Fleury, one of the defensemen was involved in the rush. In the first period, eight of the Flames’ shots on Fleury came from their defenseman Dougie Hamilton, five off which were on net in the first.
Only luck and Fleury prevented our team from being behind by two or three goals at the end of 20 minutes.
William Karlsson was asked what was said between the first and second periods in the locker room. The question should have been what was being screamed among the players, because you know they could not have been the least bit happy with their first 20 minutes.
Either way, it was, “Stop being afraid to make mistakes!”
You see, for most of the VGK games this season, they haven’t been afraid to make mistakes. Winning elicits this kind of confidence. But when you’re not only losing, but being outworked and outplayed, especially at home, you start doubting yourself and you don’t want to be the player who makes the first mistake that causes the puck to wind up in the back of your net and now you’re chasing the game.
Early in the second period, Calgary had two quality scoring chances on Fleury, who remained perfect on shots 21 and 22. If he hadn’t, this would’ve been another long day at T-Mobile and the 12-point lead in the Pacific Division that Vegas held last week would now fall to six over the San Jose Sharks and they still have two games against the Sharks in their last 10. Home-ice advantage in the first round, which seemed like a walk in the park two weeks ago, was actually in jeopardy.
Which brings us to the second player who had the ultimate effect on today’s game. He comes with a lot of opinions on both sides. Some fans and media love what he brings to the team and I happen to be on that side. Others aren’t thrilled with him since he joined the team at the trade deadline. And with the VGK losing the next three games, it was easy to blame him for the imbalance in the team’s chemistry.
But no one could have missed that today. With just 3:06 played of the second period, Ryan Reaves knew something had to be done to light a fire under his teammates and get the T-Mobile crowd rocking. He delivered a thunderous open ice hit on TJ Brody, who was attempting to break out from behind his net with the puck. TJ was separated from the puck, the crowd rose to their feet, the entire VGK bench jumped up, and the game changed at that moment. Calgary was never the same and neither was TJ, who left the game and didn’t return.
This is what Ryan Reaves brings to the VGK that they didn’t have. Vegas has two big defensemen in Engelland and McNabb who can deliver big hits, but they’re pretty much limited to delivering these checks in their defensive zone. A hit like the one Reaves delivered in the offensive zone has a completely different effect than one delivered 200 feet down the ice. It now makes the players who are attempting to break out of their zone a little more apprehensive, forcing them to keep their heads up and on a swivel instead of down and skating hard to their offensive zone.
That hit won the game right then and there. Post-game, Coach Gallant was asked about Reaves’ hit and his smile told it all. He said there was no doubt in his mind that it changed the entire game. There was no doubt in mine and I’m sure many others who have seen how hits like this can turn a game completely around. Players like Reaves get paid a lot of money and it’s not to score goals; it’s to change the direction of the game when it’s needed and today the VGK needed it bad.
Post-game, Reaves chuckled when he was asked about his hit. He also added that the Calgary Flames players “seem to have a lot of glue on their gloves” as they were unwilling to drop them when he challenged them.
After the Reaves hit, the VGK scored four goals on 10 shots and two within 53 seconds of each other. They opened the scoring on the power play with Colin Miller scoring his 10th of the season, as his slap shot from the point was deflected in off Calgary’s defenseman Michael Stone.
William Karlsson’s hat trick was his second this season; his first was on New Year’s Eve against Toronto. With goals 37, 38, and 39, Karlsson leads the league with a +39 rating.
The VGK’s win today stopped the bleeding and it came against a Pacific Division foe. They now hold an amazing 17-3-2 record vs. Pacific Division teams, which is why they still lead the division by eight points.
Today’s win was also the third against Calgary this year. They end the season vs. Calgary on Saturday April 7 in Calgary. In those three wins, Vegas has outscored Calgary 15-5 and Fleury has won all three.
The VGK seem to like playing on Sundays, as they’re now 10-1 on Sundays. Their only loss on a Sunday was Feb. 11 vs Philadelphia.
Fleury’s shutout was his 48th in his career and his fourth this season. Today’s win put him at 401, which moves him into a tie and 12th on the all-time win list with Chris Osgood, who played for 14 years with the Detroit Red Wings during a career that spanned 18 years. Osgood played a total of 744 games, while Fleury has played 732 NHL games to achieve his 401st win.
Fleury’s lifetime record vs. Calgary is 10-3-1 and he’s tied with Pekka Rinne of Nashville with a league-leading .929 save percentage.
Coach Gallant was obviously unhappy with the offensive output in the first period and shook up some lines in the second. He didn’t like the work ethic he was seeing or their ability reestablish their offensive game that has been driving teams bonkers for most of their first 71 games. He reunited Neal with Haula and Perron and moved Tatar back up to the first line.
The VGK’s next game is Tuesday vs. Vancouver at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile.
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