Many hockey pundits wondered if the VGK’s emotional win on Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals might have an impact in last night’s game. The Chicago Blackhawks are in the midst of a letdown of their own this season. Chicago came into the game having lost their last five games and seven of the last 10. The Vegas Golden Knights took advantage of Chicago and won 4-3 despite not playing a full 60 minutes.
Chicago actually played well enough to win and overcame the 2-0 deficit the VGK built on two first-period goals, one by Reilly Smith on the power play just 1:28 into the game. Smith wound up with a three-point night and snapped an eight-game goal-scoring drought. When Deryk Engelland scored his first goal of the season seven minutes after Smith’s opening goal, the 18,494 fans (second largest crowd in VGK history) thought they were in for an easy win.
Truth is, the 18,494 weren’t all VGK fans, but that wasn’t obvious until Jonathan Toews took a bounce off the lively boards and scored just four minutes into the second period. It was the second game in a row that Fleury was scored on off a missed shot that bounced out in front. When Toews scored, it revealed a surprising number of Chicago fans who haven’t had much to cheer about this year with their 9-15-5 record. They made their voices heard all over T-Mobile and they became even louder when their team scored again to tie the game at 2-2. Dylan Strome’s goal came at 16:15 into the second period, a period in which Vegas seemed uninterested in participating.
“I thought Chicago played a great game,” Coach Gallant said afterwards. “They came in here and worked hard and won a lot of the one-on-one battles. They were first on pucks a lot. I didn’t think we were at the level we were supposed to be. I mean, we got a win and it’s always great to get the two points, but I thought Chicago came in here and deserved a little better. But like I said, we found a way to win and that’s a credit to our team, but we’ve got to be better than that for 60 minutes.”
The third period wasn’t much better. Nick Holden gave away the puck at his own blue line to Artem Anisimov 7:14 into the period and Anisimov put it behind Fleury. Now a serious problem was brewing — the Knights had blown a two-goal lead at home to team that’s only one point out of last place in the Central Division and trailing division leader Nashville by 16 points. This would be a crushing loss that would take all the luster and momentum gained from Tuesday’s emotional win over the Stanley Cup champions.
Good teams can and will win games in which they haven’t played well. It’s never a good thing, it drives coaches crazy, but sometimes the hockey gods even things out and allow you to sneak in a win when you might not deserve it. Last night, the gods were kind to Vegas, a welcome change to what the VGK went through in many of their first 20 games. Since their 20th game, the Knights have won eight of 10, five against Pacific Division opponents. This has moved them up to third place in the Pacific with 33 points, tied with San Jose and just two points behind second-place Anaheim.
This recent winning streak of four games in a row at T-Mobile, the first this season, could not have come at a better time, as the other teams in the Pacific have also been stringing some wins together.
Just 41 seconds after Holden’s giveaway, Jonathan Marchessault tied the score with his 11th goal of the season. He took a pass from Reilly Smith, who made a pretty spin-a-rama move in the neutral zone, sending Marchessault in on Corey Crawford; Marchy snapped a blistering shot over Crawford’s right shoulder. Crawford lost to Vegas the two previous times he faced them. His GAA was 6.06 vs. Vegas before last night’s game, which isn’t something to write home about. Indeed, Chicago hasn’t beaten Las Vegas in their five games. Vegas swept all three last season and they’re 2-0 this season, scoring 12 goals.
With the scored tied at 3-3 and just 12 seconds after Marchessault’s goal, Alex Tuch intercepted a pass from Brent Seabrook. Tuch moved the puck forward to Pacioretty, who returned it to Tuch with a behind-the-back pass. Tuch beat Crawford with the winning goal, avoiding that disastrous letdown.
In the Washington game, the VGK scored the two fastest goals this season in the third period, when Bellemare and Eakin scored just 16 seconds apart. Last night, they broke that record. The Blackhawks challenged Tuck’s goal for goaltender interference, but it was denied. Ironically, the VGK had a goal taken away from Oscar Lindberg in the second period when the situation room ruled that Tomas Nosek interfered with Crawford. The hockey gods were present last night at T-Mobile, not wanting Tuesday’s emotional win to go to waste.
Last night’s win moved Vegas’ record up to 16-13-1, three games above .500 for the first time this season.
Marchessault’s goal, his 11th, was his first in nine games and now ties him with Cody Eakin for the team lead.
Deryk Engelland not only lit the light tonight with his first goal of the season, but on Wednesday night, Deryk and his family lit the Christmas tree at the Cosmopolitan.
I wonder if Bellagio needs Deryk to light their Christmas tree. We may be on to something here.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Reilly Smith (1 goal, 2 assists, 5 shots on net), Jonathan Marchessault (1 goal, 1 assist), Alex Tuch (1 goal, the game winner)
Next game is Saturday Dec. 8 vs. the L.A. Kings at 1 p.m.
Your comments and opinions are welcome here at LasVegasAdvisor.com or you may contact me directly at [email protected]
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.
Here are the links to the post-game videos.
Coach Gallant Part I and Part II
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Comments from a reader
Hey Joe thanks for posting these. Very cool to watch.
Comment from a reader
#Fleury! The sweetest, most humble guy!