If you’re not from Brooklyn or not Italian, let me help you with this explanation about how you should feel about the VGK’s first regular-season four-game losing streak in franchise history. JUST FORGET ABOUT IT.
There’s nothing anyone can do about it. When you score just 6 goals in 4 games, chances are pretty strong you’ll lose them all.
In Vegas’ loss last night to the Florida Panthers by a score of 3-1, the game started on a bad note. After cleanly winning the opening faceoff, Paul Stastny and Shea Theodore collided in the neutral zone, losing possession of the puck and allowing Aleksander Barkov an unobstructed entry into the Vegas zone. A mere 12 seconds into the game, Barkov beat Fleury to the short side and before half the crowd was even seated, Florida was already ahead 1-0.
Gallant’s attempt to create some sort of offense is showing no signs of life. He moved Reilly Smith down to the Cody Eakin line along with Brandon Pirri toward the end of the Carolina game on Friday night and started last night’s game with the same mindset, but the team offered him no rewards for the lineup adjustments. Smith had just 2 shots on goal; Eakin had 1. Brandon Pirri had zero shots on goal and his torrid scoring pace while he was on the waiver-wire clock of nine games or less is missing in action.
The Karlsson line was a -8 in the Carolina game. Last night with Valentin Zykov filling in for Smith, it seemed to create some offense with Karlsson and Marchessault, though there was nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. A Karlsson turnover in the neutral zone was the reason for Florida’s game-winning goal scored by Mike Hoffman at the 6:13 mark of the third period to break the 1-1 tie that Max Pacioretty created when he scored his 16th goal. Paul Stastny was credited with an assist, extending his point streak to 7 games, a career high.
Gallant doesn’t like to assign numbers to his lines, but I’ll take the liberty: Currently, the #1 line is the Stastny-Pacioretty-Tuch. Even though all 3 of them had time off due to injuries, it’s the most consistent line for Vegas through 54 games. The original #1 line of Karlsson Machessault Smith has had its problems this season in putting the puck into the net.
The so-called 3rd line has been a merry-go-round of players moved between the lineup and press box and certainly isn’t causing opposing teams any worries.
The 4th line is really missing William Carrier. His energy is contagious up and down the lineup and he alone creates havoc on the forecheck. Reaves and Carrier combined make for a long night for opposing defensemen, who aren’t happy about facing the glass tracking down pucks, knowing that both Revo and Carrier are right behind them looking to make their lives so much more difficult than they already are.
Last night once again, the VGK continued to make backup goaltenders look like world-class champions. The 12 Vegas forwards registered 24 shots, the 6 defensemen 11. More shots must come from the forwards in the blue paint; shots from the point by the defense, unless tipped, are usually easy saves for a goaltender with an unobstructed look.
Right now the only forwards going to the net on a consistent basis are Pacioretty, Tuch, and Stastny. Last night Stastny had 6 shots on goal and Pacioretty had 4, just 2 shy of 50% of shots registered by VGK forwards. This is unacceptable if you’re serious about playing a full 60 minutes and winning the game. Playing on the perimeter doesn’t win hockey games at the NHL level.
The only bright spot to last night’s game was the Stastny-Pacioretty combo. Patches’ goal was his fourth in the last five games. Stastny’s primary assist gave him a career high 7-game point streak.
The lowlight of last night’s game was just one goal on 35 shots. Fleury is a beast, but he can’t throw a shutout every game.
Things aren’t going to get any better, as their next game is against the best team in the entire NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tampa Bay has recorded 80 points through 52 games, its most points through the first 52 games of a season in franchise history, bettering the previous mark of 73 points in 2017-18. The Lightning are on pace to finish the regular season with 125 points; there have been only four instances in NHL history of a team recording at least 125 points in a season, last accomplished by Detroit in 1995-96 (131). The Bolts pace the NHL for wins (39), points (80), points percentage (.765), ROW (34), goals (201), goals per game (3.87), goal differential (+59), power play (29.6%), road wins (19), road points (40), and road points percentage (.731).
Last night’s game was an important one to win, as it would have ended a 3-game losing streak. Their last 2 games were against teams not currently in a playoff spot. They came out with an uninspired performance in Friday’s game and started last night’s in the hole just 12 seconds into the match. They offered no real offensive threats in either one of the last 2 losses.
Tuesday they’re in for a challenge against Tampa Bay. They are only 8 points ahead of Vancouver for the wildcard spot and Vancouver has 2 games in hand. They’re 5 points behind San Jose and 9 points behind Calgary who have played less games than Vegas. Are your palms getting a little sweaty? They should be. This is now starting to become a rear-view-mirror problem, because instead of looking ahead trying to catch the top 2 teams, now they must make sure that the teams behind them aren’t surging while Vegas is slipping on the ice and losing games that they should be winning.
The only time that Vegas has lost 4 games in a row occurred in the Stanley Cup Final after winning Game 1.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Aleksander Barkov (1 goal, 1 assist), Mike Hoffman (game- winning goal), James Reimer (34 saves on 35 shots on goal).
The next game is Tuesday against the Lightning in Tampa Bay at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time
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