“Lost in Space” was an American science-fiction television series from 1965 to 1968. The 2018-2019 season so far for the Vegas Golden Knights seems like a medical-fiction television series that takes place at T-Mobile and various other NHL arenas.
Tonight’s TV episode was a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The two goals scored by Toronto with Fleury in net were lost in the skates of VGK players. First, Nick Holden had a puck in his skates and when he kicked it up from his right skate to his stick, it was quickly stolen by Conner Brown, who had snuck in behind him. Alone facing Fleury, Brown’s shot beat him to the glove side for a first-period goal. It was Conner Brown’s first goal of the season into a net with a goaltender. His only other goal was into an empty net. It also was the first goal that Toronto scored in either the first or second period in their five previous home games.
Toronto’s second goal came just nine seconds into the second period, when once again the puck was in the skates of William Karlsson at his blue line, only to have John Tavares pick his pocket and enter the VGK zone with Mitch Marner. Marner took a pass from Tavares and snapped a shot past Fleury for a 2-0 lead and the winning goal.
Cody Eakin scored his fourth of the season in the second period to trim the Toronto lead to 2-1. Vegas dominated the entire second period — minus the first nine seconds that Toronto used to stretch their lead. But other than Eakin’s goal, the Knights were unable to score and they’ve now scored two goals or less for the tenth time in their first 15 games.
Injury upon injury seems to be the norm for this team, especially the second line that should be centered by Paul Stastny, with Max Pacioretty and Alex Tuch or Erik Haula, but we can’t get all these players on the ice at the same time. First it was Tuch who was injured in the preseason, then it was Stastny whose injury came in the third game of the season before Tuch returned to the lineup. Then Patches took a high hit to the head in the 10th game of the season and the second line was once again down two of its skaters.
Last night, Patches returned to the lineup after missing the last four games. Still, the turnstile of players entering and exiting the second line continued when Erik Haula took a check from Patrick Marleau along the right boards. It was a clean hit that didn’t appear to be a hard check, but it caused Haula to seem to catch his right leg in a position that took the entire weight of his body as he crumbled backwards to the ice. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher and it appears to be an injury that will not be classified as a day-to-day status.
Injuries are part of the game, but for some reason, these first 15 games seem to be a game of survival for the VGK. Add this to the lack of scoring, especially from the first and second lines, other than Marchessault.
When Ryan “Revo” Reaves is tied with the second-most goals on the team, you know there’s an offensive dilemma.
Last season the team used four goalies (actually five, if you count the game in which Dylan Ferguson played 10 minutes). The difference was the team was scoring goals often and early, putting the opposition in a difficult spot. Not so far this year, as their goal production is dismal: 34 goals in 15 games. Only the L.A. Kings have scored less, with 32 in 14 games. The Florida Panthers have 34 goals, but have only played 11 games. Being ranked 30th in goals scored among 31 teams is not going to win many games. Fleury can’t pitch a shutout every game.
Once again, Vegas outshot their opponent, with 37 shots on Frederik Anderson who stopped them all except for Cody Eakin’s goal, which he tipped in from a Shea Theodore shot from the point 11:22 into the second period.
It’s becoming old hat that VGK outshoot their opponent’s game after game. But shot totals aren’t counted toward a win. Vegas has 506 shots on goal in their 15 games. With only 34 goals scored, that is a shooting percentage of less than 7%. You’re not going to be competitive with this amount of a goals scored compared to shots.
Only 5 players on the team have a shooting percentage in double digits: Cody Eakin 28.6% (4 goals), Ryan Raves 19% (4 goals), William Karlsson 11.5% (3 goals) Pierre Bellemare 10.5% (2 goals), Alex Tuch 10.3 % (3 Goals).
The VGK power play was 0-3.
The only bright spot that I can take from all of this is that most of the games played so far have been out of their division and conference, thus they haven’t been four- point games.
Nate Schmidt has only five more games left on his suspension. His addition to the lineup will be both a considerable upgrade to the team’s defensive and a morale booster to a team that right now is trying to find its identity.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Frederik Anderson (36 saves), Mithchell Marner (game- winning goal), Brad Hunt
The VGK’s next game is tomorrow against the Senators in Ottawa at 4:30 p.m.
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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.
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Really frustrating Joe. With the exception of a few lapses VGK totally outplayed Toronto.