Knights on Ice—No Worries

Outplayed? Outshot? Forced to play your third-string goalie? No need to worry! We’re the Vegas Golden Knights.

I’m not sure how the VGK do it. This team just knows how. Do what? Win, that’s what! It’s almost like the rope-a-dope made famous by Muhammad Ali—he just leaned back on the ropes and let his opponent punch away, until he exhausted himself. Then Ali moved in for the knockout.

Tonight, the VGK let the St. Louis Blues shoot themselves out; they took 49 shots to VGK’s 22. More than 30 minutes into this contest, our team had only six shots on goal. That’s less than one shot every five minutes. You simply cannot win hockey games with such a lack of offensive output. Unless, of course, you’re the amazing incredible almost unbeatable VGK.

Yes, the almost unbeatable VGK broke another NHL record, being the first expansion team in the history of the game to win six of their first seven games.

Malcolm Subban, the backup goalie playing because Fleury is still out of the lineup from the concussion suffered in the team’s only loss to Detroit last week, was standing on his head. In the hockey world, that means he’s stopping everything thrown at him. It was a veritable shooting gallery by the St. Louis Blues. They kept loading the gun and firing puck after puck and Subban, wearing a bulletproof vest, was up to the task.

That is, until a wraparound shot slid into the crease. Subban put his glove over the puck to freeze it for a face-off and once again deny St Louis of a goal. But at the same time, so many sticks converged on Subban that the puck squirted out from under his glove and wound up in the back of the net for the first goal of the game.

Our team finally got the seventh shot well past the halfway mark of the game, but it was a good one, putting it past St. Louis to tie the score. The goalie, Jake Allen, could have been at the concession stand, getting a hot dog and a beer, with the lack of shots coming his way prior to this goal. But Reilly Smith scored, then Colin Miller added the second goal, and the VGK went into the third period with yet another lead.

That was when they lost Subban to a groin injury; stretching out his right leg to make a save, he immediately crumbled to the ice. Though play continued and he slowly got back up on his skates, it was clear that he’d injured himself. No worries! Oscar Dansk, the third-string goalie, was called up last Thursday, never played a single minute in an NHL game, and was now tasked with protecting a one-point lead. What was there to worry about?

The Subban injury came just as a TV timeout was scheduled, so Oscar had a little extra time to loosen up and get some of the butterflies out of his system. Or not. The first shot that he faced found home and the score was tied 2-2.

That was the first and only shot that got by our new starting goaltender, however, as he also proceeded to stand on his head from then out. This was especially true in the overtime session, during which the teams skate 3-on-3. This creates lots of space and scoring opportunities, but Oscar handled it like Oscar Goodman handles a martini.

It felt during the overtime that St. Louis was on a power play, as the action was almost exclusively in the VGK defensive zone, although VGK’s Leipsic did have a clean breakaway that was denied by the St. Louis goaltender. With just a little over 30 seconds left in the overtime, it appeared we were headed to a shoot out. Had that been the case, St. Louis would have been a huge favorite to win, given the advantage of a seasoned goalie in the nets and its potent roster of snipers. “Sniper” is another hockey-lingo term that describes a player with an incredibly accurate shot, similar to a real-life sniper. The Blues snipers would be firing on Oscar playing in his first ever NHL game. No worries!

With just 23.8 seconds left, Karlsson came down the right wing, while Smith carried the puck down the left boards after taking a St. Louis turnover with only one defender back. Smith made a sweet cross-ice pass to Karlsson who one-timed it on a beautiful snap shot past the goaltender who was facing Smith. On a 2-on-1 break, the defensive player’s responsibility is to prevent the cross-ice pass and the goaltender takes the player with the puck. However, this pass was perfect, and with Allen on the right side of the net expecting a shot from Smith, he had to slide over to the opposite side to block the blistering shot from Karlsson that found the back of the net and your VGK are now an amazing 6-1.

I’d be lying if I said that what you’re witnessing was expected of this team. Obviously, they’re performing well above expectations. We used to say that what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, but everyone around the NHL and hockey fans everywhere know exactly what’s happening here. This is no David Copperfield smoke-and-mirrors act. This is your Vegas Golden Knights. Enjoy the ride!

Oh, and did I mention, no worries?

Upcoming games:

Oct. 24 vs. Chicago 7 p.m.

Oct. 27 vs. Colorado 3 p.m.