Yes, vroom, the roaring sound made by a motor at high speed. The VGK engine is now running at high speed and last night, they ran over, through, and around the San Jose Sharks in the 6-0 victory that evened their record at 12-12-1 and put them just 3 points out of first place in the Pacific Division.
Vegas has won four of the last five Pacific Division games (in seven days). I titled my post “Not So Fast” following their OT win vs. Arizona — cautious optimism after we’ve seen too many decent performances followed by stinkers. “Slow and Steady” followed their second win in a row, the first time in a month. Last night the VGK treated the 18,252 in attendance at T-Mobile to what they’ve been hoping to see since their first game back on October 4.
Just 14 seconds into the game, William Karlsson opened the scoring, setting a record for the fastest goal in VGK history. Karlsson set the previous fastest-goal record himself when he scored 55 seconds into a game on November 19, 2017, vs. the L.A. Kings. Jonathan Marchessault owns the fastest goal scored in VGK playoff history: 35 seconds into Game 3 in the Western Conference vs. Winnipeg Jets. (The fastest goal in NHL history is five seconds and is shared by three players from 1981, 1984, and 1991.)
Everyone loves to come to Las Vegas — unless you wear a San Jose Sharks teal-colored sweater. The Sharks have never won a game at T-Mobile during the regular season. The last time SJ played here, last March 31, William Karlsson scored his famous between-the-legs shorthanded goal, which clinched the Pacific Division and is still shown on the Knight Tron at home games.
Last night, a few members of the Sharks wanted out of T-Mobile early and can you blame them? They know only too well their past history at T-Mobile, not to mention the VROOM that shook the entire building early and often as the VGK scored four first-period goals.
Evander Kane, who I believe is a dirty player, wanted out as quickly as possible. You do remember Kane’s cheap shot on Pierre-Édouard Bellemare in Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs last season, don’t you? With the VGK leading 5-0, he skated more than 40 feet well after the whistle to high-stick Bellemare in the face.
Last night, with the score 5-0 again, he went off for a high-sticking penalty on Brayden McNabb. He also delivered a dirty hit that hobbled Tomas Nosek.
Kane wanted no part of staying in the game — knowing that Ryan Reaves might come looking for him for retribution for the hit on Nosek. In the playoffs, hits like this are handled differently, but in a regular-season 5-0 game, Kane knew he would have to answer for another uncalled-for dirty hit on a VGK player.
Coach DeBoer had also seen enough and wanted out of T-Mobile. He got his wish when he was ejected 53 seconds after Kane received two minutes for tripping, two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, 10 minutes for abuse of an official, and an additional 10 minutes for abusive language. Kane accounted for 26 penalty minutes of the 44 that San Jose was assessed.
Marc-André Fleury was once again spectacular in the net and the Sharks were completely frustrated and never in the game, which Vegas owned from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer. It was the second of Fleury’s back-to-back shutouts; he hasn’t been beaten for a goal in more than 130 minutes. He stopped all 33 shots he faced.
Fleury is single-handedly making Krispy Kreme reconsider their free-dozen-donuts promotion to which all fans attending the game are entitled. He has a league-leading five shutouts in his 21 games this season. With an average crowd of 18,200 at T-Mobile, that works out to 218,400 donuts per game. With five shutouts, it’s possible Krispy Kreme has given away more than a million donuts in Las Vegas. That alone sounds very unhealthy. I personally delivered my dozen from Friday’s Calgary game to the poker staff at Bally’s. I’m not sure where last night’s dozen will wind up, but they will go to a good cause.
If Fleury continues on his streak, you might see this picture at your local Krispy Kreme location.
For those naysayers who were wondering if letting James Neal go and trading for Max Pacioretty were smart moves, Max is on a tear with his second multi-point game in four days, including six goals in his last five games. Prior to this, he had just two goals and no assists in 16 games. He now has eight goals and three assists in 21 games. I appreciated what James Neal brought to this team last year, but he’s currently pointless in nine straight games and has only one goal in his last 12 games — four points total with three goals and one assist in 23 games.
It would be unfair to compare David Perron’s numbers this year to Paul Stastny’s, since Stastny has played in only three games so far this season.
The second line has pretty much been the offensive reason for this three-game winning streak. It didn’t hurt that Fleury has only given up two goals in his last three starts and five goals in his last four games, which were all wins.
These Pacific Division wins have come at the perfect time, vaulting Vegas from the seventh spot in the Pacific Division to just three points behind the Sharks, who remain on top despite last night’s blowout.
In games against Pacific Division opponents, Vegas has a record of 5-1-1, scoring 3.29 goals per game and allowing just 2.14. In their out-of-division games, they’re 6-11-0, scoring 2.29 goals per game and allowing 3.18. The numbers are almost completely reversed in division and non-division games.
The VGK have had an amazing overall record in the Pacific Division — 33-9-4, including playoffs — since coming into the league.
Alex Tuch has scored 12 points in his last 10 games with four goals and eight assists. With his goal and assist last night, he now has two back-to-back multi-point games and 17 points in 17 games played.
Vegas now has five forwards and two defensemen with double-digit points, a good sign that this team is starting to come around.
Sharks forward Joe Thornton may have lost his beard this season, but he hasn’t lost his brains. Late in the game, he started trash talking to Ryan Reaves, who was a good 20 feet away with four on-ice officials between them. Obviously, Thornton wanted no part of Reaves and was just trying to make a statement, but wisely from a distance. On the Internet, he’d be considered a “keyboard tough guy.”
This has turned into a heated rivalry that should be interesting the next times these two teams meet, Jan. 10 at T-Mobile. That’ll be a barn burner if the two teams are still close in points.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Marc-André Fleury (33 saves in his fifth shutout of the season), Max Pacioretty (2 goals), Alex Tuch (1 goal, 1 assist)
Vegas is off on a three-game road trip starting Tuesday at Chicago at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on NBCSN.
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Comments from a reader
Good article Joe. Keep it up. We appreciate you.