Last night in Winnipeg, the Vegas Golden Knights encountered the Winnipeg Jets, the first game back in Winnipeg for the VGK since they captured the Western Conference Championship on May 20, 2018, by a score of 2-1 on a Ryan Reaves’ goal. Revo’s goal eliminated Winnipeg from the remainder of the playoffs and sent Vegas to the Stanley Cup Final against Washington.
Yesterday, the stage was set for the rematch and revenge, and the fans in attendance were loud and proudly wearing mostly white Jets’ apparel in their famous “White Out” at the Bell MTS Palace. They weren’t sent home disappointed, as backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit saved 43 of the 44 shots he faced in the 4-1 win. It was Brossoit’s seventh straight win and he has a 10-1-1 record in his last 12 games.
The final score is deceiving, as Winnipeg scored two empty-net goals, one with 1:13 left in the game and the other with just 5.2 seconds left. Brossoit was perfect in the second, making 26 saves and holding Vegas to just one goal yesterday by Brandon Pirri, his eighth in just 11 games.
The Bell MTS Palace, originally known as the True North Center, may be the second most passionate atmosphere of the other 29 arenas that host NHL games. I may have a horse in this race, but you’re aware that T-Mobile shakes to its core when the Golden Knights’ goal horn sounds or the final horn sounds in a VGK win.
Vegas didn’t help itself in yesterday’s outcome. They gave away the puck twice and both times it wound up behind Fleury.
The first costly giveaway occurred when the Knights were on the power play deep in Winnipeg’s zone and Brandon Pirri threw a blind behind-the-back pass toward Nate Schmidt. The puck never got to Schmidt and when Bryan Little chipped it past Nate and onto the stick of Kyle Connor, Connor was off to the races, Nate couldn’t close the gap on Connor and with nothing between Connor and Fleury except lots of open ice, Fleury was aggressive and attempted to poke check the puck away. The unsuccessful check left Fleury prone on the ice and an easy goal for Connor, who just chipped the puck over Fleury for a short-handed goal. It was the first short-handed goal given up by VGK in all of the 49 games they’ve played.
We’re aware of the lack of production on the VGK power play, scoring just one goal in their last 24 attempts. Yesterday, they were a dreadful 0-6.
The only other goal that Winnipeg scored was also off a Vegas giveaway. Deryk Engelland passed the puck into the neutral zone to Alex Tuch who was all alone along the boards. There wasn’t a player within 30 feet of him as he fumbled with the puck. Alex is usually highly reliable protecting the puck, but he seemed to lose his concentration. He lost the puck to Mathieu Perreault who chipped it past Engelland, who was stopping to change direction once he saw Mathieu entering the zone with the puck and speed. He blew by Engelland and came in on Fleury uncontested. He had so much time he moved the puck from forehand to backhand three different times before finally lifting a backhand past Fleury for the 2-0 lead.
Brandon Pirri somewhat made amends for his turnover that led to the first Jet goal by scoring a goal in the third period at the 1:03 mark deflecting a slap shot from Brayden McNabb to close the gap to 2-1.
Laurent Brossoit was stellar for the entire game, setting a Winnipeg record with his 26 saves in the second period as Vegas came upon him wave after wave, only to be denied. At one point in the period, Vegas had a 5-on-3 power play for 50 seconds, but couldn’t penetrate Brossoit.
Post-game, Coach Gallant said he liked his power-play unit’s effort in the game. In my opinion, these were words meant to keep the unit from squeezing the sticks even tighter than they already are, because one for 24 is hardly anything to write home about.
This was a crucial loss, as San Jose and Calgary keep on winning. Calgary now has 64 points with 47 games played. San Jose has 63 points with 48 games played. And Vegas has 60 points with 49 games played.
With Calgary’s two games in hand, they could stretch their lead over Vegas to eight points while San Jose could wind up five points ahead of Vegas. With the dominance of the VGK at T-Mobile, the goal is to get to the top of the division and lock up some extra home playoff games. If they don’t accomplish at least second place, they’ll open the playoffs on the road. That’s not a good way to start the post-season. Vegas has a 13-13-1 record on the road and a record of 15-4-3 at T-Mobile. You can see why home ice is very important come April.
My 3 Stars of the Game: Laurent Brossoit (43 saves on 44 shots and 12-12 on power-play shots), Kyle Connor (2 goals, 1 a SHG, and 1 assist), Mathieu Perreault (1 goal, the game winner).
The next game is Saturday at 7 p.m. vs. Pittsburgh Penguins.
Your comments and opinions are welcome and appreciated here at Las Vegas Advisor (to comment, you just have to register on the site, which takes all of 30 seconds and is free, of course). You can also contact me directly at [email protected] or visit my Facebook page, Vegas Hockey Guy.
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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A comment from a reader
A great and honest summary of the game and exactly what I saw. It was hard to watch when this team normally capitalizes on the same mistakes by the other team. But this is sports. A culmination of training, skills, and an unpredictable dose of attitude and luck. Sometimes the performance is “off”. Thankfully, the Knights are “on” much more often than they are “off”. So, let’s look forward to Saturday’s game.
Comment that was submitted to me
Joe!!! I bookmarked you on Twitter to remind me to buy your book. Please sign my copy when you see my order.