[Editor’s Note: The following coverage of last night’s pre-season game between the Vegas Golden Knights and L.A. Kings was written by Eddie Rivkin.]
Last night in Los Angeles, the VGK defeated the Kings 3-2 in overtime when Jonathan Marchessault finished off a great lead pass from Cody Eakin with a glove-side top-shelf snipe to close the show at 1:04 into the OT period. But that was just the ending, not the story of the game.
For the first half of both the first and second periods, and the first 13 minutes of the third, the VGK were out of sync, a step behind, being outplayed and badly outshot by the Kings. That was the story.
Oscar Dansk kept the score 0-0 with a great performance until a bad bounce on bad ice prevented a clear on the penalty kill and the Kings went up 1-0 with 0:45 to go in the second. The Kings extended their lead to 2-0 seven minutes into the third on a high-speed rush into the VGK zone and a quality crossing pass. On the goal, Dansk lost his stick and the shot went in blocker side.
In the second half of the first two periods, the VGK’s passes started clicking and the offense started flowing. They hit the goal posts twice and had other quality scoring chances.
For the second game in a row, the VGK’s first goal was scored by a member of the other team. Well, we’ll take it! If it hadn’t been for Curtis McKenzie crashing the net, it wouldn’t have happened, so… Same story with Valentin Zykov’s goal in Denver a couple nights ago. Hard work creates good breaks! That good break seemed to completely shift the momentum and 54 seconds later, Mark Stone, making his first appearance of the preseason, waited out the Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick and tucked in the game-tying goal.
Some random observations from the couch:
What I hope is a sneak preview of PP 1 in the umbrella formation of Schmidt at the point, Karlsson on the right half-wall, Stone on the half-wall, and Marchessault down low looks devastating. Yes, I know I know I haven’t added a fifth player. Last night, it was Lucas Elvenes. Coach Gallant has plenty of options for net front. I’m not going to guess.
William Karlsson didn’t play in the 3rd period. Don’t sound the alarm. I wasn’t at the game. I don’t have any information. It’s an observation from my couch!
Coach Gallant has a pretty tough decision on which of the young D men will make the roster opening night. I’d almost like to see all of them get the nine game trials to see how they do. They all have significant upside that has shown up in the first three exhibition games. It has also shown why they can use time with the Chicago Wolves. If I were a betting man, my money would be on_________! No way I’m stepping in that trap!
Eddie’s 3 Stars of the Game: Oscar Dansk, Jonathan Marchessault, and Mark Stone.
Bonus Star! The Kings player who scored our first goal. Thanks, pal.
A note from Joe about Eddie Rivkin:
Back in 2004, while I was being considered for the TV show “King Of Las Vegas,” I met Eddie Rivkin, who was also being considered for the show. Unfortunately, neither of us was selected, but we became fast friends and have been ever since. The common denominator was hockey. Eddie’s from Detroit, I’m from Brooklyn. We were two of the original six guys in the desert without the NHL. But that didn’t stop us from talking hockey and when the Rangers played the Red Wings, Eddie and I watched together over pizza (loser paid). Little did we know that some 15 years later, “Two Guys Talking Hockey over Pizza” would come to life.
Yes, the plan is to develop a podcast that will cover the VGK from a pizza place here in Las Vegas and maybe we’ll allocate two minutes per to the other 30 teams. All kidding aside, we have a plan in place that we hope will bring our extended knowledge of the game to all VGK fans.
Here’s something we’re both proud of. There’s no way to prove it, but trust me, we were on the Vegas Flu before anyone ever mentioned it. We had numerous discussions of a clear pattern that was developing: teams coming to Vegas with one or two off days before they played the VGK. I wrote about this in my book Vegas Golden Knights. If you haven’t ordered the book, you can do that right here on this site and if you do, I’ll sign your copy.
One note about the team. The stellar play of Oscar Dansk and Garret Sparks over the last two games has put some heat on Malcolm Subban to retain his backup role for Marc André Fleury. Competition is a good thing and with Subban in the last year of his contract, he’ll have to step it up a few notches to secure his spot, not only for this year but the years to come.
I hope you enjoyed Eddie’s coverage of last night’s game. Here are the videos.
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