Knights on Ice — A Gutsy Comeback Falls Short

The VGK 2.0 version under PDB suffered its first loss last night to the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout.

It was a good loss. If you’re shaking your head, hear me out on this, because you know full well that you might have prematurely thrown in the towel after the first period when Montreal led 3-0. No one could blame you. In the previous 49 games of this season, the VGK have come back only once when trailing by 2 goals or more, the miracle comeback vs. the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues on Jan. 4.

But that was VGK 1.0 and this is VGK 2.0. This is in no way, shape, or form a knock on former Coach Gallant. You all know that I feel his firing was not only done in poor taste, it was downright shitty. But I also know that something had to be done to get the attention of the players. Other than Pacioretty and Smith, they were lost lost. Yes, even Marc-André Fleury was lost and it hurts me to say that, because he is the heart and soul of this team.

Hockey is a team sport and other than the Flower, who is on the ice for the entire game, players are playing in spurts of 30 to 45 seconds, so everyone needs to be pulling on the rope at the same time. That was not happening, especially Eakin and Tuck of the 3^rd line. The first or 1A line of Karlsson-Marchessault-Smith was also missing the offensive contributions of William Karlsson, who may in fact have been playing hurt for a while, as he now has missed the last 2 games and is not even day to day with his injury, but week to week. Though his tenacious play away from the puck should not be ignored and he always gives 110%, Mark Stone was not contributing as he’s expected to with the puck.

Could the VGK 1.0 version have duplicated what the VGK 2.0 did last night?

The VGK rallied from a 3-0 deficit to get it to 3-2 at the end of the 2^nd period, only to see Montreal restore a 2-goal lead in the 3^rd. They held that lead up until PDB pulled Fleury for the extra skater and Max Pacioretty scored a huge goal, his first, BTW, against his former team in the 3 games he has played against them since being traded to Vegas on Sept. 10, 2018. Patches’ 21^st of the season reduced the 2-goal lead to 1, making it 4-3.

That score stood as the clock ticked down to just 8 seconds left in what would have been a disappointing loss against a team not only not in a playoff spot, but also ranked 12^th out of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and 6^th out of 8 teams in the Atlantic Division, with a 9-12-4 record on home ice coming into last night’s game.

The previous 49 games tell me VGK 1.0 might not have been able to pull off what VGK 2.0 did.

With Fleury still on the bench for the extra skater, Reilly Smith got one by Carey Price to send the game into overtime and allowed Vegas the 1 point that looked completely unavailable throughout the game. It also gave them the chance to steal another point that would have been somewhat of a miracle, considering the way Price was playing last night.

“It’s a tough battle every night to get some points, but everybody’s committed and wants to do the right things to keep coming in the standings and make the playoffs,” Fleury said.

When you think of Price and Fleury in the nets, you don’t even come close to thinking of a 9-goal game, but it was Hockey Night in Canada and the fans wanted a show. They got one, as they were treated to a goaltending dual. Yes, even with 9 goals scored against both of these HOF-bound goaltenders, it was a goaltending clinic.

But it’s not really a good show without some drama and past history added into the script. Tomas Tatar might be one of the reasons Gallant is no longer behind the VGK bench (Gallant chose not to use Tatar as much as GMGM would have liked in their run to the Stanley Cup Final). GMGM used 3 draft picks to get Tatar to Vegas and we all know how GMGM loves draft picks. So the rarely used Tatar at the end of the 2017-18 season was a rock in McPhee’s shoe and it’s possible that helped end the Gallant tenure in Las Vegas. But there was no way Gallant could have been dismissed after the amazing first season, so Turk won Round 1. Still, the leash was pulled in a few notches and McPhee was out 3 draft picks, so the Gallant wall had a few bricks missing. Tatar scored on Fleury to take the lead in the shootout.

Adding to the drama was Ilya Kovalchuk. He played for PDB while he was coaching the NJ Devils, before he left to play in the KHL in Russia, only to return to the NHL with the L.A. Kings before coming to Montreal. He scored the 2^nd Montreal goal to make it 2-0, then added a goal in the shootout. Reilly Smith had the last chance to send it to a 5th round, but Price stopped Smith and the comeback fell short.

The 5-minute OT was dominated by Montreal with 7 shots on Fleury as compared to just one shot by Vegas. It was an amazing 5-minute show by Marc-Andre, who made 2 incredible saves. This is why I say it was a good loss. It showed me that the players are now re-engaged and have gotten back their desire and determination. It would have been very easy to pull up their stakes and fold their tents when it got be 3-0 and again when it became 4-2.

This is a good team that might have lost its way recently and the cost to get them refocused and back on track may very well have cost Gallant his job. But trust me, way more than the 4-game losing streak was the catalyst in bringing PDB here. That seed was planted at the end of the 2017-18 season and continued to grow from there.

The Game 7 loss to PDB’s team watered the seed and Gallant’s player- deployment decisions over this season gave upper management the ability to pull the plant out of the ground and reseed the VGK organization with PDB — their newest and next former coach. That’s right. Peter DeBoer will not be the last VGK coach. It’s just part of the business; players remain, coaches and GMs get fired.

Keep your love for Gallant, he earned it. He gave you something that hockey fans of the other 30 teams go years and decades looking for. Cherish the 2017-2018 season for what it was and focus on VGK 2.0. It’s ultimately what you want and desire, just as much as the players who showed last night they have a heartbeat and will be okay. Sometimes even the best of us lose our way and need some sort of a jolt.

“I feel like our team is playing with good intensity,” Jonathan Marchessault said after the game. “We’re working hard, that’s our identity, and we’ve played two good games overall.”

Next game is Tuesday vs. Boston 4 p.m. Pacific Time. It’s the last before the All-Star break, which will allow your team a good time to reset and get back to playing fast and hard for the remaining 30 games.

Your comments and feedback are always welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you can reach me directly at [email protected] or on my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy.

Smith’s tying goal

Fleury’s amazing save