Knights on Ice — A Soft Penalty In OT Overshadows a Gutsy Performance by The VGK

Since October 2017, I’ve written 281 blog posts on the VGK and their games played. In my last two, unfortunately, I’ve had to call out the on-ice officials. In Game 1 on Sunday, their calls, or the lack thereof, and mismanagement didn’t have a direct effect on the final score, but it did lead to a boiling pot of hot water from the non-major call for the hit on Janmark, who missed last night’s game due to his injury by Colorado defenseman Graves. It also led to a 2-game suspension for Ryan Reaves when he exacted retribution.

Last night, the Colorado Avalanche had 6 power plays. On all but one, there was no reason to question the calls. Then, 44 seconds into overtime, when Reilly Smith was called for slashing the stick out of Mikko Rantanen’s hands immediately following the faceoff to the right of Philipp Grubauer. Did Rantanen lose his stick? Yes. But that happens on just about every faceoff place in a hockey game as players fight for position and possession of the puck.

The total number of faceoffs per game fluctuates as well; on average there are about 59 faceoffs per game but that number fluctuated between 34 on the low end and 86 on the high end last season.

Mark Stone said in his post-game comments that what occurred on this particular play happens to him about 30 times a game and he’s not a centerman who takes most of the faceoffs. He was close, considering he picked a number out of thin air. In the VGK’s 56-game schedule this season, they averaged 55.4 faceoffs a game. In their first 9 playoff games, they’re averaging 58.4 faceoffs. Did Rantanen intentionally drop his stick hoping to get a call on Reilly Smith for slashing? Only he knows for sure. But considering that beating Marc-Andre Fleury at even strength was proving to be difficult, it wasn’t a bad idea especially in overtime.

If you watch the replay, it appears that Smith has very little pressure on his stick and no slash whatsoever. All the officials saw was a player losing his stick.

A power play in OT should be a penalty that is not considered soft. The ramifications of a penalty in OT can have a devastating effect, not only on the results of the game, but also the entire series.

“Just a soft call. But I can’t even blame the refs,” Pete DeBoer commented. “They’re fighting through the embellishment of grabbing your face or falling down or dropping your stick every period.”

Captain Mark Stone said, “My stick gets slashed almost every time and I don’t lose it. It’s on the player not to lose his stick. It was a tough call, especially in overtime.”

Rantanen said, “If you slash the other guy’s stick out of his hands, it’s always a penalty. I’m a pretty strong guy, so I can hold onto my stick, but that was a pretty hard slash.” He added that he doesn’t know any player who would intentionally drop his stick in the defensive zone.

Well, if he knew “it’s always a penalty,” he made a wise choice putting his team on the power play in overtime.

The replay shows anything but a hard slash on his stick. He embellished it, the on-ice officials bought it, and to add insult to injury, Rantanen himself scored on the power play to put Vegas in the horrible position of being down 0-2 in the series. Vegas will have to win 4 of the next 5 games in order to make it to the Final 4. Not impossible, but it’s a big hill to climb.

Vegas had a tough first period and was lucky to get out down only 2-1. Marc-Andre Fleury was super aggressive in leaving his crease and playing the puck, trying to neutralize the Colorado forecheck. He was like a 3rd defenseman out there.

But once the 2nd period started, the VGK controlled the game; they had 60 chances to Colorado’s 31 in the final 40 minutes. They had 31 shots to Colorado’s 12 in the 2nd and 3rd periods. The only goal that Fleury was fooled on was the first one, 3:39 into the game, when Brandon Saad broke in alone. Alex Pietrangelo allowed Saad the middle of the ice instead of taking it away and forcing him to the outside. Saad was so surprised by the amount of ice he was given, he actually whiffed on his shot, causing Fleury to misjudge the puck speed. It slipped between Fleury’s pads and the VGK were behind 1-0 early.

Alex Martinez evened the score at the 9:32 mark of the first period on the power play. Tyson Jost scored the first power play for Colorado with just 2:52 to go in the opening period. That was all Colorado would score for the remaining 44:59 before the winning power play goal.

I would not be fair to Alex Tuch if I didn’t mention the impact he had on last night’s game. He was like an F-16 fighter jet out of Nellis Air Force base here in Las Vegas. His speed was something to watch, not only with the puck, but also when he was backchecking. He had a few chances to score and even had a breakaway on Grubauer as he exited from the penalty box. He just couldn’t get it up and over Grubauer, who was also excellent in last night’s game, stopping 39 of the 41 shots. The Flower stopped 22 of 25 and blamed himself for the game-winner in OT. He actually got his left shoulder on the shot, but the momentum was just too much for Fleury to handle.

Other game notes. Shea Theodore, who has been MIA offensively, picked up 2 assists last night. Reilly Smith, despite the soft penalty, had a whale of a game. He scored the VGK’s 2nd goal that tied the score and it seemed like every other shot he took for the rest of the game beat Grubauer, only to ring it off the post at least 4 different times.

The VGK have now lost their last 4 playoff OT games.

They continue to dominate the 2nd periods. In last night’s, they outshot Colorado 15-6.

To say that Game 3 on Friday is a must win isn’t a stretch. Teams that win the first 2 games of a 7-game series are 334-51 (.867% to advance). This year, the teams to accomplish this are 4-0: Colorado, Winnipeg, Tampa Bay, and Carolina.

I’ve been around hockey a long time and I know penalties work themselves out in the long run. But calls like the one in OT last night and the non-call in Game 1 cannot do so in a 7-game series. Penalties in the playoffs are the Knights’ albatross.

My 3 Stars of the Game
1) Mikko Rantanen (drew the soft call and scored the GWG—a smart play from a veteran who was well aware of the situation presented him)
2) Philipp Grubauer (39 saves on 41 shots and the only reason the Av’s won yesterday)
3) Marc-Andre Fleury (only 22 saves but a few were 10-bell saves and his handling of the puck helped Vegas clear the zone and stymie the speed of Colorado)

Next game is tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Pacific Time T-Mobile.

If you want to hear and see more VGK content please check out the podcast I do with Eddie Rivkin on YouTube, Hockey Knights in Vegas.

Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you may contact me directly at [email protected] or on my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy or on Twitter @TheRealJoePane

One other note: If you’re reading this blog from Facebook or Twitter and would like to access it earlier in the morning before I share it on social media, it’s usually published by 8 a.m. the morning after a game on LasVegasAdvisor.com. What better way is there to enjoy your morning coffee than reading my take on last night’s VGK game.

The shot that fooled Fleury

The save on Alex Tuch

Rantanen’s GWG on the power play in OT