Knights on Ice — Angry Knights

“We played angry,” Mark Stone said about the mindset of the team last night. “We don’t like losing two games in a row [against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday and Arizona Coyotes on Thursday]. We didn’t play the way we normally play, and we got jumped right from the get-go. We didn’t change anything [Saturday]. We just went back to playing VGK hockey.”

And back on track they were as they played the best period of their last 7 in last night’s opening period against the Calgary Flames, who have never won a game at T-Mobile. The VGK are 5-0-0 against the Flames and with their 6-2 win, that unbeaten streak remains unblemished. Except for a few minutes of the 2^nd period when Calgary actually took the lead with 2 quick goals just 33 seconds apart, the rest of the game was all about the angry Knights. They knew, the coaches knew, and the fans knew that their last 2 games weren’t their style, and credit the players and staff to right the wrong quickly.

One body returned to the lineup, while a fresh new body was added to the infirmary list. Malcolm Subban was injured sometime in the first period of the Arizona game and was scratched from the lineup, while Cody Eakin who was injured in the preseason game against the SJ Sharks returned to the lineup. Eakin’s addition to the lineup shook up the 2^nd and 3^rd line players and sent Brandon Pirri up to the press box. I know Coach Gallant doesn’t like to assign numbers to his lines and he reminded me of that when I asked him post game if he liked the forechecking of his team and the play of his 4^th line. You can hear his response to my question in his video at the end of this post.

But for simplicity’s sake, the 4^th line consists of Nosek at center, with Carrier and Revo on the wings. That line last night created a strong forecheck and contributed 3 of the 6 goals. All 3 players scored and Carrier even added an assist on Nosek’s opening goal when the Flames’ goaltender David Rittich stopped Carrier’s original shot, but didn’t have full control of it before Nosek pushed in his 3^rd goal of the season. Rittich had a strong first period, keeping the game closer than it should have been, but he seemed to lose focus in the last 40 minutes, surrendering questionable goals. Carrier’s goal and assist added up to his first multi-point game in his NHL career.

The only VGK goal that he had no chance on was the one by Cody Glass that deflected over his shoulder after hitting the leg of a Flame.

The mix-up in the lines to accommodate Eakin’s return sent Stastny to the 2^nd line, or as some refer to it line 1B. Stastny, who looked lost in his first 4 games playing between Pirri and Zykov, looked much more in tune playing with Stone and Pacioretty. So much so that Stastny even scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Pacioretty and Engelland. I thought moving Glass down to the 3^rd line and on the wing was going to be a challenge for the young kid. But I was completely impressed with his adaptation to moving to the wing and away from his natural position of center. He didn’t look out of place or lost and even though he was on the right wing, he seemed to have the permission of the coaching staff to move and find open ice whenever he saw the chance. He had a few tape-to-tape passes from his off wing. This kid is the real deal and it’s now obvious why he was the VGK first overall pick in 2017. Many teams came knocking for him, but McPhee never budged on his highly touted prospect. Granted, their #2 and #3 draft picks are gone. Their replacements are what makes up two-thirds of the #1B line in Stone and Pacioretty. Stone is on fire, scoring his 4^th multi-point game out of the first 5, while Max Pacioretty has 5 points in the first 5 games, adding 2 assists to his total in last night’s game.

Even Revo got into the scoring column when 2 Flames collided just inside the blue line, giving Revo the opening to swoop in and snap a shot past Rittich for his first goal of the season. It was justice, as Rittich robbed Revo of a goal early in the game.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves for the night, but there was a sequence of shots in a span of 33 seconds where Fleury made one spectacular save after another on 5 grade-A scoring chances. Fleury may be a flower, but he seems more like wine that gets better with age. The Pittsburgh Penguins have to be wondering what they were thinking, not only exposing him to Vegas in the expansion draft, but giving Vegas an extra draft pick for taking Fleury off their hands.

Does Fleury go back to back and play tonight or does Dave Prior, the VGK goaltending coach, give Fleury the day off? Managing Fleury’s workload was a concern coming into this season and with Subban’s injury, that has taken on a life of its own. Oscar Dansk is Fleury’s backup and in his only game with the Chicago Wolves this season, he was lit up for 7 goals. Last night, the Kings scored 7 goals on Nashville. Dave Prior has a lot to consider. Gallant said he would talk with Prior about that choice on the plane tonight to LAX.

My 3 Stars of the Game: The entire team (their commitment to the forecheck and playing as a team), the so called 4^th line (responsible for half the VGK goals), and Mark Stone (who makes you say, “Who is Erik Brannstrom?”)

Vegas snapped their 2-game losing streak and is now 3-2-0 as they face the Kings at 7 p.m. tonight in a back-to-back game in Los Angeles. Both the Kings and VGK played last night, so don’t expect much energy for the first 10 minutes of the first period.

Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you can reach me directly at [email protected] or visit my Facebook page or Vegas Hockey Guy on Facebook

Eddie’s Observations from the Couch: Message Received

As well as the VGK are coached by Gerard Gallant and his staff, they’re equally well-coached by a mystery person in how to handle the media. In all the tape I’ve seen over the two-plus years, the players are never off script. They stay on message to a fault. I understand 100% why this is necessary, but it sure would be nice if we could see and hear more of what is really going on in the players’ and coaches’ heads.

Well, all except for Marchy and Revo. They’re equally important in different ways.

Revo is the VGK’s best sound bite. He’ll chirp about anyone anytime and doesn’t have a care in the world about doing so. If you dig a bit deeper, you will find a lot of hockey knowledge in his comments, all laced with his signature sense of humor. When his time on the ice is over, he’ll be a must-see TV broadcaster!

And if you want an unfiltered, unedited, ungoverned opinion, you ask Marchessault. As someone who is now writing about the VGK often, I look forward to hearing from him for real opinions on the night’s game. Here’s an example from Thursday night’s 4-1 drubbing by the Coyotes. “If we play like that next game, we will lose again.”

Message received loud and clear, as the VGK put together an effort much more like what we’ve grown to expect after two seasons.

As has become the norm so far this season, the VGK jumped out to an early lead with Tomas Nosek scoring at 3:24. The first period was by far the best of the last 6 for the VGK. Actually, seven if you count the 3^rd against San Jose when the game was already in hand. The VGK pressured the Flames in all three zones, forced a bunch of turnovers, and completely neutralized the vaunted Flames first line.

The second period started much the same way as the first, until an awful pinch at the blue line by Derek Engelland led to a 2-on-1 and Calgary’s first goal at 4:02 by Rasmus Andersson. Another defensive miscue just 33 seconds later put the Flames in the lead with a goal credited to Johnny Gaudreau that went in off the stick of William Karlsson. That makes two games in a row that the VGK have been victimized by an “own goal.”

The difference last night compared to Thursday against the Bruins is that the VGK showed grit and determination not to repeat what happened. Mark Stone potted his second of the year a couple of minutes later to knot the score at 2-2. That goal seemed to right the VGK ship and they went on to dominate the rest of the middle period. William Carrier scored his 2^nd of the year with a beautiful bar down backhand at 9:54. Paul Stastny netted his first of the year when his wrister found the five hole of David Rittich at 17:26. It was a bit of a softie, but great to see Stas on the score sheet on his first night back on line 1B with Stone and Pacioretty. That goal seemed to break the spirit of the Flames as they headed to the dressing room down 4-2 after two.

The highlights of the third period were the silky-soft hands of Revo scoring his first of the year at 4:47. Revo was the benefit of a pressured turnover, made a sneaky move to slot, and snapped one between Rittich’s arm and body for a 5-2 lead.

Cody Glass closed out the scoring when his crossing pass on a 2-on-1 was deflected over Rittich by Flames defenseman Mike Giordano. That made one “own goal” for each team. Primary assist to Zykov and congrats to Nic Hague on his first NHL point with the secondary assist.

Overall, it was a very dominating effort by the VGK, who broke a two-game skid and improved to 3-2 on the season.

Not to rag on the referees, but they missed two egregious high sticks, one to Mark Stone and the second to Reilly Smith who left the ice with a mouthful of blood and hopefully all his chicklets.

Some clarity on “the puzzle.” I guess all the brilliant pundits who said Cody Glass was headed for the press box or Chicago when Eakin returned to the lineup might need something cold to wash down their articles with. The first piece of the puzzle moved Glass to the right wing and Pirri to the press box. The kid is going to be a great NHL player. He proves night in and night out he deserves to be in the lineup.

The next piece of the puzzle is going to be much more difficult: What happens when Alex Tuch returns to the lineup? Glass is not a 4^th line center. He needs to be a playmaker and play with scorers to maximize his potential. I’m going to go out on a limb and make a prediction … after tonight’s game — a quick trip to LaLa land for another division matchup against the Kings.

My 3 Stars: The 4^th Line of Nosek, Carrier, and Revo (1 goal each), The PK (held the Flames to 0-4 on the power play and has allowed 1 PP goal this season), the Flower (33 saves on 35 shots)

Thanks as always to Joe for sharing his spot on the Internet with me.