Knights on Ice — BiPolar or Polar Opposite?

Don’t ask me. I’m not a doctor. And truthfully, I’m confused myself.

But to put it simply, bipolar is a brain disorder causing unusual mood changes and shifts in energy and level of activity. I’m not suggesting that the VGK have a brain disorder, but the unusual mood changes and shifts in energy have been present in their last 5 games. Or is it just a plain and simple case of polar opposite, which is the complete opposite, opposite in every way?

Of course, I’m taking this to an extreme in trying to present the ups and downs of the VGK in their last 5 games.

In the first of their last 5 games, they played the best game of their young season in beating the Penguins 3-0. The following game, they looked like a completely different team in losing to the Flyers, who had lost their previous 4 games. Their next game was on a back-to-back night vs. the Chicago Blackhawks and it was an uninspired performance; without Nick Holden tying the game with just over a minute left and Fleury pulled for an extra skater, the 3-game road trip would have been a disaster. But Holden’s goal sent the game into OT, then a shootout that the VGK won on a pretty backhanded goal by Shea Theodore. So the road trip was somewhat successful, but it also exposed the inconsistency that seems to be affecting this team currently.

They returned home and had a few days off to regroup for their Friday afternoon contest vs. Colorado. Without dragging out the dirty laundry, that was a game to forget and move along to last night’s game.

But there was one small problem: The best team in the west, Colorado (at least that’s what a lot of hockey people are calling them), lost at home Saturday night to the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 5-2. That result left a dark cloud over last night’s game before the puck was even dropped.

Granted, the VGK held a record of 7-1 lifetime against Anaheim, but that team is not the one we have seen over these last 5 games. Would history hold true? Would the VGK continue to dominate the Ducks or would the Ducks come into T-Mobile riding high on their unexpected win in Colorado?

Just 4:12 into the game, Marc-André Fleury misplayed a puck. He attempted to poke check it away from Max Comtois, who entered the VGK zone with speed, beating both Jon Merrill and Nick Holden back toward the front of the net. When Fleury whiffed on the poke check, the puck bounced back out in front to Ryan Getzlaf, who scored his first goal ever against the VGK.

The VGK have been plagued early in the season with both early and late goals in the first period and here we were with another early goal. But to the credit of the 18,110 loyal fans in T-Mobile, they remained loud and the team responded just 34 seconds later with a goal by Mark Stone — who, as strange as it may seem, scored a goal and had an assist in last night’s game without having a shot on goal.

How is that possible, you ask? Well, Stone’s shot hit the crossbar and dropped to the ice behind John Gibson, which isn’t considered a shot on goal. When Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler tried to remove the puck from behind Gibson, he inadvertently shot it into the net. No shot registered for Stone, but the goal is credited to the last player on the scoring team to have touched the puck.

Stone also picked up an assist on Paul Stastny’s power-play goal in the 3^rd period. It brought Stone’s point production to 16 (7G, 9A) in just 13 games this season, a career high. His previous high was 15 points in the same 13 games with the Ottawa Senators in the 2015-2016 season.

Mark Stone and Reilly Smith are tied for the team lead in goals with 7 each. Stone leads the team in total points with 16, while Smith has 10 points, picking up an assist last night on William Karlsson’s 3^rd goal of the year and his 2^nd in the last 2 games. Karlsson has quietly moved up to 11 points total (3G, 8A) and is tied with Max Pacioretty (2G, 9A) with his assist on Stastny’s goal.

Not to go unnoticed was the inspired play of the newly formed checking line of Nicolas Roy centering with Carrier and Reaves on the wings. They were quick on the puck, causing havoc on the forecheck, which was MIA in the last few games. Roy even scored his first NHL goal, which turned out to be the game-winner in the 5-2 VGK win.

We all hope last night’s game gets them back on track and playing the brand of hockey that makes them difficult to play against, both at home at T-Mobile where the crowd just seems to somehow get louder every game, and on the road, where a large group of VGK fans have discovered that if they can’t get or afford a ticket at T-Mobile, road games are the way to go.

Vegas has made a habit of sending a steady stream of players to the penalty box this season, especially Brayden McNabb. But McNabb has now gone 2 games without a penalty and the entire team committed only one infraction last night: a hooking penalty on the hardest-working guy on the team, William Carrier. If you haven’t noticed, Carrier does not take a shift off and he is from my observations the fastest skater on the team. He makes the forecheck go and he makes opposing defensemen very hesitant to chase pucks down deep in their defensive zone. 

Carrier is followed by Revo and even Roy took part in the banging game with 5 hits, which led all VGK players. Revo had 4 hits and even scored a goal. That line accounted for 2 goals and 1 assist along with 10 bone-crunching hits.

So do you think it was just that Anaheim was coming off of their 2^nd game in 2 days with one being a night game and yesterday game starting just 17 hours after the game against Colorado ended?

It was not only that, but the message that Gallant delivered after Friday’s game. Calling the VGK effort “embarrassing” was enough to get the attention of all of the players, who played with emotion and didn’t let the early first goal derail them.

Deryk Engelland only played 8 seconds of the 3^rd period. As per usual, not much is ever told about injuries. Gallant did say he was held out for precautionary reasons and it was a minor injury. We shall see in their next 3 off days if Engelland will be on the ice. If not, we’ll be playing with 2 rookies on the back end, which will really jumble the defense pairings, as it’ll be a cold day in July in Las Vegas before 2 rookies are put together in front of Fleury.

Pirri was issued a seat in the pressbox to make room for Roy and by the looks of it, Pirri will at least be in the same seat on Thursday night, barring any injuries to a forward in the next 3 days.

But I would be remiss if i didn’t tell you that Anaheim looked tired and uninspired. I’m not sure that really mattered in the end; Vegas was not going to be embarrassed 2 games in a row at T-Mobile.

Say what you want, think what you think, post your sky-is-falling social-media post about what is wrong with this team and how the team needs to be dismantled. The VGK will not win every game they play, but I can assure you the passion of this team is strong. Be Vegas Strong and stand shoulder to shoulder with them. They were there for you on Oct. 1, 2017. Never forget that. They healed this city when we were broken. Let’s not leave them when they are playing without a complete lineup.

My 3 Stars of the Game: The entire line of Roy, Revo, and Carrier (they set the tone and established the missing forecheck), Mark Stone (1G, 1A without a shot; (that’s called just being responsible in your position on the ice), and Coach Gallant (for sending a message to the team that appears to have gotten them back to VGK-style hockey)

“Like I talked about, we were pissed off the other night and we came ready to play,” Gallant said after the game. “We won all those tough battles in the blue paint. We won more than our share of the board battles and that just transitions into our whole game. It was a total team effort. It was total defensive-zone, neutral-zone, and offensive-zone pressure. That’s more of the team I remember, the way we play our game. It was excellent tonight.”

Even the Anaheim coach weighed in on the VGK team with these post-game comments. “They have three lines of high skill and high speed and then their fourth line is about as heavy as it gets. And that’s why they were recently in the Stanley Cup Final and that’s why they’ll be a top team in the league this year. They’re deep and they’re a very talented group.”

The next game is Thursday Oct 31 vs. Montreal at 7 p.m.

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