When the SS Gallant left the dock last night, it had three new crew members and the seas were calm. The new crew members, who helped beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 in Game 5 or Round 2, were a result of a less than stellar fishing trip that the Knights embarked on in Game 4 in San Jose, where their mission was to take whatever life was left in the Sharks and assume complete control of the series with a win that would have put Vegas up 3 games to 1 and forced the Sharks no room for error.
Unfortunately, in Game 4, they lacked the complete team effort and fore-check that have made them who they are.
Throughout this season, Coach Gallant never seemed to get too high with the team when they won or too low when they lost. In last night’s game, he kept that posture, which has also been adapted by the players.
With a complete roster of healthy crew members, he inserted Luca Sbisa who hadn’t played since February, in place of Jon Merrill. He put in Oscar Lindberg, who hadn’t played since April 7 in the regular season final game, and took out Tomas Tatar. And Ryan Carpenter replaced Tomas Nosek, who had played in 67 of the 82 regular-season games and has been a key contributor to Vegas’ 4th line and penalty-killing unit. Nosek’s removal from the lineup was a clear statement about the lack of fore-check in Game 4 by the Knights. That seemed to get every crew member’s attention as the fore-check was back in last night’s game.
Give credit not only to Coach Gallant, for his uncanny knack of pushing the right buttons at the right time with this team, but also to the players themselves, along with their conditioning staff for preparing them to make a seamless transition into the lineup without upsetting the overall chemistry of the team.
Gallant also tinkered with his lines and that seemed to really work for Alex Tuch, who was reunited with Cody Eakin. Granted, Tuch seems to play well with anyone you put him with. He’s a diamond in the rough and hasn’t even grown into his body yet; at just 21 years old, he plays like he has a few hundred NHL games under his belt. He has played in just 84 games and only 8 playoff games lifetime.
Last night’s 5-3 victory didn’t come without drama. The raucous crowd at T-Mobile, who were in a festive mood during the first two and a half periods, began to experience some sweaty palms as the Knights’ 4-0 lead as late as 9:35 into the third became 4-3 within 6 minutes and 9 seconds. Vegas had only committed one penalty in the first two periods, but took three in the third period and when San Jose scored a power-play goal 29 seconds after James Neal’s slashing penalty, the calm seas that the SS Gallant was cruising on all of a sudden turned choppy.
It doesn’t take much to breathe some life into a desperate team that knows if they lose Game 5, their backs are pressed against the wall. The Sharks clearly responded and with 3 goals in a span of 6:09, all of a sudden a pending storm was on the horizon at T-Mobile.
The Sharks had life and this time the blood in the water wasn’t theirs. Fleury, who’d been strong in the nets, stopping all 17 shots in the first two periods, was under siege by the Sharks desperate push to remain a factor, not only in this game but for the balance of this series.
Fleury eventually made 27 saves of the 30 shots he faced, earning him his 69th playoff win and moving him to 10th place overall in playoff wins.
San Jose pulled Martin Jones for the second time in these five games when Alex Tuch scored his second goal of the game at the 8:36 mark of the third. That goal turned out to be the game winner, though at the time it was scored, not one of the 18,000-plus fans in attendance had a clue. Jones surrendered four goals on 31 shots. Tuch’s goal seemed like additional icing on the cake. Jones was replaced by Aaron Dell, who stopped all 7 shots he faced.
David Perron didn’t score a goal last night, but he had a huge impact on the game and has been effective throughout the playoffs and regular season. Perron had 50 assists in 70 games this season, plus 6 assists in the seven playoff games. Contributions up and down the complete lineup get teams deep into the playoffs.
Teams that win Game 5 and go up 3 games to 2 have a 78.9% success rate in winning the series. If this stat holds true, your VGK are just 8 wins away from turning an impossible mission into a story that will last a lifetime. I’m not getting too far ahead of myself here, but who could have imagined that this team of “Golden Misfits” would have energized this entire city in the manner that they have.
VGK goal scorers: James Neal (3), Alex Tuch (3, 4), Erik Haula (3), Jonathan Marchessault (3)
William Carrier left the game with an undisclosed injury. His status is unknown for Game 6.
It’s been my honor and my pleasure to share with you my observations and opinions of this Cinderella story that has taken not only Las Vegas, but the entire NHL, in complete amazement.
Game 6 is Sunday at 4:30 at T-Mobile. Where will you be watching the game?
GO KNIGHTS GO!
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