Knights on Ice — DeBoer Orders a Milkshake; Flower and Tuckey Provide the Crème de la Crème

Pete DeBoer had seen enough after losing 2 games in a row, a first for him as the VGK coach. So he turned on his blender and created a milkshake with his entire team’s lineup, top to bottom. Every one of the 18 skaters was playing with someone new. Some believed it was a quiet message to his team, though he claimed post game it was a message to the Colorado Avalanche. I’m calling “fake news.”

You don’t change your lineup as drastically as he did to send a message to the other team. You do something like this to get the attention of the team you’re coaching, a team that lost its offense over the last 3 games, scoring just 5 goals. Something had to be done. The VGK were playing a team that was poised to take 3 games in a row and make a bold statement as to who the best in the west is.

The milkshake exploded in the second period with 3 VGK goals that produced a pivotal 3-0 win and salvaged the 4-games series at 2 games apiece. Alex Tuch and Marc-Andre Fleury were essentially the “crème de la crème” of the DeBoer milkshake. Tuch had 2 goals, including a PPG, along with playing a defensive gem of a game against the top line of the Avalanche. As far as Fleury’s performance goes, he might have played his best game as a VGK last night in an arena that Fleury and the VGK have never won a game at.

Other than the first period at Lake Tahoe, the VGK played well defensively against the Avalanche. But scoring 5 goals in three games against a team as offensively potent as the Avalanche was not going to be enough and DeBoer knew that. On the defensive side of the puck, they limited Colorado to just 6 goals in the first 3 games, held the power play scoreless (0-9), and killed off the 14 power plays in the past 6 games. But without anyone getting pucks behind Grubauer, this wasn’t going to end well for DeBoer and the VGK.

He took Alex Tuch from the 3rd line and put him with Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson on the VGK top line and Tuch did not let this golden opportunity slip by. He put his first goal in on the power play with his usual breakneck speed, taking a stretch pass from William Karlsson that left defenseman Ryan Graves looking like a traffic cone along with Tyson Jost Tuch found himself alone, with just Philipp Grubauer between him and his 2nd goal in back-to-back games. On his second goal and 3rd goal in his last 2 games he took a nice headman pass from Mark Stone and blew by Colorado’s best defenseman Cale Makar. Tuch was on his off wing, coming down the left, and kept the puck on the outside on his backhand, protecting it from a possible poke check from Grubauer. His initial shot from his backhand was saved by Grubauer’s left pad, but it took a fortuitous bounce out in front of the net, hitting the skate blade of defenseman Bowen Byram, and Tuch had his 2nd goal of the game and his 3rd in in the last 2 games. It was also his Tuch’s 7th goal of the season in just 16 games. Last season, Tuch had 8 goals in 42 games. He’s been on fire since the Edmonton playoff bubble, when he scored 8 goals in Vegas’ 20 games.

Pacioretty was moved down to the 2nd line with Cody Glass and Reilly Smith. Jonathan Marchessault who scored the 3rd goal for the VGK was playing with William Karlsson and Nicholas Roy. The 4th line saw Keegan Kolesar between Carrier and Reaves. The defense wasn’t spared on the milkshake as Shea Theodore was paired with Pietrangelo and Zach Whitecloud was moved up to the 2nd pair with Martinez. Nick Holden was scratched and Hague and Coghlan were the 3rd pair.

Marc-Andre Fleury opened this series with a 1-0 shutout and closed it with a 3-0 shutout, his 3rd of the season. He has a .942 save percentage and a league-leading 1.55 GAA. He has 8 of the Vegas 11 wins and has only given up 7 goals in his last 5 games for a 1.40 GAA in these 5 games. He’s making a solid case for himself as the #1 goaltender for the VGK. DeBoer may have been sending a message to all of his team last night. Fleury in turn is sending a message to Coach DeBoer as to which goaltender gives the team the best shot to win game in and game out.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Marc-Andre Fleury (34 saves and a shutout), Alex Tuch (2G including a power play goal), Coach DeBoer’s Milk Shake

One final note. Since I brought up milkshakes, NHL hockey over the last few years has become very vanilla. You just don’t see the passion and intensity that were typically on display every night years ago: guys finishing their checks, scrums after whistles, face washes from opposing players. Now you see players chatting and laughing with each other before faceoffs.

Last night, the DeBoer milkshake was not vanilla by any means. Ryan Reaves had the strength of his cup tested late in the game. Reaves’ response to the cup check was a booming right to the back of the head of the Avalanche player; both were sent to the box for roughing. The referee made a wise decision, since he saw what was brewing and sent the Colorado player to his locker room, knowing full well that at the buzzer, the likelihood of Reaves finishing off what he was in the midst of would be a powder keg, especially with both teams on the ice when the final buzzer went off. But William Carrier sent his own message when he clearly shot the puck at Grubauer after the buzzer. That’s a big no no, but Carrier was letting Colorado know that they weren’t playing pond hockey anymore. I happen to be a fan of black and white milkshakes and last night that was being served.

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Tuch’s PPG

Tuch’s second goal

One of Fleury’s saves