Knights on Ice: Gritty at T-Mobile, Followed by an Explosion

Yes, gritty was at T-Mobile last night, but it’s not the gritty you were thinking about. The Philadelphia mascot goes by the name “Gritty,” a fat ugly pear-shaped creature and that’s putting it mildly. Thankfully, he wasn’t there in actuality, only virtually, as there were plenty of children among the once-again sold-out crowd of 18,415 who witnessed a 5-4 VGK victory for the VGK’s third win in a row at T-Mobile and their first-ever win over Philadelphia at T-Mobile. The only thing good about Philadelphia that I can come up with is their cheesesteak sandwiches.

That now leaves the Detroit Red Wings as the only NHL team that has never lost at T-Mobile. Barring a complete disaster on March 21, that unbeaten streak for Detroit should end; the Red Wings are clearly the worst team in the league as of today with a record of 10-28-3 (23 points). With last night’s victory, the VGK remain atop the Pacific Division at 23-15-6 (52 points).

The gritty I’m referring to is the performance of the VGK — everything that could be considered gritty and determined. It was an emotional game, so emotional that even Coach Gallant exploded when he was asked a question about his team’s failure to beat good teams. Then, he immediately bolted from the room.

To be fair to Coach, the Knights have been playing exceptionally well lately and the question was simply not valid at this point in the season. If he’d been asked it back in early November when his team had lost 7 of 8 games, with 3 in overtime, the question would have been tough for him, but it would have been relevant. Not last night.

In the 2-1/2 years I’ve covered this team, last night may have been the most ticked-off I’ve ever seen him, especially after a win. After losses, he’s fidgety, almost always tapping his fingers on the base of the mic, like an internal clock keeping track of when can he leave the press-conference room. After wins, he seems more relaxed and always finds some humorous response to our questions to him. I’ve personally gotten a, “Come on, Joe. You know better,” which of course was highlighted by the always funny @The Gilded Jester on Twitter, who downloaded the video for all to see me being on the Gallant Comedy Show.

So what ticked off Gallant? Was it the question itself? He’d just won the 3^rd game of a very important 7-game homestand, in which he said he expected to win all 7. Or could it be that last night he just found out he’ll be one of the head coaches of the Western Conference in the All Star Game, based on his team leading the Pacific Division at the halfway mark of the season and he would have preferred the days off? Only Turk knows and just like lineups and injuries, we will never know.

It was a wild game of emotions and swings. The Flyers came out flying in the first period and pretty much had the VGK scrambling to get the puck to just the neutral zone at best and for the second game in a row, Vegas gave up the first goal at the 7:33 mark when Philadelphia’s captain Claude Giroux scored to give Philly the 1-0 lead.

But only 1:09 later, Shea Theodore, who has been contributing to the scoresheet lately with 3 goals and 10 assists in his last 10 games, tied it up. Pacioretty and Merrill scored their 2 goals just 2:45 after Theodore’s goal to extend the lead to 3-1 in the first period. When Max Pacioretty scored his 2^nd goal of the first period with 2:57 left, it re-established the VGK’s 2 goal lead that saw the first period end with Vegas leading by a score of 4-2.

This was the 2^nd game in a row that Philadelphia gave up 4 first-period goals. The low-scoring L.A. Kings hung 4 on them in the first period on New Year’s Eve, then hung on to win by a score of 5-3, just like the VGK did last night except the final score last night was 5-4.

Max Pacioretty had this to say in the locker room after the game. “It was a roller coaster. You don’t want to put yourself in those situations, but it seemed like we faced every situation tonight, whether it’s power play, penalty kill. Overall, it’s a good team win. We relied on everyone. Sometimes that makes winning extra special.”

Fleury, who may not have had a Fleury-like performance, still was good enough with 34 saves to secure the win and had this to say post-game. “It’s busy, just trying to find the pucks through guys and through legs. Other guys did a great job. McNabb made a nice save, a two-pad stack, and got his stick on another puck to clear it out of the zone. It’s great, a good battle at the end to keep that win.”

Philadelphia goaltender Carter Hart said, “You know they come hard. That was in our pre-scout. They’re a fast team; they don’t like to play a lot of defense. They kind of like to play transition a lot.” That statement seems funny coming from a goaltender and team that just surrendered 4 goals in the first period in their last 2 games.

What made this win even more difficult was that the VGK were without 2 key players and playing a defenseman in a forward position. Marchessault, the heart and soul of this team, was a late scratch (lower body) and fourth-line center Tomas Nosek didn’t play after his wife gave birth to their son Wednesday. There was no time to call up another forward from Chicago. The VGK have been running on a shortened roster in their attempt to save salary-cap space, if they choose to add a defenseman at the trade deadline.

Cody Glass ended a 12-game goal drought at 9:37 of the second period to give the Golden Knights a 5-2 lead. Glass also made 2 spectacular defensive plays midway through the 3^rd period when he batted down a pass twice that would have sent a Flyer forward in alone on Fleury. These 2 plays came within seconds of each other.

With all the switching around of players, the only line that remained intact was the 61-67-20 line, with Tuch playing with Smith and Karlsson and Reaves the only player left from the Crunch line, as Carrier was moved up to Tuch’s spot, while Merrill and Roy filled out the 4^th line. Reaves looked lost last night and registered a single hit for the entire game, which is almost as rare as Jon Merrill scoring a goal.

Yes, Jon Merrill, the 6^th and sometime 7^th defenseman for the VGK, was moved up to play the spot vacated by Carrier, while Roy took Nosek’s spot centering the “Baby Crunch” line. Merrill scored his first goal of the season and only his 11^th goal in 344 games. Like I said, it was a strange night.

I asked Max Pacioretty if, this late in his career, he’d prefer time off for the All Star break or the honor of being selected. You can hear his answer to my question in the video at the bottom of this post. He also added these thoughts on the team’s current state of affairs.

“We need to keep this thing rolling. We’ve got to keep playing well, probably play a little bit stronger for an entire game, but take the points when they come. Next game against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday definitely won’t be easy. We’ve got to put together a more complete effort and keep it rolling.”

My 3 Stars of the Game: Max Pacioretty (2 goals), Cody Glass (the game-winning goal and 2 defensive plays at center ice in the 3^rd period; it’s not often you can point out a good defensive play in the neutral zone, but his 2 plays were that good), and Brayden McNabb (a monster during the Flyers’ 6-on-3 advantage with Reilly Smith off for a delay-of-game penalty with 2:46 left and Deryk Engelland off for cross-checking with 1:29 left in the game).

Other points of interest in the final 1:29 of the game when Philadelphia had both 6-on-4 and 6-on-3 advantages: They managed only 1 shot on goal. Brayden McNabb had a lot to do with that. Fleury was perfect on the last 12 of the 13 shots that he faced in the 3^rd period that preserved the win for the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights.

The next game is tomorrow and please note the 1 p.m. starting time vs. the Stanley Cup Champions St. Louis Blues.

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Max Pacioretty Part 1

Max on the All Star Break

Jon Merrill

Brayden McNabb

Marc-Andre Fleury

Coach Gallant Part 1

Coach Part 2

Gallant Blows Up