Knights on Ice — Pirri Takes Advantage

Last night’s game had no real significance for the VGK, as they close out the last three games of their inaugural season. They’ve already clinched the Pacific Division, while their chance of catching Nashville for the Western Conference lead seems almost unreachable. Nashville leads Vegas by 6 points, 113 to 107. Vegas would have to win all three of their remaining games, while Nashville would have to lose all three. Vegas does own the tiebreaker if both teams wind up tied in points.

But by the looks of last night’s lineup, Coach Gallant determined that resting players such as Jonathan Marchessault, Erik Haula, and David Perron was more important that trying to catch Nashville.

This decision allowed Brandon Pirri to be called up from the Chicago Wolves, the AHL affiliate of the VGK. Pirri has prior NHL experience, having been drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round, the 59^th pick overall in the 2009 draft.

He only played in 7 NHL games during the span of three seasons with Chicago ( 2010-2013) and played for four NHL teams (Chicago, Florida, Anaheim, and the NY Rangers) before joining the VGK

So last night was a “golden” opportunity for Pirri to make a statement. It always amazes me how some athletes just seize the moment. It also didn’t hurt him that Coach Gallant, who could have easily put Tomas Tatar back onto the first line last night, left Tatar where he’s been playing and put Pirri on the line with Tuch and Karlsson. Pirri rewarded Gallant’s decision by scoring two goals in Vegas’ 5-4 win in overtime last night against the Vancouver Canucks.

Vegas held a 4-1 lead with just under 18 minutes left in the game, prompting them to lose concentration and surrender three goals to Vancouver in just under 7 minutes of the third period.

Luckily, the keen eye of VGK video coach Tommy Cruz once again spotted a Vancouver goal on which they were offsides. The goal was challenged, the call on the ice was overruled, and the goal was disallowed. Coach Cruz has been spot on with his challenges.

The game went into overtime. It appeared that the VGK won the game when Tomas Tatar snapped a wrist shot into the net, only to have it waived off immediately by the referee for goaltender interference. Looking at the replay, it appeared that Brandon Pirri, who was skating by the front of the net, was pushed into Jacob Markstrom, the Vancouver goaltender. Ironic — the last two VGK challenges for goalie interference against Fleury were denied. Last night’s call seemed like the Vancouver player caused Pirri to interfere with Markstrom.

With just nine seconds left in overtime, Colin Miller appeared to beat Markstrom with a blistering shot, but the Vancouver goalie made an amazing glove save, sending the game into a shootout.

The first three shooters for both teams failed to score. Shea Theodore, who has had a hot stick of late, was the fourth shooter. He made Gallant’s choice look just as good as the decision to play Pirri on the first line. Theodore’s score earned Vegas 2 points, which reduced Nashville’s Western Conference lead to just 4 points with two games left.

Nashville’s two remaining games are against Washington on the road and Columbus at home. They’ll be anything but easy games for Nashville and with Vegas’ two remaining games against Edmonton and Calgary, both playing out the season, anything is possible.

William Karlsson continues his scoring with one goal and two assists last night. His goal was his 43^rd.

Tomas Tatar scored his 20th goal for his 4^th straight season with 20 or more goals. He missed five years in a row when he fell just one goal short in 2013-2014 with 19 goals.

The VGK’s next game is Thursday at Edmonton at 6 p.m. Pacific time.