Knights on Ice—Should Fleury Be Reported to the Philadelphia Police?

If I were the Philadelphia Flyers, I would have called the cops on Marc-André Fleury, who committed unarmed robbery by single-handedly beating the Flyers yesterday by a score of 1-0. Flyers captain Claude Giroux, especially, might have reported multiple cases of unarmed torts inflicted upon himself.

We’ve all seen what Fleury is capable of. But in all of the games he has played for the VGK, this was perhaps the most impressive performance of them all. In fact, I’ll go so far to say that it might have been the best game he has ever played in his entire NHL career. It marks Fleury’s 406th win, leaving him just one victory behind NHL legend Glen Hall for 10th overall in wins by a goaltender in the history of the NHL. The shutout was Fleury’s 49th.

Sure, he’s had big games and huge saves in crucial moments in his career — not the least of which was the save he made in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings. With just one second to go, he lunged all the way across from the left post to the right to make the save that will live on forever in Penguin history. That save was during his first Stanley Cup Championship playoff of three. You can watch that amazing save on YouTube.

He had huge games in last year’s playoff run with the VGK, especially in Games 1 and 4 against the L.A. Kings in the first round when he pitched shutouts in the opener and the series clincher.

But yesterday’s game was crucial for the VGK. Coming in, their record was 1-4. They’d lost three in a row and had scored only 10 goals in their first five games, even though they had the second-most shots on net in the league with 180. San Jose, a Pacific Division rival who many believe will contend with Vegas for the division championship, is number one with 192. To have 180 shots on goal and only 10 goals to show for it is highly unusual — and I’m not even taking into account the number of post and crossbars they’ve hit. Pucks that hit the post and crossbar aren’t even registered as shots on goal.

Prior to today’s game, when Coach Gallant was asked about the disappointing start to this year, he made a point of saying that in order to win in the NHL these days, you have to score at least three goals. Last season, the VGK scored three or more in 56 of their 82 games— and they won 51 games.

What Gallant failed to mention was that when you have Fleury in the net, some games you only need to score one goal. But his point is factual, because what Fleury did today to the Flyers was criminal.

Not only was he the best player on the ice, he was the VGK’s best player on their power play, as he made a number of world-class saves while Vegas had the man advantage. The lack of goals and the power play, which was 0-3 in this game and now stands at 0-16, isn’t helping their offense, which last year had the opposition on their heels and usually playing from behind.

In the Knights’ first five games, they’ve held the lead for all of six minutes and twenty-two seconds. Cody Eakin, who had just returned to the lineup after being out with an injury, scored the only goal of this game with just 1:25 left in the third period. Now, six games into the season, the VGK have had the lead for a grand total of 7:47, an average of just 1:24 per game. It’s difficult to win games or have a winning record when you’re either trailing or tied on the scoreboard.

In the nine goals the VGK have scored during regulation time this season, Jonathan Marchessault has been involved in six of them, with two goals and four assists. The offensive juggernaut that was a key component of the VGK success last year has just not gotten into sync and has had a lot of bad puck luck.

Their power play didn’t score last year until it went 0-21. William Karlsson didn’t score his first goal until game seven and still wound up with 43 goals. Tuesday’s game vs. Buffalo at T-Mobile will be Vegas’ seventh game and if history repeats itself, Wild Bill is on course to get his first goal on this season on Tuesday. Their power play has at least five more chances before panic is declared.

When Shea Theodore was asked before the game what Vegas needed to do to have a good outing, he said, “A faster start.” That didn’t happen; Vegas had only five shots on goal in the first period, while the Flyers registered 10. The Flyers also had another 10 shots on Fleury in the second. Some of Fleury’s saves were acrobatic, including behind-the-back glove saves. If you didn’t have the chance to see this game, do yourself a favor and watch a replay of it or at least the highlights. It’s a goaltending clinic.

Fleury’s teammates did play a part in helping him shut out the Flyers: They held them without a shot on net for the first 10:22 of the third period.

The Vegas penalty-killing unit was perfect, but once again you can look no further than Fleury for their success. In the two power-play chances the Flyers had, they kept the puck in the offensive zone for over three of the four minutes awarded to them. The Knights did limit the Flyers to just two shots on the first power play.

Deryk Engelland went off with an undisclosed injury early in the second period and never returned. With Jake Bischoff having been sent back to the Chicago Wolves, if Engelland isn’t available to go on Tuesday, we may see Brad Hunt make his first appearance for Vegas. That’s barring Bischoff being called back up or even a long shot of 19-year-old Erik Brannstrom getting some time with the big club. We know Gallant will not tip his hand as far as the lineup goes until we get to see the morning skate on Tuesday.

Tomas Hyka played in his second game and looked good. He had a few good chances and I like the speed he brings to the lineup in place of Oscar Lindberg. Hyka played in 10 games last season and had one goal and three assists.

On the only goal of the game, Ryan Carpenter made a nice play to keep the puck in the offensive zone, then set up Cody Eakin with a perfect pass that Eakin ripped over Brian Elliott’s right shoulder for the win that was desperately needed to calm the waters and send the team back to Las Vegas with a bounce in their step — and possibly a step ahead of the Philadelphia police, who may still be looking to question Fleury.

You know what they say, “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” So maybe that’s what Shea Theodore meant when he said Vegas need a faster start. At least Fleury was smooth and so was Eakin.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Marc-Andre Fleury (26 saves and 49^th shutout),  Marc-Andre Fleury (on the Vegas power play), Cody Eakin (with the well-timed game winner).

The next game is Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile at 7 p.m.

Your comments and opinions are welcome here on Las Vegas Advisor or you may contact me directly at [email protected]