Knights on Ice — That’s Why They Call It the Blues, and Two Games In One

As Elton John sang in 1983:

Don’t wish it away
Don’t look at it like it’s forever
Between you and me I could honestly say
That things can only get better.

It did get better when the VGK won in OT 5-4, beating the defending Stanley Cup Champions St. Louis Blues.

If ever a song was written about yesterday’s game, I’d be hard-pressed to find anything other than this song. But if pressed to name another song, a good second choice would be “I’m Still Standing.”

The VGK somehow didn’t wish it away when the Blues went ahead 3-0 in the first 16:16 of the first period. Nor did they look at the game like it was forever, as there still were 2 entire periods still to play. But when you thought that things could only get better, they pretty much wasted almost the entire 2^nd period — 13:09 of it, to be exact — before things started to get better when Ryan Reaves scored the first VGK goal at the 13:10 mark of the second period. They were still standing and proceeded to make the VGK’s biggest comeback in their 2-1/2 seasons in the NHL.

I’ll let Eddie Rivkin give you the details of this character-statement game, as I stayed at T-Mobile to watch #2 Cornell play #14 Providence in the Fortress Invitational Hockey Tournament. I actually wanted to take a good look at Jack Dugan, the VGK’s 5^th round draft pick of 2017 and 142^nd overall.

Fifth-round picks are like rolling the dice: You just never know what will come up. I will say I liked what I saw from this 21-year-old. He stood up for a teammate run over by a Cornell player who received a 5-minute major for that charging penalty. Dugan later was cross-checked high in the neck area and had to be attended to by the trainer as he was lying on the ice. He returned to the game for 2 OT periods, the first a scoreless 5-on-5, the second a scoreless 3-on-3. In the shootout, Jack scored the winning goal to clinch the championship for Providence. When will we see Jack Dugan with a VGK jersey on? He still has 2 years left at school, as he’s just a sophomore. But someone whispered in my ear in the press box yesterday that they thought Dugan would leave school to turn pro this year. We shall see.

Thank you to my good hockey friend Michael B., who sits at the top of section 18 in the folding chairs. I met Michael during the 2017-18 season. He planted the seed of the title of this article just as the game ended and I went with it. Stop by and say hello to him if you liked his suggestion.

Now I defer to Eddie Rivkin on the nuts and bolts of this incredible game.

A Tale of 2 Games in 1

By Eddie Rivkin

If I told you the VGK would give up 8 goals in their last two games and win both, would you wonder how many Training Days I had before I wrote this post?

Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to tell you and I haven’t had a single pop.

The VGK defeated the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues 5-4 yesterday afternoon, coming back from 3 goals down for the first time in franchise history.

For the second time in as many games versus the Blues, the VGK gave up 3 goals in a period. In the previous meeting in St. Louis, the VGK outplayed the Blues for 40 minutes. But in a terrible middle frame, the VGK gave up 3 unanswered en route to a 4-2 loss.

Saturday afternoon at the Fortress, the VGK’s terrible frame came in the first as Alex Pietrangelo (12), Jaden Schwartz (14), and Oscar Sundqvist (10) staked the Blues out to a 3-0 lead. The VGK got completely VGK’d in the period, losing puck battles, not moving their feet, and making bad decisions that led to turnovers ending up in the back in the net.

In the old days after a period like that, the coach would “peel the paint off the wall” in an attempt jump-start the team. We will never know Coach Gallant said to the team. A few players were asked about it and there was not a hint to be had. If I were a gambling man, I’d wager he probably said very little. What? After that period? Yep, that’s my bet. The VGK have an outstanding leadership group in the room. They know what a bad period it was and how badly they got outplayed. My wager is the leaders stepped up and took care of it. Coach Gallant likely only told them to focus, get back to playing their game, and there’s plenty of time left.

The words may have been spoken, but the results weren’t there. Twelve minutes into the second period, the VGK were being outshot 24-10 and things weren’t looking at all good for the Knights to extend the winning streak to four.

Then Gallant rolled out the new-look 4^th line of Reaves, Roy, Nosek. And just as has happened most of the season, their fierce forecheck forced a takeaway. That takeaway led to the VGK’s first goal of the game when Ryan Reaves (5) banged home a rebound at 13:10 to trim the lead to 3-1. To say that was the key moment of the game would be a huge understatement. Big Mo (momentum) was in the VGK’s favor and 2:32 later, Paul Stastny tapped in a nifty cross-crease pass from Will Carrier for his 11^th of the year to make it a one-shot game going into the 3^rd period.

Big Mo didn’t take a break during the intermission, as the VGK came out flying, taking the play to the Blues the way the crowd of 18,334 is used to seeing. The 4^th line struck again at the 3:02, when Nic Roy potted his 2^nd of the season to tie the game at 3. The unrelenting pressure continued to yield results when the newest Golden Knight, Chandler Stephenson, chased down a loose puck in the slot and made a nifty back pass to a streaking Riley Smith, who sniped top shelf past Jake Allen at 9:50 to give the VGK their first lead 4-3.

The only blip in Big Mo was while Stephenson was in the box for a questionable holding penalty, original Golden Knight David Perron scored his 17^th of the year to even the score at 4-4.

Undeterred, the VGK kept pressing for the regulation win, something they have yet to do. A 4-on-3 power play with 1:16 left in regulation failed to send the VGK faithful home happy, so it was off to OT.

The carryover penalty time ended harmlessly. After a couple of minutes of back and forth with no real scoring threats, Chandler Stephenson continued his back-check behind the goal, up the far boards where he picked up a loose puck for a 150-foot uncontested breakaway. Backhand, forehand, 5-hole, and at 3:05 of OT, the VGK completed the best comeback in franchise history.

Notes. Jonathan Marchessault missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.

Cody Glass left the game seven minutes into the 3^rd with a right-knee injury. Re-watching it, he appeared to catch an edge, immediately went down in a heap, and had to be helped off the ice. I’m not a doctor and didn’t play one on TV, but it looked bad. Not day-to-day bad. Hopefully week-to-week bad. But I fear it could be season-ending.

With the win, Marc Andre Fleury moves to within one of Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers for 5^th all time.

3 Stars: Chandler Stevenson (game-winning OT goal, 1 assist), Nic Hague (2 assists, +2, Ryan Reaves (1 goal, +2)

Next up, the VGK look to run their winning streak to 5 when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Fortress on Tuesday night. Puck drop 7 p.m.

Your comments and opinions are welcome here for Eddie and I on Las Vegas Advisor or you can reach me directly at [email protected] or you can also reach me at my Facebook Page or the Facebook Page of Vegas Hockey Guy.