The hat is a piece of paraphernalia that’s associated with New Year’s Eve and most revelers wear all kinds of hats in which to ring in the new year.
In yesterday’s Vegas Golden Knights game, a hat was worn that not only looked good with the green and gold, but it was also the first time this hat has ever been worn by William Karlsson. Karlsson tallied the first “hat trick” in his career and the first-ever hat trick in Golden Knights’ history—short as it is.
A hat trick occurs when a single player scores three goals in the same goals in one game. Karlsson’s third goal was amazing to watch: Even though it was shot into an empty net, Karlsson was sliding on the ice, stretched out, and just sweeping the puck with his outstretched stick. That goal was his 20th of the season, which leads the team. By comparison, Karlsson had a total of 15 goals over his last two seasons in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Yesterday’s win over Toronto, by a score of 6-3, also increased the Knights winning streak to seven games and they’ve scored at least one point in their last 12 games.
Their 11 wins in December set yet another 100-year-old NHL record for the most wins by a first-year team in December. Just how many records will this team break?
Their record in December was 11-1-1.
I often talk about the fast starts for which the VGK seem to have a talent , especially at T-Mobile Arena, which catches teams off guard as they’re not prepared for their speed. Once again, they came out flying in yesterday’s match-up against the Toronto Maple Leafs and scored three goals in the first 13:24 of the game. The VGK have led 2-0 nine times this season and are 9-0 in these games. They also now own a record of 16-1-0 when scoring first.
My theory that the next team to score in a 2-0 game has a decided advantage was put to the test today as VGK had leads of 3-0 and 4-1 and should have put this game to bed early. But Austin Matthews, one of the best players in the entire NHL, if not the best, scored late in the second period to make it 4-2, then scored another goal within the first minute of the third period. All of a sudden, the VGK’s three-goal lead was now down to a one goal with over 19 minutes to play. If Vegas had lost this game, it would have had resounding repercussions on the team’s confidence going into 2018. But it keeps on doing things very few of us could ever imagine.
The only person who might have mixed emotions may be none other than Marc-Andre Fleury, who assumed he would be the number-one goalie for Vegas. However, the outstanding play by number-two goalie Malcom Subban has created a 1A and 1B goaltending tandem; they’re both playing so well that Coach Gallant has to make this big decision: Whom does he play?
Who would have thought that this would ever be a problem in October and November, when the VGK were playing their third-, fourth-, and even fifth-string goaltenders while 1A and 1B were recovering from injuries?
Subban is now on a six-game win streak, making it difficult for Gallant to sit him in favor of playing Fleury. This is the kind of problem all coaches should have.
I dared to mention the playoffs in my last blog, but yesterday, during Gallant’s post-game press conference, a reporter claimed that the word was mentioned by a player in the locker room. Gallant appeared upset that one of his players would say such a thing; he continues to insist that they’re only looking at one game at a time. He pressed the reporter to identify the player, even going so far as to say that when he found out who it was, that that player would be fined. I believe he said that with tongue in cheek, but I also think he’ll instruct the team not to get too far ahead of themselves. A lot can happen between now and then.
Still, there’s no denying that Gallant has this team moving together and has done an amazing job so far. I’m not privy to what he says to his team, but I do know that he has them believing in themselves. I’m sure showing their former teams that they made a huge mistake by exposing them in the expansion draft has been said to them as a team. The players, man for man, have obviously, bought into this, as they really do play as a team.
Anyone reading this, whether a VGK fan or not, I hope you’re experiencing something very special here. We’re all fortunate to be able to witness this journey together.
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