PDB Goes to the Bullpen and the VGK Respond with Urgency, Energy, and Emotion

Last night, Pete DeBoer used his coaching philosophy that many VGK fans despised when he deployed it in the Edmonton playoff bubble in the summer of 2020. His philosophy is to play those that give the team the best chance of winning. In Edmonton, he pretty much decided that Robin Lehner gave his team a better chance than Marc-Andre Fleury did.

That decision was the beginning of the end for Fleury as a VGK. Despite Fleury’s incredible 2020-21 season, in which he won the Vezina Trophy, Fleury and his $7 million salary were sent to Chicago in the off-season for basically zilch. That was the first goalie controversy of this franchise. The second one may be coming up tomorrow: Who does PDB start in Edmonton? Robin Lehner? Or Logan Thompson?

I’m absolutely sure that your vote will not sway PDB in any way, shape, or form, but I’m curious as to where you stand on this.

Last night, true to his coaching philosophy, DeBoer started Thompson (LT to his teammates). Several factors probably pushed PDB to make this choice. Lehner looked completely lost in Vancouver, flopping around, fighting the puck, and losing his position. His defenseman didn’t offer much of a help to him, but as the ostensible starting netminder, he’s expected to make more saves than he did on Tuesday night.

Another factor is that Robin may not be fully recovered from the injury that kept him out of the lineup between March 9 and April 3, missing 12 games. Since his return, he has given up 13 goals in 4 games, 10 coming in the last 2 very important games against Vancouver.

A third was that LT was born and raised in Calgary and grew up a Flames fan. Coaching has a lot to do with motivation and not just X’s and O’s. Plus, LT has won his last 5 starts and last night he stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced in the 6-1 VGK win over the eventual 2022 Pacific Division Champions.

Calgary scored the first goal of the game on the power play for the 1-0 lead, but the VGK buckled down and took complete control, scoring the next 6 goals and showing the urgency that was missing in Vancouver. They played like a team that desperately needed these 2 points.

Vegas had nothing to show for their first power play and were now 0-19, which tied a franchise record from the beginning of the season. But that came to an end when Nicolas Roy scored a PPG when Andrew Mangiapane was in the penalty box for clipping Keegan Kolesar. Mangiapane and a number of Calgary Flames were on a mission to engage Kolesar in return for his penalty against Christopher Tanev. More about this in my postgame notes.

Besides starting LT, PDB made a few changes to his forward combinations. Moving Marchessault up to the first line to play with Eichel and Janmark paid immediate dividends; Marchessault had a goal and two assists.

Eichel opened the scoring when he received a tape-to-tape pass from Marchessault after Janmark used a soccer move by chest bumping a pass to Marchessault just outside the blue line. Janmark’s unconventional pass seemed to catch Calgary defensemen off guard, allowing the play to develop quickly.

The lineup changes also allowed Nicolas Roy to play his natural position as a center on the 4th line and Roy responded with a power-play goal and assist.

Dadonov was moved down to the 3rd line to play with William Karlsson and Michael Amadio. Karlsson wound up with 1G and 2A, while Dadonov and Amadio each had 1G and1A. These lineup changes to 3 of the 4 lines seemed to balance out the offensive output for the VGK. The only line PDB didn’t tinker with was the #1 line before all of the injuries ravaged this team.

Stone and Pacioretty are working their way back into game-ready shape and when they do, this team is trouble for whoever they meet in the playoffs. With last night’s win, Vegas is back in charge of their playoff destiny. They’re only 1 point behind the Kings with 1 game in hand. Win in Edmonton on Sunday and they control their own destiny. Even if they lose in OT in Edmonton, they’ll make the playoffs just matching the results of L.A. in their final 6 games. L.A. does have an easier schedule, but with a number of injuries similar to what Vegas has had to deal with for basically the entire season, the softness of their schedule may be irrelevant.

The balanced lineup produced 6 different VGK scorers and had 7 forwards and 2 defensemen hitting the scoresheet.

As bad as the last few games have seemed, the VGK have won 7 of their last 9 games to get themselves squarely back in the playoff race.

Other Game Notes and Quotes

Marchessault post game said, “We’re a veteran group. We know the importance of points at this time of the year and we’ve worked hard the past month and a half to come back into a situation [where] we can control our destiny. And that’s what we’re going to do for the rest of the year.”

Calgary Flames Matthew Tkachuk was head hunting Kegan Kolesar all night after his check that initially drew a 5-minute major that had DeBoer livid. But after review, it was reduced to a 2-minute penalty. All 5-minute majors are now reviewed and you can thank Game 7 vs. San Jose in the 2019 playoffs for that new rule. But for the rest of the game, Tkachuk and Lucic had their sights set on extracting some revenge. Kolesar kept his cool and didn’t take the bait. In one scrum, Tkachuk had his stick across the throat of Kolesar; at another point Lucic had Kolesar by the scruff of his sweater trying to bait him into a fight. Kolesar refused and Lucic was given a 2-minute penalty for holding. I wasn’t aware that the definition of holding in the NHL rule book included holding a player by the scruff of his sweater. The NHL referees do have a sense of humor; 99.9% of the time, that would be called roughing or a delay of game, if any penalty was to even be called.

Speaking of the pain in the ass, Tkachuk said post game, “The VGK are a very desperate team, fighting for their lives. With the season they’ve had, we know that they’re a way better team than what the standings show, and ultimately if you want to go far this year, it’s going to have to go through them. It’s unfortunate that we kind of dropped the ball against them tonight. Hopefully, we get another crack at them.”

Matthew, you may not want a crack at them if they’re completely healthy come playoff time. You know that saying: Don’t ask for something, because you may just get it.

“Unbelievable. Best game of the season. We were good everywhere,” Marchessault said. “Obviously, they had a good goal there at the beginning, but good teams find a way to win a game. Really proud of our team tonight.”

“We came and we did what we needed to do,” DeBoer said. “We’re obviously a more desperate team than they are as far as the standings go. The first five minutes we were feeling it out, but the first goal was big for us to tie it up. I really liked our game. We had to win.”

Thompson, who was making his first start since April 1, is 5-0-0 with a 1.59 goals-against average and .949 save percentage in his past five starts.

Karlsson’s goal gave him 300 points (125 goals, 175 assists) in 526 NHL games. He has scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past eight games.

Eichel has scored seven points (five goals, two assists) during a six-game point streak.

Marchessault has scored 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in his past nine games.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Logan Thompson (35 saves on 36 shots for a save percentage of .972), Jonathan Marchessault (1G, 2A), PDB (for pushing the right buttons and not being afraid to possibly create the 2nd goaltender controversy in their first 5 years)

Next game is Saturday vs. Edmonton @ 1PM Pacific Time

Eichel’s goal off Janmark’s soccer chest pass

Roy’s PPG

Marchessault’s 29th of the season

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