The VGK Weren’t Sleepless in Seattle, That’s for Sure

The VGK may have played their best back-to-back defensive games in a row this season in these last two games against the Seattle Kraken. One key reason was Logan Thompson, who has been solid as one could ask for and is for sure making management think long hard about returning him to the Henderson Silver Knights once Laurent Brossoit and Robin Lehner are 100% healthy. Last night the VGK completed the two-game sweep with a 5-2 victory, a score that may appear or suggest that this was a close game even when you factor in that Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson scored goals four and five into the empty net to end the game. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Vegas completely dominated the game from start to finish keeping most of the Seattle attempted shots blocked, or deflected, or arrived on Logan’s equipment from a safe distance.  

Last night’s dominating win did come against a team that is struggling during their first season, but nothing should be taken away from this solid two-game performance by the VGK. Even Shea Theodore, who has been struggling this season, looked like Seattle agrees with him. Shea played his minor league hockey with the Seattle Thunderbirds and his parents were in attendance. Shea had gone 27 games without scoring a goal before notching two in these last two games.

Lots of positive things came out of these games in the Pacific Northwest: 4 points, which was imperative; the return of Brayden McNabb; and another opportunity for Alec Martinez to get reacclimated to the speed of the game. Coach Deboer was slowly working both Brayden and Alec back into the lineup by once again dressing seven defenseman and 11 forwards, instead of the usual 6 and 12. 

When you add defensive-minded players like Martinez and McNabb into the lineup, it clearly makes the team more sound overall and it showed in the two-game sweep and (for a 4-0 season record) versus the Kraken. It also becomes more clear that when this team is healthy, it’s dangerous.

Jack Eichel hasn’t scored more than one goal in a game dating back to February 22, 2020, which is a long time, even when you factor in that he hadn’t played in over 13 months before joining the VGK. Jack ended that streak with the first two VGK goals last night and his second was a pure case of hustle. He beat the Kraken player to the puck to negate an icing call which would have brought the faceoff all the way back in the VGK defensive zone. His hustle was rewarded when Dadonov recovered the loose puck behind the net as Eichel slid over to the front of Seattle netminder, Grubauer, who never had a chance once Eichel had the puck on his stick alone in front. Grubauer stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced, but Logan Thompson was clearly better with a lot of help from his defensemen who had 27 blocked shots. Logan stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced for a .929 save percentage. 

Logan has started the last eight games for the VGK and has a 6-2 record. In comparison, Robin Lehner (due to a lot of circumstances) has never started more than six games in a row for the VGK. Unfortunately, even with picking up these 4 points, no real ground was made in the Pacific Division as Edmonton has won four of its last five games and the LA Kings have gotten points in five of their last six. 

In the running for the last two playoff spots via the Wild Card, Vegas has the second spot trailing Nashville by 2 points for the first wild card spot and leading Dallas by 1 point for the last wild card spot. Both Nashville and Dallas have played fewer games – Nashville has played 68 and Dallas 66, while Vegas has played 70. In the Pacific Division, Vegas trails LA by 4 points with the same number of games played and they trail Edmonton by 3 points with Edmonton having one game in hand.  

The VGK close out this road trip with a Sunday-afternoon game at Vancouver. The team they will face on Sunday will be a lot quicker and have more offensive capabilities than the Seattle Kraken, so a solid performance by the VGK will be needed to sweep the three-game road trip and keep their playoff hopes alive. 

Other Game Notes and Quotes 

“Winning is fun, right?” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We won three in a row, and [now] four in a row tonight, that leads to that fun environment. And when you’ve lost four or five in a row, it’s tough to recreate that. … We took care of business, and we knew we needed to because of the teams around us. We came in here and did what we needed to do. And you know, it’s on to the next job.” 

“Every game’s competitive in the league, it doesn’t matter where you’re playing,” Eichel said. “They have a lot of good players over there, so it’s important, you have to take care of business every night. We know the position that we’re in, but we can only control so much and just get two points every night.” 

“I think defensively we’ve been better, but I think that coincides with the return of our veterans, and all those guys made a huge difference,” DeBoer said. “[Thompson] has played really well, but I think our team is benefited by the return of those guys. That just solidifies things defensively. It also helps us on our breakouts which leads to speed to the neutral zone.” 

Dadonov has scored 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his last six games.

Stephenson has scored seven points (two goals, five assists) in his last four games.

Marchessault extended his point streak to four games (two goals, six assists). 

Theodore has scored at least 40 points (10 goals, 30 assists) for the third straight season. Only three NHL defensemen have longer active streaks: Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning (7), Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins (5), and John Carlson of the Washington Capitals (5).

My 3 Stars of the Game: Jack Eichel (2G, +3, 4 SOG, and a team high 22:04 of ice time), Logan Thompson (26 saves on 28 shots), Evgenii Dadonov (2 primary assists of Eichel and Theodore’s goals) 

One final note, Dadonov has been an excellent trade-day acquisition.

Next game is Sunday vs. Vancouver, 4 p.m. Pacific Time.

Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you may contact me directly at [email protected] or on my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy or on Twitter @TheRealJoePane          

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One other note: If you’re reading this blog from Facebook or Twitter and would like to access it earlier in the morning before I share it on social media, it’s usually published by 8 a.m. the morning after a game on LasVegasAdvisor.com. What better way is there to enjoy your morning coffee than reading my take on last night’s VGK game.

Eichel goal from a pure hustle

Shea Theodore’s GWG