Vegas Golden Knights — Who Are These Knights?

Just 6 days ago, the VGK left Minnesota demoralized, a beaten-down team that was headed for a home stand that would be a true test of their character, will, and determination. It was gut-check time, as this home stand pitted them against playoff-bound teams.

The VGK did not look like a team that had its focus or souls committed on being one of the 8 teams in the Western Conference that would qualify for a shot at the Stanley Cup. Their goaltending, which had been their backbone the first 2 seasons, was now their Achilles heel. Yes, even Marc-André Fleury is included when calling out their goaltending woes. But Fleury has taken the team on his shoulders and over the last 2 games has come up big. Yesterday he beat the Washington Capitals 3-2.

Fleury has always been the soul of this team, so it’s only fitting that his soul and determination have been on full display these last 2 games.

Yesterday they completed their 3rd game of 5 in this very important home stand with their 3rd consecutive win. The VGK have only two 4-game winning streaks this year. The second one was followed by a 4-game losing streak.

Fleury has had off-ice issues that we are all aware of and they’ve greatly affected his focus. But he’s now had 5 consecutive scoreless periods between the shutout vs. the Islanders on Saturday and holding not only Alex Ovechkin, but the high-powered offense of the Washington Capitals, scoreless through the first 2 periods yesterday.

With 3 VGK goals by Nick Holden and Reilly Smith in the first period and Max Pacioretty in the second, Vegas entered the third leading by a score of 3-0. Just when we started to feel warm and fuzzy, TJ Oshie scored two 3rd-period goals to take a comfortable 3-goal lead with just 20 minutes left into a one-goal game and plenty of time on the clock.

Washington has the most 3rd-period goals in the entire NHL: 80 in 58 games. They also lead the league in average goals scored per game with 3.6. In comparison, Vegas has scored 64 third-period goals in 60 games, so would 3 goals be enough to hold Washington in check? 

Well, TJ Oshie scored his first with 12:13 left and potted another on the power play less than 2 minutes later. The announced crowd of 18,399 were now inching up to the edge of their seats, knowing full well that a 3rd-period pushback by the Caps was in full force.

Ovechkin, who has been held scoreless in his last 4 games and was sitting just 2 goals shy of 700 goals, would be coming like the freight train that he is. When Ovi gets to 700 and he will, he’ll be only the 8th NHL player to accomplish such a feat. During the first 2 unsuccessful Washington power plays yesterday, Ovi never left the ice for the entire 4 minutes and when TJ Oshie scored his second goal on the Caps’ last power play, it came exactly 1:09 after Jon Merrill was penalized for tripping, which accounts for the 5:09 of power-play time Ovi recorded for the game. This is coming from a player who is 34 years old and has played in 1,142 NHL regular-season games and 128 playoff games. Ovi was drafted first overall in 2004 by George McPhee. Things seem to always come full circle in the NHL, especially with head coaches, but that is a story for another day when Coach Gallant is hired either in Detroit or Seattle.

These last 6 points earned have vaulted the Knights from barely being a wild-card team to being tied for first place in the topsy-turvy Pacific Division. Six days ago they were one point from being out of the playoff picture; three wins later they’re tied for first with Edmonton. Edmonton does have 2 games in hand and 3rd-place Vancouver is one point behind Vegas and has played 2 games less.

The bounce-back that you’re seeing is not a fluke. This team had lost its way—and it lost the only coach these players ever knew as players for the VGK. Gallant was the coach who believed in them and they showed their appreciation for him through their inspired play. It was a love affair that unfortunately ended on Jan. 14, when their savior/father figure and hero was let go. We will never know why Gallant was fired.

Then their HOF goaltender lost his dad.

On an 8-game road trip in the midst of all of these distractions, a new coach was brought in. There was outrage and that’s being kind.

But winning the last 3 games against the last 2 Stanley Cup Champions and against one of the best defensive systems in the league could very well be the turning point of a season that you could call “what the hell is going on with the VGK.” If you don’t already know this, in the 12 games under Coach DeBoer, the VGK have a 7-3-2 record for 16 points out of a possible 24. In Gallant’s last 12 games, they were 5-6-1 for 11 points out of 24. Go take a look at the Pacific Division standings and see where 5 points less leaves the VGK.

This is not a knock on Gallant or a pom-pom wave for DeBoer, but it appears that PDB has got them back on track.

If I told you Feb. 13 before this 5-game home stand started that Vegas would win 3 of their next 5 home games, you’d have thought, I can live with that, especially in the Pacific Division. Well, they’ve already won the first three games and have two more before they head to Anaheim for one road game, which will be followed by another 4-game home stand at T-Mobile

Max Pacioretty’s goal was his team-leading 27th of the season.

Fleury made 24 saves on 26 Washington shots and with the score 3-2, there was a stoppage of play with 4:21 left in the game. The next stoppage did not occur until there were just 17.4 seconds left. Washington had possession of the puck for almost the entire last 4:21 and the old guy Ovi didn’t seem to ever leave the ice. He even made a leg save, preventing an open-net goal with Braden Holtby on the bench for the extra skater. Ovi had 21:39 of ice time, which is more than a full period of play. Of the VGK forwards, Mark Stone and Paul Stastny had 17:54 of ice time.

Since there are only 6 defensemen on a team and 12 forwards, some of the defense will log more ice time in a game, but almost 22 minutes for Ovi is a statement to his conditioning.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Max Pacioretty (1G, which at the time seemed like icing on the cake, but it later turned out to be the game-winner), TJ Oshie (2 goals in the 3rd period made for some sweaty palms in the crowd at T-Mobile), Fleury (who seems to have regained his golden touch or maybe it’s that that he found his golden pads that were sitting on an auction table that Nate Schmidt suggested he should remove them from).

The next game is Thursday at 7 p.m. against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who back on Feb. 4, Vegas was tied with at 2-2 with just over 9 minutes left in the game, until Stamkos scored on a deflection and Tampa added an empty-net goal for the 4-2 win. 

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