If there is any one takeaway from the Vegas Golden Knights play throughout the round robin, it’s that they don’t like to make it easy on themselves, nor on those watching. Nonetheless, after a back and forth battle with the Colorado Avalanche, the Golden Knights have secured the top seed in the West and will have to get ready to take on the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Let’s Get Physical
Vegas came out hard right off the bat, quickly sending the message that the Avalanche would have to rely on a more physical game then they’re perhaps comfortable with if they wanted to secure the win. It was obvious that there was a lot at stake with this game as both teams remained cagey, keeping their play relatively cautious. The majority of the scoring opportunities that did come came from the outside as neither side seemed to be willing to attack down the middle for fear of the counter.
Despite getting into some penalty trouble early, including giving up a lengthy five-on-three, the Golden Knights got out of the first unscathed, largely thanks to Robin Lehner. The netminder came up big again and again throughout the first twenty, including a showing of absolute leather larceny with his glove on Mikko Rantanen.
Open For Offence
The Knights were gifted an early power play when Nathan MacKinnon was sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. That type of penalty is never appreciated by any coach, but Avs bench boss Jared Bednar was none too pleased with his star forward, who put his team down a man, not for a play, but for mouthing off to the ref.
Vegas made quick work of capitalizing on MacKinnon’s mistake as Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring just a minute and 34 seconds into period number two with a tip of Shea Theodore’s ripper from the point. The breakout defensemen was teed up by William Karlsson and let a wrister fly. Though it’s hard to say if Theodore’s shot would have beaten Philipp Grubauer on its own, there’s no question that the redirect by Marchessault gave the goaltender no chance of making the save.
Suddenly, the game cracked wide open, but still remained physical.
A short five minutes after his team took the lead, Ryan Reaves took a roughing penalty, sending Colorado on the hunt for a power play goal of their own.
Rookie sensation Cale Makar did well to hold the puck inside the Knights’ zone on his way to blasting a shot from the point. While all that came from that shot was Makar’s daily dose of iron, the ensuing scramble saw MacKinnon erase his guilt from his previous penalty when he poked the loose puck past Lehner.
With the score tied, the intensity continued to mount, leading up to Vegas forcing a scramble at the other end of the ice. The Golden Knights have always had one of the most impactful fourth lines in the league and their go ahead goal showed why. After Reaves had about four chances at burying the puck, it looked like Grubauer had transformed into an impenetrable wall, until Nicolas Roy squeezed it over the line, a testament to the no-quit mentality of this greasy group.
Less than two minutes later, Lehner, who had been extremely solid until that point, was drawn way out of position by J.T. Compher and Luca Donskoi made him pay. Donskoi made easy work of the open cage as he tapped in Compher’s pass off to tie the game at two a piece heading into the break.
It Ain’t Over
Ryan Graves made a name for himself in the wrong way when he tripped a streaking Marchessault, thus conceding a penalty shot. The Québecer was clinical and snapped it past Grubauer’s glove, into the top corner. The finish put Vegas back on the front foot and they played the rest of the period like their whole playoffs depended on it. Regardless of how it would have ended, Pete DeBoer could be proud of the effort shown by his team to keep the lead.
Unfortunately, with 62 ticks left on the clock, Vegas gave up the equalizer. Kadri’s shot dinged off the crossbar, landing beautifully at the feet of Compher who made no mistake of finishing it off to send the game to overtime.
Last Minute Heroics
The fact that there was three-on-three hockey in August is enough of a win for any hockey fan, even though the competing clubs may not have been thrilled to be partaking in it. As can be expected, it was a thrilling up-and-down battle with both goalies making stunning saves.
Just as it looked like the five minutes would solve nothing, Alex Tuch put the game on his stick. Well, Mark Stone put the game on Tuch’s stick but you get the point. Stone made a stellar defensive play in his own end and managed to steal the puck back.
He connected with Tuch who had started to make his move down the wing. The way Tuch skated in looked incredibly like Marchessault’s penalty shot: down the left side with speed. And just like Marchessault, Tuch fired a wrister over Grubauer’s glove into the top corner, locking his team into top spot in the West.
The Bottom Line
The Golden Knights have an interesting challenge ahead of them in the Blackhawks, but their final game against the Avalanche underscored some must-dos and don’ts for the team in any game going forward.
The biggest must-do for the club is starting Lehner. Despite the three goals he let in, he was still outstanding, not to mention that he was hardly to blame. While yes, he had some fault for biting on the second goal, the fact that Donskoi was left completely alone on the doorstep is not something Lehner can be faulted for. And when you compare his two outings to Fleury’s performance, Lehner simply looks to be the more dialled in, not to mention confident, option of the two.
Going forward, Vegas cannot leave Lehner to deal with the amount of scrambles as he had to against the Avs. At the very least, they have to have just as many guys in the scramble to prevent what happened in the final round robin game from coming back up in a potential elimination situation as being forced to bow out because of a messy goal would be an unjust end to a team of this caliber.