Vegas Golden Knights: Main Takeaways from Shootout win in Chicago
There was a happy ending to the three-game road trip for the Vegas Golden Knights after they edged the Chicago Blackhawks in a Shootout on Tuesday night.
After shutting out the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday but then following that up with an ugly 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night, the Vegas Golden Knights were able to find their legs in the second game of a back-to-back and grind out an important win.
It looked to be heading in the opposite direction, however, with Kirby Dach‘s first-ever goal in the National Hockey League the only one on the scoreboard heading into the third period.
Marc-Andre Fleury, as he has done through the first three weeks of the 2019-20 NHL regular season, absolutely dominated and stood on his head for the Golden Knights, making a plethora of sublime saves, including a stunning stop to rob Patrick Kane.
However, Mark Stone did Mark Stone things to find Nick Holden with a sublime dish at 18:27 in the third period, and the defensemen one-timed the puck through Robin Lehner‘s five-hole with Fleury pulled for an extra skater.
Vegas were gifted a 4-on-3 power play in Overtime and nearly took advantage of it thanks to Max Pacioretty, although the forward was absolutely robbed by Lehner.
That consigned the game to a Shootout and Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore emerged as the hero following some filthy moves before backhanding the puck past Lehner, while Fleury also made some big saves as he did during regulation.
Here were our three main takeaways from the Vegas Golden Knights’ 2-1 Shootout success over the Chicago Blackhawks…
1. Theodore Loves The Hawks
Now, that headline can be a bit misleading at first but obviously we don’t mean that Shea Theodore loves the Chicago Blackhawks in the conventional way.
I mean, he could but that’s not what I mean. Anyway, what I do mean is that Theodore absolutely loves playing against the Blackhawks.
Going back to last season, Theodore recorded three goals against the Hawks in addition to two assists, including scoring twice in the Knights’ 8-3 demolition on November, 27, 2018.
And the blueliner was at it again last night at the United Center as he stepped up to the plate to score the winning goal in the Shootout, performing some filthy moves before lifting a backhanded shot to beat Blackhawks goalie Robin Lehner.
Theodore was a dominant force for the Golden Knights on Tuesday night, again leading all Vegas skaters in total ice time with 26:57, recording four shots on goal, one hit and one blocked shot.
Theodore is also two-for-two in the Shootout this season after also being successful in the success over the Ottawa Senators earlier month, and the defenseman now has one goal and four assists for five points in 11 games.
And, one thing is for certain, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to be hoping Theodore isn’t available when these two teams next meet on November, 13.
2. More Milestones For Fleury
Another night, another significant milestone for Marc-Andre Fleury.
It has been quite the week for the future Hall of Famer who waltzed into his former home on Saturday and shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 29-save shutout.
As a result, the 34-year-old tied Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk for seventh in all-time wins with 445, while he also tied four-time Stanley Cup winner Clint Benedict for 20th all-time in shutouts with 58.
But Fleury wasn’t content with that and he racked up another milestone last night after claiming sole possession of seventh place on the NHL all-time wins list with win No. 446.
And Fleury is now just four wins behind New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (450) for sixth place on the all-time list.
For those interested, New Jersey Devils legend and Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur is sitting No. 1 with 691 wins, and that is an honor he is likely to keep hold of for a while.
Back to Fleury, though, and the netminder was absolutely outstanding again on Tuesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, stopping 31 of 32 shots including two in the Shutout.
Many of those saves were 10-bell stops including an absolutely breathtaking pad save to rob Blackhawks star Patrick Kane.
Fleury is playing at the peak of his powers right now with a 2.04 Goals Against Average and a .937 Save Percentage through 10 games, and he’s on pace to add yet another historic season to his already prestigious resume.
3. 5-on-5 Struggles
Although the Vegas Golden Knights got the two points last night, they struggled offensively and that has become a trend in the last two games.
Of course, it is nothing to worry about yet because it is such a small sample size, but it is worth keeping an eye on going forward.
After scoring the tying goal against the Chicago Blackhawks at 6-on-five with Marc-Andre Fleury pulled, the Knights have now gone over 170 minutes without scoring a goal 5-on-5, yet they still took four points from a three-game road trip which is pretty incredible.
Now, as we’ve already stated, we don’t think this is anything to be alarmed about because the Golden Knights do possess so much firepower and that won’t be a problem going forward.
Because, after all, every team in the NHL will endure a scoring slump at some point during the course of the 2019-20 regular season and every offense has a handful of offnights.
Next. Theodore, Fleury help get job done against Blackhawks. dark
It was just a poor effort against the Flyers all over the ice while last night was the story of the two netminders, with both Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner pulling off some huge saves for their team.
With a few days rest before their next game, don’t be surprised to see the Vegas Golden Knights end their five-on-five slump against a very, very good Colorado Avalanche team on Friday at T-Mobile Arena.