Vegas Golden Knights. Power Play explodes, other takeaways
It was a wild night at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday as the Vegas Golden Knights fought back to beat the St. Louis Blues 6-5 in overtime.
Jonathan Marchessault buried the game-winner in overtime for the Vegas Golden Knights in a game that featured a handful of lead changes.
After dropping consecutive losses, the Knights were knocked on the canvas by the Blues just 25 seconds into the game as Zach Sanford wired a shot from the circle past Malcolm Subban.
Vegas hit back quickly, however, as Max Pacioretty ripped a shot beyond Jordan Binnington and the forward tallied his second goal of the game at 6:34 in the first after jamming the puck into the net after the Blues failed to clear the zone.
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But St. Lous responded in what was a wild first period as Sanford scored with his backhand, before Mackenzie MacEachern deflected a shot past Subban.
Sanford then made it a two-goal game early in the second period as he recorded his first career hat trick, with the Blues seemingly in the driving seat.
However, as we’ve learnt already this year, there are plenty of twists and turns in games between these teams and that was proven to be the case again.
Jonathan Marchessault ripped a snipe past Binnington on the power play before the man advantage came up with the goods again early in the third period, Nate Schmidt unleashing a thunderous one-timer from the point to make it a tied game.
Sanford lit the lamp yet again, though, to give the Blues another lead, but Alex Tuch came up clutch in his 200th career game in the NHL to take the contest to overtime.
And, after absolutely dominating in overtime with seven shots to St. Louis’ 0, the Golden Knights had the last laugh as Marchessault blasted a shot on the rebound past Binnington for the game-winner.
It was a crazy game and we had some takeaways from the Vegas Golden Knights’ huge win over the St. Louis Blues…
1. Never Say Die
Given how inconsistent the Vegas Golden Knights have been this year, coupled with the fact that they were coming off the back of two consecutive losses, this game could have really got away from the Knights.
After all, Zach Sanford lit the lamp just 25 seconds in for the first of his four-game night, while the Blues held three separate leads during the course of the game.
It was yet another game littered with mistakes by the Golden Knights too, particularly in their own zone as Malcolm Subban was kept busy.
However, it was fortunate that the Blues were just as bad in their own zone as the Knights were, resulting in a rough night for both goalies.
And you have to give credit where credit is due because this is an elite St. Louis team, but the Golden Knights refused to die, they hung on in there and they were ultimately rewarded.
Even after Sanford had scored yet again to give the Blues a 5-4 lead, Vegas kept on battling and Alex Tuch’s clutch goal at 15:20 in the third took the game to overtime.
It also broke St. Louis spiritually and the Golden Knights went on to dominate in overtime, peppering Jordan Binnington with a flurry of shots before Jonathan Marchessault potted the game-winner.
This was a real statement win for the Vegas Golden Knights and it was the perfect start to what is an incredibly tough homestand.
2. Power Play Goes Off
It has been a strange year for the Vegas Golden Knights Special Teams.
Starting the year off hot, both the penalty kill and the power play has dipped somewhat throughout the regular season, although the PP has remained fairly consistent.
However, the Golden Knights had gone a woeful 1-for-18 on the power play in their previous five games before Thursday.
But, as we all know, it is all about how you respond and the man advantage absolutely went off against the Blues.
They went a nearly perfect 4-for-5 including tallying the goal that made it a one-goal game on the power play, in addition to the game-winner in overtime that was also scored on the man advantage.
The top power play unit in particularly had themselves a night with Max Pacioretty,
, William Karlsson, Nate Schmidt and
all recording multi-point nights on the man advantage.
That is how you should execute on the power play and the Golden Knights should be executing on the man advantage every night given the weapons they’ve got.
Plus, it was also a good night for the penalty kill that has struggled of late, going a perfect 0/2 on the PK against the 11th ranked power play in the NHL.
3. Flaws exposed again
As big a win as this was for the Vegas Golden Knights, it was no Picasso and it again highlighted some of this team’s biggest flaws.
And the biggest of those bugaboos, of course, is the defense which continues to be a huge problem for the Golden Knights.
They were bailed out by the explosive power play on this occasion and the efforts of the likes of Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch, Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone.
But, as the old saying goes, defense wins championships and the Golden Knights will have to do a lot of work in their own zone if they want to embark on a deep postseason run.
As was the case in the blowout loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, the Knights were way too careless with the puck in their own zone and they coughed up a total of 11 Giveaways.
They also failed to protect Malcolm Subban who allowed five goals from 24 shots, while the Blues were able to score a couple of greasy goals.
Take St. Louis’ second goal where Zach Sanford was left all alone in-front of Subban, with the forward having the time to switch to his backhand and put the puck in the net.
And the Blues’ third goal of the night was also an indictment on how bad the Vegas defense has been, which has now allowed 15 goals in the last three games.
Alex Tuch tried to skate out of the zone but instead he had the puck stripped from him, which led to Sanford eventually jamming the puck home after Subban had come up with a couple of big stops.
Of all the needs the Vegas Golden Knights need to address at the Trade Deadline, acquiring a puck-moving defenseman who can help with the transition game and maybe a blueliner with a bit of grit to his game will be the biggest priority.
Because, if the Golden Knights don’t eradicate the flaws on their blueline then it could be a very long summer for this franchise.
4. Big Guns Deliver
When the going gets tough you need your big hitters to step up to the plate and the Vegas Golden Knights got some huge contributions from their stars on Thursday.
Jonathan Marchessault potted the game-winner in overtime and had two goals on the night, while Alex Tuch marked his 200th career game in the NHL with the goal that sent the game to overtime.
Nate Schmidt, who is on a bit of a resurgence since the All-Star Break, unleashed arguably the hardest shot of his career for his 7th goal of the year.
And William Karlsson, Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty and Shea Theodore all recorded multi-point nights as the Golden Knights got a statement win.
Karlsson back in the lineup has made a massive difference for Vegas, with the line of Karlsson, Stone and Pacioretty absolutely wreaking havoc against the Blues.
Stone now has 57 points (20 goals, 37 assists) on the year and Pacioretty has 26 goals and 29 assists for 55 points.
On a night where the Vegas defense again put up a stinker, the Golden Knights’ vast array of firepower came through and won this game.
Next. Vegas Vs. Blues: Good, Bad & The Ugly. dark
This is why the Knights amassed so much offensive talent and, if Vegas don’t rectify their defensive deficiencies, then they might need their collection of potent weapons to come up big on a nightly basis.