Vegas Golden Knights Vs. Blues: Good, Bad and the Ugly

It was yet another wild finish between these two teams as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the St. Louis Blues 6-5 in overtime on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena.

Following what was a bonkers 5-4 OT win on Jan. 4, the Vegas Golden Knights again showed a bucketload of resiliency to come back and stun the Blues.

With teammate Jay Bouwmeester at the forefront of their minds, St. Louis came out swinging and they landed the first blow of the night when Zach Sanford scored just 25 seconds into the contest.

Vegas responded, though, as Max Pacioretty snapped a wrister from the circle to beat Jordan Binnington on the power play.

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Pacioretty then jammed home a rebound to give the Knights a 2-1 lead, although the Blues came fighting right back.

Sanford flipped a puck past Malcolm Subban for his second goal of the night, before Mackenzie MacEachern directed a Ivan Barbashev shot past Subban to give the Blues the lead going into the second period.

And it appeared as though it was going to be a third straight loss for the Golden Knights, who further fell behind when Sanford completed his hat trick after finishing his own rebound after Vegas had coughed up a turnover in their own zone.

A crazy game continued and the momentum began to swing back into the Knights’ favor as they converted on back-to-back power plays.

Jonathan Marchessault cranked a one-timer past Binnington before Nate Schmidt unleashed a scorching one-timer from the point to make it a tied game.

That man Sanford struck again though with his fourth goal of the game to put the Blues back on top, but Alex Tuch marked his 200th career game in style by redirecting a Jon Merrill shot beyond Binnington to take the game to overtime.

This was a truly bonkers contest and there was one more twist in the tale as Marchessault came up clutch 2:30 into overtime, wristing a rebound past Binnington for the game-winner and Vegas’ fourth power play goal of the night.

It was a huge win for the Vegas Golden Knights over the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, and we broke the game down in our own unique way…

The Good

The Power Play – What a turnaround. After going a woeful 1-for-18 on the man advantage in their previous five games, the Golden Knights exploded on the power play against the St. Louis Blues.

They went 4-for-5 on the man advantage, including scoring the game-winner on the power play in overtime.

The top unit in particular was explosive with Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone, Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore and Jonathan Marchessault all recording multi-point nights on the power play.

Vegas has the weapons to roll out two highly-dangerous power play units on a nightly basis and, as we saw on Thursday, when they are clicking the Knights boast one of the best man advantages in the NHL.

Jonathan Marchessault – The forward had himself a night with two power play goals, including the game-winner in overtime.

Marchessault’s first goal was an absolute snipe and he came up clutch with the game on his stick 2:30 into overtime for the game-winner, which was also his 20th goal of the year.

Entertainment Factor – If you were at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday then you were treated to an absolute breathtaking game of hockey.

With the Knights and the Blues combining for 11 goals, a total of four power play goals, two lead changes in the first period and the highest-scoring game of the season for Vegas, this was a good night to be a hockey fan.

Alex Tuch – It was a special night for the forward who was playing in his 200th career NHL game, and Tuch capped it off in emphatic style.

With the Vegas Golden Knights trailing by a goal, Tuch came up clutch when it mattered most to redirect a Jon Merrill shot past Jordan Binnington to take the game to overtime.

Zach Sanford – Okay, so we don’t usually praise players on the opposite team but it is hard not to do on this occasion given the night Zach Sanford had.

The forward recorded his first career hat trick, before going on to tally his fourth goal of the game in an impressive offensive outburst.

It was a hell of a night for Sanford who now has 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) on the year in 44 games.

New Line – For the very first time, the Golden Knights rolled out a line of Max Pacioretty, William Karlsson and Mark Stone for the whole game.

And it was beautiful.

Arguably one of the most talented nights in all of hockey, the trio were on the ice together for 10:58 of 5-on-5 time, scoring the only even-strength goal of the game for Vegas while having a Corsi of 85% and creating 10 scoring chances and 6 high-danger chances.

It was also a hell of a night for the trio, who recorded nine points between them with all three players registering multi-point nights.

The Bad

Alex Tuch’s Injury – We’ve already talked about what was a special night for Alex Tuch but, sadly, it didn’t end on a high note.

Because, with minutes left in the third period, the forward took a hard fall into the boards with his left leg tangled.

It looked nasty and, as of now, there is no official update on Tuch who has already missed significant time this year with two upper-body injuries.

The Ugly

Defense Woes – This blueline isn’t a stellar one and it continues to put up an absolute stinker for the Vegas Golden Knights.

In the last three games the Golden Knights have allowed 15 goals alone, while they ranked 17th in Goals Against Per Game (3.07).

And the Knights defense had another rough night against the Blues, allowing five goals including the first goal of the game just 25 seconds after the puck had been dropped.

They coughed up 11 Giveaways and, as was the case in the loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, the Golden Knights didn’t work hard enough in-front of Malcolm Subban, allowing the Blues to score their fair share of greasy goals.

The first and fourth goals of the game by St. Louis perhaps summed up the struggles on the blueline all year for Vegas, who couldn’t transition out of the zone and ended up giving the puck away which led to goals.

If the Vegas Golden Knights are to embark on a deep postseason run, then they will really need to go to work on their play inside their own zone both with and without the puck.