The Vegas Golden Knights got their first taste of action against the Sharks last night, and the result wasn’t ideal. Although, it didn’t go the way they wanted, some good came of the game.
After having the summer off, the Vegas Golden Knights 2021-22 season is officially on the way. There was a lot of hype in the early parts of training camp, and they were finally able to put that to the test. With a lot of young players like Peyton Krebs, Paul Cotter, Jack Dugan, Lukas Cormier, and Logan Thompson competing for a roster spot, they were given plenty of chances to show DoBoer what they can do.
Three Things I Noticed Against the Sharks
After 60 minutes of game-play, the Vegas Knights ended up losing 4-2 against the San Jose Sharks. However, with it being pre-season, the coaches agreed to do a shootout at the end of the game which ultimately lead to the Knights losing that as well. Looking at it from the perspective that they lost, it wasn’t a great game but we were able to get some good looks at some of the new Knights, and prospects. So with that being said, after making a list of notes of things I noticed, let’s get into what some of those are.
Poor Passing
The Vegas Golden Knights struggled finding a rhythm with their passing early on in the first period. While in transition, there were multiple turnovers out of the defensive zone that set up and created multiple chances for the Sharks. Prior to game-time, there was no speculation that the passing was going to be a problem or even beating the sharks was going to be a problem. We were wrong.
The Knights, although they did bring in some new faces to try and create a better offensive team given the lack of scoring in the playoffs. With that being said, they brought in center, Nolan Patrick, and wing, Evengii Dadonov, but the Knights stayed the same for the most part. However, with that being said, the chemistry was lacking yesterday with numerous turnovers trying to force passes, and trying to do to much while trying to set up plays.
It’s early on in the season and that was only the first game of the season, but it wasn’t pretty. Looking back at the game, although the passing wasn’t pretty, it was only a pre-season game. Things are going to improve as the players get their legs back underneath them, and the chemistry builds.
Careless mistakes
The Vegas Knights passing was big problem yesterday, but they still could’ve easily won that game. There were multiple careless mistakes with the puck that, unfortunately, resulted in the Sharks getting two easy goals. In the pre-season it’s not uncommon by any stretch to see a team give you players minutes and that’s exactly what DoBoer did. The Knights gave a lot of young guys such as: Coghlan, Hayes, Krebs, Dugan, and Cotter quite a few minutes to start the pre-season. However, as everyone knows, when you play with fire you’re going to get burned.
When you insist on getting inexperienced players chances it’s going to result in a lot of mistakes with the puck and could lead to easy goals for the opposition. Yesterday, Krebs was on the boards with the puck when he played the puck right into the slot which resulted in a easy top shelf goal for Chmelveski. One of the biggest no-no’s is do not make a pass to the slot in the defensive zone. He is a young player and those mistakes are bound to happen, it’s how they learn from their mistakes.
Even as professional hockey players, they are only human and they will make mistakes. It’s a pre-season game, but they are going to have to cut down on the careless mistakes prior to the start of the season.
Power play
The Vegas Knights had a very good offensive day despite only have two goals. With Max Pacioretty, Jack Dugan, and Paul Cotter, the Knights offense was firing on all cylinders. They were able to total two goals against the Sharks, one of which was a power play goal by star forward, Max Pacioretty. The Knights were able to show great discipline with the puck in the offensive zone and showed great control along the perimeter. However, take from it what you will, but some of the young players were perhaps the best offensive players on the ice yesterday.
If the Knights could continue the strong showing they had on the power play, the Knights offense could be one of the best in the NHL.
Conclusion
The Vegas Golden Knights had a rough start to the game, but seemed to level out throughout the game. There were a lot of mistakes made by the team, but with it being pre-season, there is a lot of time to sharpen up and fix those mistakes.