Vegas Golden Knights: Takeaways Against the Canucks
By Evan Mead
The Vegas Golden Knights Change of Play
The Vegas Golden Knights are back and they are coming for the cup. The Knights were lacking defense and offense that led to a lot of close matchups for a what felt like half a season. However, the Knights have seemed to have figured things out.
Since the stretch of losses, the Knights have won eight of their last 10 games. The Knights are not just winning games, but they are doing it simply by becoming an offensive powerhouse. As a whole, the Knights have become a team that reminds me a lot like the Tampa Bay Lightning.
They have transitioned their play to an offensive minded game. They are applying pressure to their opposition to have to try and beat them by getting them out of the offensive zone. When doing that though, you have to have a goalie who can handle the load.
If you would’ve told me this is the style that the Vegas Golden Knights were going to run, my immediate response to that would’ve been “Robin Lehner can’t handle facing that many shots on goal. They need to play a defensive minded game like the New York Islanders.”, It’s safe to say that didn’t age well.
Robin Lehner has been remarkable every game he’s played in. Even the losses the Vegas Golden Knights have didn’t come because Robin Lehner didn’t show up. In fact, on the nights that they have lost, Lehner was arguably their best player.
Anyways, now getting back to the takeaway against the Canucks, this Vegas Golden Knights offensive production has been absolutely incredible. The Knights, in their last 10 games they’ve played, have a total of 37 goals scored.
They’ve been pushing the puck in the transition game, they’ve been trying to taking more shots, and been trying to create more turnovers in the neutral zone. The combination of all of these has allowed the Vegas Golden Knights team to really start turning things around.
If the Vegas Golden Knights can sustain this offensive style approach, they will not just succeed but truly make yet another run for the cup. The team that we are seeing right now, and the team we saw last night, it’s a team that shows they will fight until the very end.
When you miss a wide open back-door shot, and in return see the Canucks take it down the ice for a goal early on. It’s a little hard on the mind to comprehend the fact that it’s your fault. You missed the wide open shot and you faced the consequence.
Not to mention that in the matter of minutes, the Canucks ended up getting another goal on the board to go up 2-0. But, the Knights battled back and ended up walking away with the 7-4 win. They stayed true to their style of play and ended up walking away with yet another win.
This team is special, and it looks as though they’ve figured things out. The National Hockey League needs to be on high alert for the Knights now.