The Vegas Golden Knights got socked in the mouth hard on Sunday. We're talking about a humiliating 7-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, losing to an AHL goalie. Take your pick from the many duds that the Golden Knights had on Sunday, whether it was Adin Hill or a lack of offense. Overall, it was a horrible day for Vegas.
Mark Stone was perfectly blunt about Sunday's embarrassing loss, summing up the game with the perfect analogy. And no, there were no glowing reviews about the Golden Knights in his postgame comments.
"It looked like an NHL team vs a Junior team. It didn't look anything like what we are."Mark Stone
I'll let you take a guess on which team the Golden Knights were on Sunday. I'll give you a hint: it wasn't the NHL team that they looked like.
But in all seriousness, the Captain isn't wrong. Everything was off about the Golden Knights on Sunday. They were bad offensively and couldn't generate any solid chances. They also had defensive lapses, leaving Adin Hill compromised. Heck, Hill himself was terrible, stopping 24 of 31 shots. You can say that it was an anti-Ice Cube kind of day on Sunday.
The Vegas Golden Knights must have a strong response heading into Tuesday's game against the Montreal Canadiens after this Senators dud
Sunday's game against the Senators looked like January games of old. The Golden Knights looked flat in every area, whether it was offensive incompetence, skates that weren't moving, or a combination of bad defense and goaltending. The traumatic memories of old January games left fans feeling extremely uncomfortable.
That's why the Golden Knights need a strong response on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal isn't a last-place team in the Atlantic Division and has a wide array of scoring options. That includes Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky, all players who can punish you on the attack.
It's no wonder that Montreal has the NHL's sixth-best attack as of Sunday (3.37 goals per game). If you thought that Ottawa had a good array of options, just wait until you see what the Canadiens have in store. That could inflate Stone's "Junior Team" comments to another stratosphere, highlighting some glaring problems for Vegas.
On top of that, it could sour a once-pleasant January for a Golden Knights team. They have a game against a great Dallas Stars team with—you guessed it—a wide array of scoring options. If Vegas can't construct a 60-minute game against Dallas or Montreal, they're in trouble.
Stone's comments show the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of the Golden Knights this season. They've had games where they've looked good and others where they've laid goose eggs. Tuesday's the perfect time for Vegas to turn things around and stand on business. Otherwise, they could be sent... to the juniors.