Recap: The first period was a bit of the mess for the Golden Knights up in Minnesota. Vegas was awarded a power play :30 seconds into the game but couldn’t take the early lead. The Wild jumped all over their man-advantages, scoring twice to take a 2-0 first period lead. The Golden Knights had three total power plays but could only muster up two shots.
Minnesota doubled their lead to 4-0 in the middle frame. One of the Wild’s second period goals was on the power play, scoring three so far in the game. Vegas again had trouble getting going on offense, and continued to struggle on special teams.
Down 4-0, coach Pete DeBoer replaced Marc-Andre Fleury with backup Malcolm Subban to start the final period. Neither team had much offense in the 3rd, combining for only nine shots on net. The Wild closed out the period and finished off Vegas 4-0.
Vegas’ record drops to 28-22-8 and sit on 64 points. The team heads home and will face the reigning Stanley Cup champions St. Louis Blues on Thursday night. Puck drops at 7p. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: The special teams were especially bad tonight. Despite having heaps of chances on the PP the Golden Knights did nothing and they couldn’t kill a penalty to save their lives. From there, they became undisciplined and it devolved into a nightmare. An absolute trainwreck from start to finish. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center
- A new message about the goalie rotation
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Reilly Smith
** Brayden McNabb
* William Karlsson
The Golden Knights have been shutout for the 3rd time this season.
This one was by far the most feeble of the 3.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 12, 2020
Will talk more in-depth on the podcast tomorrow, but this game is not on the head coach. Like the first 49 weren't on the previous head coach.
There are some issues with this roster that need to be corrected. Until they are they'll remain inconsistent. No coach can solve that.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 12, 2020
I'm not "feeling" well.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 12, 2020
Vgk4life
Good thing we dumped a fan and player favorite in Gallant! I can definitely see the improvements with Deboer who accomplished less with more at San jose. Maybe the real issue our GM and letting certain key players go and signing pick ups who are much less effective and keeping others who shouldn’t even be in the league.
Hdbiker7851
Ken without a doubt the worst pathetic performance of the year. They look beat before they started there is absolutely no excuse.
Derrick Callahan
Debor is a clown! Get our coach back!
Stephen Cupp
Why would he come back? Would you. I mean he is still under contract until the end of next season, but I’ve never heard it being done. With the way coaches go in the NHL we might get him back in 4-6 years.
Tarnished
is Babcock next?
but seriously, this team needs a big shakeup and major trades.
if there are no trades in the next few days, then this front office is not serious about winning in Vegas. how does that make your blood boil, huh Bill Foley??
p.s.—–Fleury has watched 11 pucks go by him in just 5 periods and a shootout, while 2 backup goalies have beaten him in consecutive games.
PATHETIC !!!!!!!
Stephen Cupp
To make a trade you need a trading partner. My concern for the front office is with more teams really close to making it into the playoffs there are a lot more buyers then sellers.
Derrick Callahan
Stand behind the bench! And make sure we don’t have a chance! VGK needs a coach! Or someone to slash his balls! This guy is a clown! No Hart just like the carp he coach before.
Stephen Cupp
I don’t think there is anything he could have done. This is all on the players. Sounds like the leaders of this team need to have a closed door meeting and not come out until they figure this out.
Tiki Owl
Why even pick 3 stars after that performance? This season hinges on the upcoming long home stand and the complete lack of consistent quality play thus far this year doesn’t lave me with a lot of confidence.
Stephen Cupp
My three stars would be
#1 The Medical trainer
#2 The equipment manager
#3 The bus driver
Tim
The player makeup just isn’t working and it hasn’t all year. You can keep switching lines but it doesn’t solve the problem. Eakin and Tuch score about every 15 games and that’s not going to get it done. With the Blues, Capitals, and Lightning our next 3 games we’ll know which way were going at the trade deadline. If you wait until the 24th to make a trade it may be to late. We are what we are and that’s not a very good hockey team. Fluery is done, Subban isn’t going to lead us to the promised land so were stuck if you can’t trust your goalie. We have slowed as a team and it shows were usually one step behind and we’ve seen that since the start of the season. Some of you say this was our worse game what about the New York Rangers game 5 Zip, we lose to Detroit, Anaheim, LA thats 5 games and 10 points we gave away. Maybe we need to regroup figure out who we want to keep and be sellers at the trade deadline. We have very little cap space and in the real would say we pickup Alex Martinez or Brennen Dillion is that really going to put us over the top? Stantsy and Eakin would be at the top of my trade list there’s over 10 million that could be saved dumping those two. I’d give Tuch another year but now he’s all show and no go big body skates well but doesn’t score so whats the point. We need to inject some young talent with speed or next year will be the same ole same ole.
Stephen Cupp
Fluery’s not done. You just have to put a better defense in front of him. Eakin is gone at the end of the year even if he can’t be traded at the deadline. I’ve been saying all year they just need one more good defenseman and they will be dangerous. I still believe that. Unlike others I’m not going to blame the coach. Gallant didn’t have the answer and DeBoer doesn’t either. The answer has to come from the players. The leaders of the team needs to have a players only closed door meeting and not come out until they figure it out.
Tarnished
how about they get into a meeting and say “hey, why don’t we play sound DEFENSIVE hockey. why don’t we strive to win games 1-0 and 2-1. why don’t we backcheck harder. why don’t we have a keep-it-out-of-OUR-net-at-all-costs mindset. why don’t our forwards block shots. why don’t we dump pucks in deep instead of forcing east west turnover passes in the neutral zone. where is our 60 minute forecheck work ethic??
why can’t our dmen stop pinching when it is not feasible, and giving up 2-on-1 breaks
and let’s find a goalie who will forego the acrobat routine, stay in position, and give us a .920 save % ???
nah, who am I kidding? let’s keep losing games 5-4. let’s keep losing big leads at home. let’s keep the big contracts flowing while we miss the playoffs. let’s keep cashing in that chip we used to have on our shoulder in season 1
Stephen Cupp
You can’t play with a chip on your shoulder for three years. It doesn’t work that way. They don’t necessarily need to change the style they play. Just the compete level.
Stephen Cupp
Gary Lawless made a good point tonight. When Reaves got slashed in the balls no one stood up for him. That’s a problem.
Dan T.
If you think one man is going to fix team, whether a defense man, wing man or Super man, you are mistaken.
The talent is there, and right now, the net is weak. Players need to step up, and we need someone in the net, for now at least.
Stephen Cupp
Well Dan you seem to be placing the blame on one man. I think one defenseman can make a difference. For one it would take some of the pressure off Fleury. If they could clear the zone instead of giving it up two or three times then they could play in the offensive zone more often. That would lead to more goals which would give them more confidence.
Turk Broda
poor rebound control. He just uses his legs like flippers, but that just leaves loose pucks in front of the net and the little acrobat out of position.
He is poor with his glove and hands, catching pucks or reaching down and freezing pucks. and is also weak on handling and distributing the puck to his dmen from behind his net.
They need a puck blocker, a big guy who is calm and solid, not a frantic little acrobat flopping and diving and giving up easy rebounds while he contorts himself out of position.
“show me a good goalie and I’ll show you a good coach”……that means that Gallant paid the price already for his 2 netminders’ poor season.
Binnington made Berube a good coach..take away Binnington’s unexpected surprise great play and Berube is just another guy behind the bench.
Fleury has been a very good goalie most of the time in his career, until Matt Murray took over his job about 4 years ago, BUT he is in the twilight of that career, and his style of play does not work well in today’s NHL where the dmen cannot get as physical in front of the net anymore (see penalty given to Merrill for doing just that)
Tim
How can anyone think one good defensive player will lead us to the promised land we have more problems then that. Gallant couldn’t fix it and DeBoer isn’t going to fix it it’s the players as much as they hype them the bottom line is there not that good. Oh well I love the team for better or worse glad we have them. I find it easy to start watching the game and when were down 2 zip I change the channel less aggravation because you know were not coming back. The next 3 games will be interesting it will be more excuses when we get blown out of the water.
mac
Brendan Dillon (3rd pair goon) or Martinez (washed up) or Gostisbehere (regressed badly) etc would not make one bit of difference, and they would cost the Vgk top draft picks and future talent
Only a topnotch first pair dman would make a difference, and teams are not giving away those kind of players.
and they already fired the coach.
So, the only way that one person can make a difference is to get a new goalie. It may work, it may not…… it did for St Louis………..but if one popular player’s ego is more important than the entire team, then this franchise has REAL trouble sorting out its priorities (the Penguins certainly didn’t)
Tarnished
The fact that they have to start the 4th line every game to “drag the team into the fray” tells us all we need to know about the other players on lines 1 to 3. It proves that this year’s team is complacent, and big contract comfortable, and they won’t very often give a full 60 minute effort, but instead will play hard only in spurts, and THAT is not good enough in today’s super competitive NHL.
hell, they lost to Det, Buff, LA TWICE, Ana, got shutout by NYR and Columbus and Minny.
that looks like a team that does not work harder than the opponent, and does not have the skill to dominate a weaker team either.
Hdbiker7851
Well tarnished it appears we are looking thru the same glasses and it all boils down to one thing – attitude of all the players each and everyone one of them. They should be embarrased they have the potential. Do they have weakness in many places sure, other teams do as well. Those weaknesses can be overcome with the right attitude. 40 years ago in Lake placid USA did the impossible with a bunch of kids, vegas two yrs ago did likewise with a bunch of rejects. They can play, score,stop pucks if they put their mind to it unfortunately they don’t think that way all the time. We all were spoiled year one including the players – unfortunately they got what they wanted big $$$$$ and the fans got screwed thinking Lord Stanley was just around the corner.