Recap: The Penguins came out strong scoring first 2:53 into the opening period. Eventually Mallin netted his 12th of the year with a nifty backhand over Marc-Andre Fleury. Patric Hornqvist added another goal giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes played.
Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead with 4:18 into the second period on a power play goal. Max Pacioretty would bury his 19th goal of the season keeping Vegas alive. Paul Stastny got his team even closer picking up a power play for the Golden Knights. After two periods the home team trailed 3-2.
The Penguins would extend their lead 4-2 early in the 3rd but Reilly Smith would later get Vegas back to within one. The Golden Knights had a late power play and pulled Fleury for an extra attacker but wouldn’t score the tying goal. After a strong effort, Vegas fell 4-3 to the Penguins.
Vegas’ record drops to 24-16-6 and fall into second place in the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights will next face off against the LA Kings on Thursday night. Puck drops at 7PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: Yet again the Golden Knights found themselves in a 3-0 hole, however this time it was a bit different. A terrible turnover, a power play goal, and a quick play off a draw meant the Penguins capitalized on all three good chances. That’s about all they had, which can’t be said about the Blues game. Vegas took a bit to start creating dangerous chances, but the Stone, Stastny, Pacioretty line started to do so and did it in a big way. However, the Golden Knights didn’t get enough from everyone else. Overall there were three issues. First, the goalie simply wasn’t good enough. Vegas allowed 15 shots and four goals, two of which he absolutely could have stopped. Second, there wasn’t enough from the other three lines. All the offense had to come from the one line and you aren’t winning much that way. Third, careless mistakes from multiple players early. When they made them, Pittsburgh scored. In the end, it’s not the worst loss in the world, but it’s a frustrating one nonetheless. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs Pittsburgh Penguins at T-Mobile Arena
- Unintended consequences of VGKD 2.0
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Max Pacioretty-Paul Stastny-Mark Stone
** Shea Theodore
* Max Pacioretty-Paul Stastny-Mark Stone
Moral of the story: Don't go down 3-0.
Vegas played a whale of a game (again) after falling in a deep hole. It may happen once in a blue moon, but 1st period defensive problems need to be fixed.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 8, 2020
Shea Theodore has been a man on a mission the last 10 minutes of this game. Absolutely incredible play all over the ice. Nearly set up 2 goals and now draws the penalty.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 8, 2020
The Golden Knights have allowed 10 1st period goals in the 5 games on this homestand.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 8, 2020
Corsi per @NatStatTrick
1st Line – 7 for, 3 against
2nd Line – 22 for 6 against
3rd Line – 6 for, 6 against
4th Line – 4 for, 3 against— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 8, 2020
Foley
Both Fleury and nate Schmidt stunk in this one. Schmidt has been having poor first periods for several games now. He is simply not the player he was 2 seasons ago, he has slowed up noticeably, lost a step or two, and thus his pairing with McNabb is not nearly as effective as it was in season 1.
Standing flat footed with the puck and making high risk passes into the opponents traffic in the middle of the neutral zone is not smart hockey.
Or how about the recent game where he shot the puck into the opponents shin pads twice at the point, giving up 2 first period breakaways that they did not score on.
First 2 seasons= Schmidt PLUS 41, this year ZERO
= McNabb PLUS 37, this year MINUS 2
They need another puck lugging dman who can carry the puck out of trouble, like Shea does. And the 3rd pair with Engelland and Hague is just too slow footed, as the 4th goal that eventually was the game winner showed.
a trade for Vatanen might be in the works.
Easy ed
Ken what would you attribute the failure to of the balance of players apart from Stone line. Fluery sure wasn’t at his best l saw some life in others but not much. Why do you think that was the case.
Joe
It’s almost if they struggle against good teams. Has anyone ever brought this up to Gallant? I mean don’t most teams struggle against good teams. Can’t see why that question would upset anyone.
The good news is that the Pacific can be had by just going .500 against the contenders and taking care of business with the dregs.
Got until mid April to figure it out.