Recap: Officially the 2020 postseason began for the Golden Knights in Edmonton. Vegas faced the Dallas Stars for their first of three Round Robin games. Coach Peter DeBoer gave Marc-Andre Fleury the day off and started Robin Lehner in his place.
Chandler Stephenson gave his team a quick 1-0 lead :64 seconds into the contest. New linemates William Karlsson and Mark Stone assisted on the goal. Vegas was awarded two power play opportunities in the first period but couldn’t convert on either. Lehner sealed the net tightly and stopped all eight shots from the Stars.
Dallas came out fast and hard to start the second period. The Stars peppered Lehner with shots eventually scoring two goals in :42 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Four minutes later Dallas extended their lead 3-1 scoring on their first power play. The Golden Knights severely struggled to clear the puck from their zone and allowed the Stars to set up their offense. After two periods Vegas trailed 3-1.
The Golden Knights woke up midway through the third period and scored three goals of their own. Stone scored a power play goal to make it a one goal game, Nate Schmidt tied the it 1:29 later. Three minutes later William Carrier scored with his back to the net and between his legs to give Vegas the 4-3 lead. William Karlsson put the game away with an empty net goal.
Vegas won their first game of the postseason 5-3, and are tied with Colorado in the Western conference Round Robin standings. The Golden Knights will next suit up against the St. Blues on Thursday. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: The Golden Knights started the game just how they wanted to. A quick strike transition goal from Stephenson opened the scoring and got Vegas going. They continued to control play with a few power plays thrown in throghout the first period. But, it all went downhill in the 2nd as the Golden Knights gave up goals on back-to-back shifts and couldn’t get out of their own zone the for most of the 20 minutes. In the 3rd, DeBoer’s line shiffling started to take hold as the old Karlsson, Smith, Marchessault line got going, Stone was tremendous working with Stephenson and Cousins, and the one line he left alone came through with the game winner. Wild, wacky, unpredictable game, but VGK is officially on the board in the round-robin. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs Dallas Stars at Rogers Place in the NHL Bubble.
- Line change brilliance or round-robin experimentation? Either way, VGK have 2 points.
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** William Carrier
** Nate Schmidt
* Mark Stone
"At the end of the day this is not about politics, it's about human rights. It's time to start doing something, not just let this be a new cycle and forget about it and do it over again." -Lehner
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 4, 2020
Wasn't exactly how they drew it up, but hockey and VGK's winning ways are officially back! #WontStopVegas
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 4, 2020
What William Carrier has been working on for the last 5 months. pic.twitter.com/m2InrDtUjh
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 4, 2020
Didn't think it was possible for the PK to look worse than the 5-on-5 has this period, but it did. That pressure PK system has not taken hold yet at all and they're running out of time to figure it out.
3-1 DAL
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 3, 2020
Players of the @DallasStars and @GoldenKnights kneel during the National Anthems. #WeSkateFor Equality pic.twitter.com/rrgAi1pPyQ
— NHL (@NHL) August 3, 2020
hdbiker7851
To bad this kneeling thing has gotten into hockey – I remember when Tim Tebow use to kneel but it wasn’t during the national anthems. As you recall it wasn’t taken to kindly so not sure why it is being allowed now. There are p lenty of ways to express your position on racism which is justified and things have to change. No sure the way they are going about it helps and turns many people off about the problem. Does racism have to end absolutely that’ not even a question. All life matters no matter what the color so the sooner we starting removing color from our vocabulary we ill be better off and treat everyone the way we would like to be treated. It goes both ways as a matter of fact.
Happy Commie
It’s too bad that’s what you focus on. That was a gutsy win by the VGK and this is a hockey team fan website, not a political one.
Daryl
Because someone doesn’t agree with players kneeling during the NA doesn’t make them a communists nor a racists. I can care less if they protest or not but do not agree with it being done during the NA
Doktor Hockey
Thank you, happy!
Daryl
I couldn’t agree more!
Julie
The game was incredible! I think that goal they checked with Carrier and Bishop was crazy good. The way he spun around and got it in there. And I was glad to see Stone make a goal. Someone told me he was subtle in how he helps the team, but it’s good to show up when your team needs you. It turned around at that point.
Didn’t care for the kneeling. Sorry, but politics doesn’t belong in sports. Not everything is a platform. Protest on your own time, that’s what we mortals have to do (not at work).
I will be rooting for VGK until this is over.
Tim
It was men playing against boys the first two periods. I was shocked how we turned it around in the third period. Lets hope we play three periods against the Blues. I guess a win is a win but we have a lot to clean up.
Walt T
Reavo must have been on his knees thanking God for his bloated contract, beer business (overpriced beer) and admiration from the community. He must have been confused. As for Lehner….I thought he was the future, and sadly I will be happy to see him gone. A Swede kneeling for what reason in Canada? Was he kneeling because Sweden is letting itself be taken over by illegals? Sending a letter to Foley regarding this kneeling, but he obviously doesn’t care. I was on my knees in church praying for officer Shay Mikalonis gravely injured during ‘peaceful’ protests. Thanks to the VGK players supporting Shay. Bye bye hockey. I hate to see you go. Ken and Jason did a great job with the website. Thanks for all of your hard work.
VGK Supporter
So players can’t kneel while a song is being performed during which fans are encouraged to yell out certain words that loosely pertain to their team? There’s seriously more outrage over Reaves and Lehner making a silent protest over a very real issue than there is 18,000 people scream “Night” when the Anthem singer reaches that part of the song? Strange because one would hinder others’ personal reflection with a song that apparently means so much to them and the other is silent. Even the most vocal opposition to the kneeling stance is guilty of disrespecting the Anthem. Your President, Donald Trump was seen “fidgeting” and making movements akin to “conducting an orchestra” at his own Super Bowl party. So why the outrage now? Most hockey teams have key words that their fans yell during the Anthem and that doesn’t bother you. Trump makes a mockery of the song at his party and you don’t run to your computer or your phone to tell everyone how angry you are. Yes, hockey and this country have been good to Ryan Reaves, Robin Lehner, and almost all professional athletes. It has not, however, been so kind to many people who don’t have voices and platforms. I respect them for using their voice to support those who can’t be heard otherwise. It’s funny how no one minds politics in sports when the politics align with theirs, but then it’s an issue when they don’t. It’s pretty clear that people have more of a problem with the message than the medium in this case. As for Shay Mikalonis, what happened to him is an absolute tragedy. I pray for him and for his family. I love that the Golden Knights reached out and showed love and support for him as well. What happened to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks were also tragedies and I pray for their families. If this is how people show their support and try to prevent more killings in the future, then I too support their choice. What I can’t support is the hypocrisy. People who are outraged at the supposed disrespect during a supposedly sacred song that was “complete with Golden Pipes” omitting the word “Night” so that some of the same people who object to someone kneeling can disrespect the Anthem in their own way. Call me crazy, but I don’t remember hearing soldiers coming home from war saying how they were happy to come home victorious so that future hockey fans could turn the National Anthem into a pep rally. For the record, I don’t yell “Night” myself and I stand (still, not orchestra conducting) for the anthem at every home game. I don’t get mad at those who yell (although I do have a problem when people boo during the other teams’ “hot” words) and I respect the decisions of those who choose to kneel when most stand and those who stand while most kneel. Honestly, I’d just prefer we take the anthem out of sporting events entirely — which we won’t because people are more interested in who kneels than the game itself now. So we are gonna have to keep seeing posts from people who are “done with hockey and the NHL.” Crazy thing is the same people keep posting though…
Daryl
Why bring our President into this? And no, most of us want to keep ANY type of politics out of sports. And most of us don’t have an issue with the protesting, it’s about when the protest takes place. For those of us who have served our have family serving we have every right to speak out on it.
As for the injustice, you will never get rid of racism unfortunately, but at the same time it’s not as bad as BLM or the liberals want you to think it is. You can readily look up the stats and see how often this occurs and you will be shocked at the numbers compared to what we are lead to believe. And please don’t respond to this and be one of those who says I think 1 person dying is ok (not necessarily you but anyone replying)
VGK Supporter
So I can’t bring your President into it, but you can bring up BLM and “the liberals” as you so eloquently put it? You present your beliefs about statistics as fact (there are a lot of studies that show the numbers ARE as alarming as many of us think) and then say don’t respond to me? Who are you to tell people how to protest? Change comes from discomfort. If these athletes are making you and others uncomfortable, then maybe we can actually invoke some change in our society. To just be like “there will always be racism” is a pretty horrible take. I, for one, am not giving up. My beautiful wife is a person of color, so if we are blessed and fortunate enough to have children someday we will be forced to have some pretty uncomfortable conversations with them about race in this country. I applaud those who are trying to fight the uphill fight to make things even just a little bit better for them. I also thank the men and women who serve/served our country. The fact that we can even have these conversations is thanks to them. However, I think you missed the whole point of what I said before. Why is this such a big deal if this is truly about the Anthem? You say the protests are fine, but not during the song. So why are you not bothered by yelling NIGHT? Why are you not enraged by Trump’s faux concert performance at his party? If it is truly about the sanctity of the Anthem itself, then shouldn’t those actions be condemned? I must have missed your post(s) about those disrespectful people.
VGK Supporter
To Ken, Jason, any other contributors, and all the others who come to this site for hockey news, I am sorry. I do the same. I am just sick and tired of the hypocrisy and the “keep politics out of my sports” people only presenting one side without any opposition and constantly injecting their politics into the conversation. I have nothing but respect for this site and don’t think there’s a better place to come to for VGK news, stats, analysis, etc. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the rest of the playoffs and hopefully hoisting the Stanley Cup soon!
Ken Boehlke
Much appreciated.
Daryl
The whole protest is about BLM. And like I said, as unfortunate as it is, we will never get rid of racism. I’m not saying to stop trying because of that, but I do think anyone who believes we can rid ourselves of racism is delusional. And that is on both sides. A white cop killing a black person doesn’t always have to be about race but as long as we make it that way we will continue to have race issues (just one way it is on both sides).
And I sit agree with what the President did, or a lot of what he does. Just like I don’t agree with ppl injecting words into the NA.
My sister is also married to a black police officer, he is a great guy, and I feel bad he had to go thru what he did on a daily basis. As for the stats, you can easily look them up for yourself and do a little figuring to see what the numbers actually are.
Oh and I want saying for you to not respond back to me…. at least that isn’t how I meant for it to cine across. I’m also OK with you not having an issue with the protest, it is your right, just like it is mine to completely disagree
Doktor Hockey
You’re an idiot! ha ha
Frank
Witness this thread as exactly why the players should stick to playing hockey and leaving their political (and don’t get it twisted – kneeling for the anthem is and has become very political) beliefs on the sidelines. Now you have alienated fans, have other fans arguing with each other….. OVER POLITICS. Not sports. Sad days we are witnessing in our country.
VGK Supporter
Easy solution- stop playing the Anthem at sporting events. Save it for international competitions when the athletes are representing their respective countries.
Daryl
VGK… They still take a knee, just look at the Women’s National Team. But I agree do away with it or do it like before when it was never broadcasted
Evan Allen
Can something be done about the ATTSN feed? Dave was two seconds behind the action and it was horribly jarring. This persists even on the NHL game wrap-up. It’s a serious problem and needs to be addressed.
Doktor Hockey
ATT feed probably won’t get any better. They are working on a totally different feed, than say the NBCSN guys! I believe ATT gets the 3 rd robin games then they are done. PO games will be NBC, NBCSN mainly!
Ken Boehlke
Yep, Doc does indeed not know what he’s talking about.
There is only one feed coming out of each bubble. No matter what channel the game is on, the video is the same. It’s up to each channel to put their graphics on the screen and overlay their audio.
Doktor Hockey
Yep! Doc usually does!! 🙂