Recap: The Golden Knights traveled to Buffalo in what was Jack Eichel’s first visit back to Upstate New York. But the Sabres didn’t care. Former 1st round pick and Vegas prospect Peyton Krebs gave Buffalo the first lead of the game. Vegas was awarded three power plays but couldn’t do anything on the man advantage.
Vegas outshot Buffalo heavily in the 2nd period but couldn’t even the score. The Golden Knights were given more power play time but went silent again in the middle frame.
Finally, in the 3rd, the Golden Knights were able to break through and tie the game 1-1. Defenseman Ben Hutton tallied his third of the season to keep Vegas in the game. However, a few minutes later Jonathan Marchessault took a minor penalty which Buffalo took advantage of. The Sabres took the lead with three minutes left and eventually saw Alex Tuch ice it with an empty netter.
The Golden Knights record drops to 32-23-4 falling 3-1 to the Sabres. The Golden Knights have dropped their first two of this five game road trip. Next Vegas will face off against the Penguins tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. Puck drop is set for 4 PM PT. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: Hello darkness. Another game in which the Golden Knights simply could not put the puck in the net against a bad hockey team. It’s a pass/fail type situation for Vegas right now and this one goes heavily in the fail column. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center.
- Is it seriously time to look at selling? Arguments for and against.
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** William Karlsson
** Ben Hutton
* William Carrier
The poetic justice is deafening.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 11, 2022
This is WAY too intense for a March 10th game in Buffalo.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 11, 2022
The Golden Knights have scored 181 goals this season.
Players responsible for 134 of them are in the lineup tonight. That's means 26% of VGK's goal scoring is missing. https://t.co/3ThWJSBRzE
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 11, 2022
This is exactly what happened. VGK's PP is an abomination with Eichel and without. https://t.co/AT4c0NwPdW
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 11, 2022
LVsc
absolute disgrace. they totally hit rock bottom tonight.
Let the front office and coach firings and player trades begin, and I don’t give a shit who they are or how much they make, or how long they have been a Knight.
from McCrimmon on down, time to clean house.
Richie-Rich
Yard Sale #14, #19, #26, #39, #41, #55, #63, #90. Promote Manny and dump the entire DeBoering clown show.
Pc
I don’t know maybe they should look into getting a female coach the men don’t seem to know how to coordinate his men.
knights fan in minny
if i was foley i would be way past pissed off is babcock coaching anywhere
Daryl
I say VGK drop PDB, Spott, RL, and every other player and start a rebound around Eichel
Galdom
They can’t score. It’s not Robin Lehner‘s fault. Robin Lehner can’t score. Laurent Brossoit score either. And everybody else who is actually paid to score can’t score.
Frank
Simply put. As was the case with this team in previous iterations….. We have problems scoring. The goalies need to be able to steal a few games here and there… So far, this has not been the case. Average goaltending + low scoring = recipe for disaster. This team needs to get it together and quick!
Richie-Rich
That was a very low moment for Marchy. Disappointing and very selfish for sure. At this point in the season I would agree, sitting him for a game as punishment is warranted. I am not going to say he hasn’t earned a place on the roster next season. He has. #81, #28 and #9 have been playing great. This team overall looks beat down, no energy, no jump, not getting to the puck first and they are being outmuscled. The goaltending and defense across the board doesn’t help either. It is definitely time for a Yard Sale. One of the players needs to call a closed door player only locker room meeting. Stone?
It’s time for a Yard Sale folks!
For Sale: #19, #39, #90, #26, #41, #63, #55, and #27. I would through #14 into the yard as well to see what you can get.
You can see it in their eyes. This season is over.
If Spott still is getting paid tomorrow I am going to puke.
Richie-Rich
At this point, I would be in favor of promoting Manny from Henderson. That would send a huge message. Yard sale the dead weight too, including both goaltenders. Go for Georgiev and let Thompson compete with him for the top spot.
Galdom
Still on the goaltending Richie Rich. You still want Georgiev because and these were your words that you posted he has a career .910 save percentage in the league average is .904.
And you wanna get rid of Len or even though his career save percentage, this year‘s save percentage is much higher than Giorgiev. Your argument makes absolutely no sense.
Richie-Rich
Galdom, I gave up on this goaltending duo way back in mid-January dude. They are just a part of a more systemic problem that starts with the Head Coach and the Front Office. Offense sucks, power play sucks and the defense sucks. They cannot continue to blame injuries for this level of piss poor performance.
Galdom
That’s fine that you gave up on the goaltending tandem. That’s a personal choice. But if your team has multiple forwards that goes stretches of 10 to 15 games without even scoring a goal then it doesn’t matter if you have Dominik Hasek or Terry Sawchuk playing goal.
Galdom
So does Giorgiev score goals. Please explain? Because he doesn’t stop pucks at a higher rate than Lehner this year or over his career. I must be missing something. Does Giorgiev score 40 goals a year.
I wish I can do this in fucking sign language but I’ll do just capital letters and maybe it could become blatantly clear.
THEY CAN’T SCORE!!
Daryl
You are absolutely right they can’t score which is the biggest issue, but it isn’t the only issue. RL let in two very soft goals in his last game which they lost 2-1. Yes scoring 1 goal against Philly is an issue, but they should have won that game 1-0. Goaltending is part of the issue but not the only issue
vgk21
Hutton comes in from the unemployment line and shows more fire, more battle level and more production than most of the high paid flops on this team…..for 750k
Galdom
The fact that that is true suggests a serious culture problem within that team.
Henderson One
This team has had a Country Club culture for several years. That has to be laid on the coaching staff and the so called team leaders. Yes, that is you Stone. PDB has got to go.
JockEnvy
I’ve said this since DeBoer got hired and Stone was given the C. Stone is a great player but he has very passive leadership qualities. Which is fine when you have a coach that can light a fire under the team. DeBoer has the passion and personality of a houseplant. Stone isn’t going anywhere. Bye bye Pete.
Galdom
PRESENT DAY
They can’t score!!!!!
The power play is ineffective.
ONE YEAR AGO AGAINST MONTREAL.
They couldn’t score.
Power play was useless.
Mark Andre Fleury was not the problem against Montreal.
TWO YEARS AGO AGAINST DALLAS
They Couldn’t score.
The power-play was ineffective.
Robin Lehner was not the problem against Dallas.
Are we getting the pattern yet?
Goaltending did not halt their playoff runs and goaltending is not destroying the season.
They can’t score.
The power play is ineffective.
VGK fan
I agree with you!
Galdom
They hit rock bottom tonight against Buffalo in their worst game of the season and Robin Lehner had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Richie-Rich
Are you sleeping with Lehner? What is your issue about not understanding that neither he or Brossoit are starting goaltenders on a cup contender? They are doing well against the bottom feeders, but they absolutely get destroyed by the top teams in this league. Both of them are good backup goalies. Brossoit is a good backup and Lehner would make an outstanding backup. That’s my take on them and I am done trying to defend it, because the rot on this team is obviously so much worse than just the goaltending. A lot worse, including the Coaching.
Galdom
I tried unsuccessfully to make you understand that both playoff runs against Montreal and Dallas were halted because they couldn’t score and their power-play was bad. Robin Lehner was not the problem against Dallas and Marc Andre Fleury was not the problem against Montreal. I tried but I was unsuccessful. In your words the league average save percentage is .904 and Lehner is .910. Georgiev is .893. I’m just not understanding why you think getting rid of a goalie (Lehner) that stops pucks at a higher rate then (Georgiev) would be progress.
If your reasoning was that Lehner has declined from his career standard this year and is breaking down physically that at least you are making an argument. But I don’t understand replacing him with an inexperienced Logan Thompson who they don’t even trust to give him a chance and Giorgiev who has some of the worst numbers in the league this year.
They can’t score and the power playis useless. Vegas is where offence goes to die. Eichel is one of the most talented players in the world and has just seven points in 11 games.
Galdom
They can’t score.
The power play is useless.
Adding Dadonov in the off-season and having Jack Eichel for the past 11 games has not changed the result.
They still can’t score.
The power play is still useless
Daryl
That tells me there is a problem at a higher level, like the coach. They have a problem scoring so they go out and get scorers, yet they still can’t score
JockEnvy
Fire McCrimmon and hire a GM that doesn’t feel the need to tinker every time he gets a chance. This ownership group all but guaranteeing a Cup in 5 years has put them on a bad path. We’ve traded every young talent with a low and controllable contract and don’t have anything to show for it except a team that has to do cap gymnastics to make things work and that may potentially push us out of the playoffs. Dadonov was a huge mistake and a waste of the cap space left by the Fleury trade. Say goodbye to McCrimmon and DeBoer. Add some physical players on your depth lines. Find your identity because the Misfits mentality is dead and gone.
Galdom
In 11 games with Jack Eichel in the lineup they have scored 24 goals, an average of 2.18 goals per game.
Since February 16 when Jack Eichel has been in the lineup they are 30th in the league with a 10% power play. Only Philadelphia and Seattle have been worse on the power place since February 15.
They can’t score.
The power-play is useless.
And as I have already mentioned they have only scored 24 goals since Jack Eichel joined the team. That is 31st in the league since February 15. Only San Jose has scored less.
During that same time period. They have allowed 29 goals. That’s actually not that bad. That is 12th best in the league. So in this current 11 game rut goaltending has not killed them.
Even with Jack Eichel.
They can’t score
The power play is useless
Richie-Rich
They can’t score, they can’t score, they can’t score. That is definitely a theme.
Time for the coaching staff to be terminated. This has been going on for way too long. Seems like we lost Suzuki, Glass, Krebs and Tuch when DeBoer should have been the one shown the door.
Henderson One
Let me see …do I have this right. Krebs scores, Tuch scores but the $10 Million Dollar Man does not score. This team is hopeless.
Peter Turner
I’ve seen this before and its tough to solve. Teams hit a rut, a bad stretch at times and it looks and feels bad. But as long as they peak at the right time, it doesn’t matter. Most of the games so far has been 50-50, 1 or 2 goal losses maybe except for that shellacking at Alberta. What the team needs is not a change in personnel. That’s the last thing we need. The time it takes for a new guy to fit in and ramp up is just too much trouble at this time of the year. What we need is better coaching and more practice and I mean practice with no audiences in the in the rink. Keep it private so that the coaches can really coach the players without having to worry about the their million dollar salaries and the pride that comes with it. Get a really good skills coach that focuses on set plays and drills that can make them make better passes and recognize plays. Get a faceoff coach that will get them winning majority of the faceoffs. Get a conditioning coach that will make these millionaires tough as nails when push comes to shove. Get a goalie coach that can sharpen the minds of our goalies and make them mistake-free while in the crease. Our 2 goalies can make wonderful saves but they let in some silly ones. If we just eliminate those silly goals, they’d be great. They both need to stay sharp all the time, even when they go through periods without getting shot at. Lastly, get a head coach that can motivate the team to have a mindset of winning and nothing else. That’s how we get better. Everything else is just noise.
-PJT
Vic
The bigger negative….I didn’t make it to the casino today to bet on the Sabres. The one positive….it was on ESPN+ so I didn’t have to watch.
Julie
Vic, this may sound “girly”, but I don’t think this team has any heart. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the open talk by Vegas mgmt about getting the SC has gone too far. Lehner mentioned that they are big on players performing. I wonder if in their quest for a RoboCop team, they got a Frankenstein team. Hard to perform when you know you can get your access denied at anytime to the arena or see your luggage taken off the bus while your team watches you get a cab.
Galdom
Have a good night Richie Rich and every other VGK fan. This horseshit team is pissing me off and has me ranting and texting like a lunatic. Time to get fitted for my straight jacket.
knights fan in minny
worried about you galdom i would say dont watch the pittsburgh game enjoy a night out on the town
Galdom
Yes. No more watching Golden Knights for a while. And I’m going to stay away from sharp objects.
THE hockey GOD
blood in stool ?
dry heaving??
breaking out in hives ??
oo
my
Ron Thompson
Who played for the Golden Nights tonight?
DL
Shit Show!!
DL
Clusterfuck!!
DL
Snafu!!
Vic
Disturbing that keys guys missed a must win game. Now for the firings, trades and reset. It was a fun ride while it lasted. The dice were rolled and came up craps. Now onward to mediocrity and beyond.
THE hockey GOD
yeah “seven ” key guys out of line up , Vic (according to ESPN +
“experts”)
last nite’s game showed how valuable Riley Smith is to this team. He gone, and all the lines are jumbled up like a bag of mismatched marbles of all different colors, sizes and shapes. You can bet your bottom dollar that FO is giving the staff a pass this year, or they would have been gone under less extenuating conditions.
Or as in Godfather III
Licio Lucchesi: “Yes — you will take control. We’ll gladly put you at the helm of our little fleet. But our ships, must all sail in the same direction. Otherwise, who can say how long, your stay with us will last?”
INCONCEIVABLE – Vizzini
Hdbiker7851
Where are you PPete – you and l have different opinions on who got the best of the deal concerning the 10 mill wonder – vegas got a 10 mill liability and buffalo got two players with something to prove. Notice who scored goals tonight for buffalo, l don’t see Eichel’s name anywhere. I have told you all along he wouldn’t and doesn’t solve Vegas’s problems. In some regards he just creates more. Give me a player with something to prove and he will outshine those who believe they have arrived every time.
Julie
Hey, HD – don’t get PP started or he will blame the Russian invasion. Already did that round.
I see DeBoer going. The McBrothers will blame him to save their hides. Foley needs a change on the ice, so at least one McBrother will be safe. Depends on who Foley trusts more.
Lehner won’t get traded because he’s a lot of loose cannon and lacking in elitism goal tending for the money. Too much to take on.
I think Pacioretty, Theodore, Smith, Karlsson, are up for grabs. Stone still has the “promise” of a hero, much like Eichel. But they both will look like they are racing to the bottom of sainthood if the other players don’t tighten up. Marchy will stay because he’s an angry little Frenchman who seems to care and puts in effort. Hague, Janmark, probably should go, but I don’t know who would replace them. Hutton, Kolesar, should go.
Howard
LOL @ > “Marchy will stay because he’s an angry little Frenchman.”
hdbiker7851
Hi Julie – I was considering explaining ROI to PPete but determined that is a loss cause. I have noticed he hasn’t had much to say. What is difficult to understand is how Foley is letting this go on – he didn’t become a wealthy man operating in this obviously poor manner. Strange!!!
Daryl
IE…. The first VGK team
hdbiker7851
It is pretty amazing how they dismantled a winning team (year one) under the guise of simply adding the missing pieces. They have gone backward ever since.
Daryl
They far a team full of heart, passion, and something to prove. It was a team that played for one anther. They went out to get better individual players and ruined this team
Duckboy
They need to fire the gm duo before they make another horrible trade. Foley must have lost his marbles to let these fools make these deals this season.
Dadonov deal is enough to have these clowns fired.
So far the eichel deal is not in our favor.
Here are some fun facts for you
Dadonov has 1 more year on his contract
Lehner had 3 more years…3
Blind Scarface has 3 more years on his contract, unless he retires
These three players add about 15m in salary and no one will want them
Thank god janmark is not contracted next year.
Pdb has always sucked but this roster is beyond a coach change to help.
the REAL TS..REALLY!
I like your thoughts, Peter. Kinda like Bootcamp for the players. Somehow return the Desire, Toughness and Passion that is lacking. Reset the team with a few new ideas, esp the PP and SCORING. A few new coaching faces to offer fresh perspectives–the guys have become soooo predictable, other teams read us pretty easily..No surprises to throw teams off.
Mgmt has traded so many players, yet the coaching staff has remained pretty intact. But, if it STILL AIN’T WORKING, THEY HAVE TO LOOK AT THEMSELVES AND THE COACHES.
Barney
Buffalo wins… even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile
It’s been interesting to watch mCcriminal tear this team to shreds and make it like every other mediocre team out there. That! He has done really well at.
Trigger happy changes constantly. Zero patience. Fleury. Gallant. Core players.
Stone in and out. Same with Pac. They’ve left the team in a tough spot. Can’t ignore Montreal series. Team counted on them and they disappeared.
Thankfully can always count on the good ol “it’s the goalies fault” excuse to justify a shitty coach and hi priced forwards who don’t
produce
All points back to MCcriminal. What a disaster he’s been
Eichel in tough spot. Out for so long. Rushed back. Will he ever be as he was hyped? Hope is a shitty strategy and always leads to disappointment
Former season ticket holder
Wow if our players showed 1/10 of the emotion that the people write an end to this column display we could have a chance still…. I would rather Marshy take 10 penalties for an emotion outbusrt than watch Theodore go to the bench one more time with a goofy smile after hes given up a goal or possession of the puck. He never seems to show anger or remorse, but “he is having fun”
THE hockey GOD
Let’s look at the facts and financial numbers.
Foley/company is worth slightly over ONE BILLION.
He paid NHL 500 million dollars to join (that is roughly HALF his net worth).
Now his salary (cap) commitment is 100 million (this year alone). If you can include prior five years, then do it. That only adds to the total number.
Considering he lost a TOTAL of ONE full season of lost revenue (over last two years ) due empty rinks (COVID), that is roughly another $190 million (considering 40 games lost, 18,000 seat capacity, 265 average seat price).
Excludes concessions. So roughly the ownership is getting hit hard. Nearly 800 million spent.
I don’t see ownership withstanding the bleeding much longer. I don’t see any more
expensive contracts thrown down the toiler. They franchise didn’t receive much
in playoff revenue last year. I see large price increases in playoffs this year, if the even make the playoffs.
I see dwindling fan attendance.
Of course, this is one sided equation, only looking at the spending side. But I see decreasing revenue, and the average rise in ticket prices in last year alone is a big tell in overall scheme.
Season Location Average Ticket Price
2020-21 T-Mobile Arena $264
2019-20 T-Mobile Arena $154
2018-19 T-Mobile Arena $176
2017-18 T-Mobile Arena $117
I see Regina in the front view window, and the STRIP in rear view dashboard mirror.
Daryl
VGK comes out strong and beats Pens 3-2
Tim
Only fitting that Krebs and Tuch scored in our first meeting. Looks like we might be in on Ivan Provorov here we go again another Wheat King. The way this team has parts but no continuity does it really matter. I’d be a seller keep the players and trade the pretenders and believe me we have a lot of those. My keepers would include Stone, Eichel, Stephenson, Marshy, Whitecloud, Carrier, Howden, Rondbjerg, Leschyshyn, Petro, Hutton, McNabb, Miromanov, Brossoit, Thompson, Kolesar, Patrick, Roy, Amadio, Martinez ( Not sure he’ll ever play again ) seems to me the above mentioned have some energy and a little fire in there bellies. Now I realize some of the younger guys I kept aren’t as good as some of the veterans but the veterans are getting older and have trade value now Such as Theadore, Smith, Karlsson,Hague, Janmark, now the following will be hard to trade Dadonov, Lehner, Coghlan, Patch, Use all those assets to get some players who can put the puck in the net not this so and so hasn’t scored in 15 games. Were not going anywhere this year so retool for next year.
THE hockey GOD
the AHLers – coghlin, lesch, rongber — didn’t show up last night, didn’t show much. Very disappointing. VGK has no AHL depth to add to team right now , it appears they are reluctant to bring up their prospects at this point in time.
why do you think that is the case ???
Tim
THG, Who did show up last night?
THE hockey GOD
i heard Riley Smith and Walrus showed up in Vegas, and Logan Thompson took the red eye to Buffalo.
The question is who will show up in tonight’s back to back against the PENS. I understand it will likely be a battle of the back up ghoulies ?
Tim
THG, Were going to get spanked good tonight. Columbus Sunday they’ll be tough to beat because they may not have a great team but they play with heart which like the Tin Man our team is lacking.
Daryl
Tim,
VGK surprises everyone and beats the Pens 3-2
THE hockey GOD
rondberg, or however you spell his name
Blitz
I think you are talking about Ron Burgundy.
VGK fan
I’m a little concerned about Pistol Pete not posting everything is fine nothing to worry about.
In my opinion Gallant got fired for less.
This team has hit a franchise low barely beating Ottawa, losing to Philadelphia and Buffalo. 55 punching a Sabre several times while he was laying on the ice. 81 slashing .
Blitz
Still better than the Sharks.