Recap: The Golden Knights were awarded two early power plays but couldn’t take advantage of either. Each team had several chances but the game was locked in a scoreless tie after the opening twenty minutes.
After taking a high sticking penalty Shea Theodore broke loose from the penalty box and took a beautiful stretch pass from Jonas Rondbjerg. Theodore backhanded the puck into the Kraken’s net for a 1-0 Golden Knights lead.
Vegas doubled their lead seven minutes into the final period to take a 2-0 lead. The Golden Knights did a good job limiting the Kraken’s chances and goaltender Logan Thompson was sharp in net picking up his first career shutout. VGK added an empty netter late.
The Golden Knights record improves to 37-28-4 defeating the Kraken 3-0 in Seattle. Vegas will stay in Seattle to play another game against the Kraken on Friday night. Puck drop against the Kraken is set for 7 PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: It wasn’t exactly a great performance by the Golden Knights, but they were certainly better than the team on the other side. Vegas relied mostly on shots from the point which generated nothing, but they were the recipient of a terrible turnover by Seattle to create the first goal and then one the Kraken put into their own goal. A win is a win though and VGK need all of them they can get. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
- Logan Thompson claps back at Goalie Interference
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Logan Thompson
** Jonas Rondbjerg
* William Karlsson
Or just score on a broken play. Fine. 2-0 VGK. https://t.co/l5RyEcpFgr
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 31, 2022
VGK's defensive sticks have been very good. Nothing easy for Seattle in the offensive zone.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 31, 2022
VGK very well may win this game, but this has not been an inspiring performance 32 minutes in.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 31, 2022
Richie-Rich
Theodore – no star? I mean he did get the game winner. Ok…
Now, the conundrum is whether or not the oft-injured Walrus and his $5 million dollar salary gets the nod on Friday, or do you go with the young Hot Hand?
We all know what’s going to happen, don’t we?
The odds of making the playoffs are still a long shot at this point. Thompson is likely done for the year and now McCrimmon can trade him for a 5th rounder and a bag of pucks.
Ken Boehlke
I didn’t like his 1st period. The goal also came because he had taken a penalty and just happened to come out at the right time.
Howard
You didn’t mention Ken, Shea’s countless bad passes and missed D assignments which are typical of him. Guy is one of worst ‘defensive’ dmen I’ve ever seen in The NHL…. He makes Barrie look good on defense.
Pistol Pete
Barrie is -64 Theodore +39 not a good comparison nor is career +39 generally indicative of a poor defensive D. He’s off this year -3 last year +28.
Richie-Rich
PP and I agree. Theodore has been off his game this year both offensively and defensively. I think a lot of that has to do with the constant chaos and pressure of having too many top line forwards out. Face it, the team has been playing with a lot of Silver Knight AHL players this season.
Comparing Theodore to Barrie is ridiculous. Completely.
VGK fan in Summerlin
Darn RR you really scared me cause you’re probably right on the money. As soon as Lehner comes back LT will be benched, then RL will proceed to give up 5 or 6 goals on 20-25 shots, 3 at least will be totally softies from misplays or slow reactions. Then coach will proceed to say he was our best player on the ice tonight and then he will start every game down the stretch with about an 875-900 save percentage, crashing out of the playoff chase. Then LT will be shopped and someone will require VGK do throw in a 2nd and 3rd round draft pick for a washed up player on LTIR contract. Probably getting the gas cans and matches ready to pour on what remains…
Ughhh this season end and then the offseason is gonna be potentially brutal. Sure hope we’re wrong…
Richie-Rich
So, The Walrus likely has a torn labrum and a fractured patella. How the fuck is he even in Seattle? If he’s getting shots it’s not going to help. If he gets the start on Friday it’s going to be ugly early.
THE hockey GOD
RR
don’t believe the fake news and hype
Richie-Rich
Did you see the practice video when he took the shot to his labrum area? If not, I suggest you go see it. He got completely rolled over and left the practice. He’s hurting BIG TIME. This isn’t fake news. He also has at least microfractures in his patella and who knows what other cartilage damage behind it.
Worst trade ever! Mark my words.
Now go ahead and spew your vitriol.
THE hockey GOD
yes i saw that RR, if he really was hurt bad RL would be first one to be out of line up due to his previous “activism” about teams physicians handling injuries. If he speaks out against VGK AFTER the season; then he has no one to blame but himself and will sound like a hypocrite.
In my opinion RL would not be back up goalie if he couldn’t play in game. He may have some minor issues, but he will not let anyone take advantage of him. Vitriol ? No, common sense and a path listing reasonable assumptions. You know what happens when people assume , don’t you ?
Also, as a follow up if he gets in game and he has to “compensate” to account for his “perceived” injuries, then he has no business playing in first place. I expect the coach to ride the hot hand until proven otherwise. That is what I would do, but what do I know ? IT would make the seers who were calling for him earlier in the season very happy !
knights fan in minny
lt is hot you stay with the hot hand plain and simple
Pistol Pete
Previous goal: 11-3
Current goal: 10-3
Thought we’d get a look at Dorofeyev
Pistol Pete
Evander Kane would have made a better winger for Eichel than anyone currently in the lineup. Darn it.
Pistol Pete
It’s obvious Eichel’s sore hand (which got whacked again in the CHI game) is handicapping his shooting.
Pistol Pete
Logan Thompson a new starting goalie in the making:
W/L 6-4
GAA 2.61
SV% .920
Will be disappointed if he does not start again Friday.
Galdom
It’s possible Lehner starts but I don’t think that would make sense at this time. You have to go with a hot hand like it’s game seven of the playoffs.
THE hockey GOD
if history says anything PDB sticks with the hot hand –> will RL agent post a back stabbing cartoon soon ??? ( i dont’ think so, RL is a team player)
Richie-Rich
RL is laughing all the way to the bank with his $25 million.
knights fan in minny
damm right
Galdom
I don’t have too much negative to say about the game. They came out slow in the first few minutes which I don’t really like in these must win games but they really limited the Kraken’s goal scoring chances. They still aren’t creating a lot of scoring chances and are making goalies look good.
They won the game so mission accomplished.
TS
Hey, Thompson gets a shut-out!! Not a big scoring night, but a W is what the guys were after. Maybe saving a little for the stretch… the HUGE hit with KOLESAR was bone- jarring– he looked totally out of it after the hit, staggering into locker room. Hope he didn’t get a concussion or a damn neck injury. That hit hurt just WATCHING it!!
THE hockey GOD
@ TS yeah that was brutal, he didn’t have his head up and got his clock cleaned. Not as bad as Pat Quinn leveling Bobby Orr, but still bruising. He’s probably on the shelf until opening day next season. That means they will likely bring up the big Jamaican from HSK for some muscle in line up. Or maybe Hayes is back up.
No 23 “don’t tell the forwards that’ Classic line.
Ts
Wow. Do you think kolesar’s injury will be that debilitating? Damn, that would be really bad. Carrier is out indefinitely, as well. .McNabb is our lone enforcer, holy cow….
Ts
BTW, Thg: sorry some of us were hard on you the other day. But it had to be done. Extraction of the Mean Gene. No hard feelings!
JockEnvy
So far we’ve done our part but we aren’t getting much help in dropping the teams ahead of us. Kings should be walking into a buzz saw in Calgary and hopefully STL can take the next one from the Oilers. It’s going to be a fun ride for the next few weeks.
I did see that Lehner left practice with an injury. Any real news on that? Thompson is playing great I just worry about fatigue.
THE hockey GOD
JE still feel that best route is that LAK drop to fourth place, and LAK squeaks into third place. Both have same
number of games played, and VGK are four points behind.
Richie-Rich
I am more worried about Lehner’s patella. They can wrap his labrum with kevlar.
THE hockey GOD
what can they wrap is patella with ?
Richie-Rich
I am having knee surgery tomorrow. I can tell you that one thing he won’t be able to do is get down low to block shots. A patella injury can be knife like in pain. They can do a nerve block but that’s going to hamper performance.
Ts
RR, BEST OF LUCK!!
THE hockey GOD
interview of no 23 after the game was classic , on TNT, obvious de facto
captain of team !
Richie-Rich
And we agree on that! Put the C on Martinez sweater!
LVsc
they are winning thanks to LT.
but their forward group is way too weak without Stone, Pacioretty, Smith, and Carrier.
They may squeak by some bottom feeder teams, but
they would be playoff cannon fodder for any top team without those 4 guys.
Richie-Rich
I think you’re right LVsc. Shutting out Seattle is nothing to brag about. The offense is still struggling. Getting McNabb and Martinez back was the difference maker last night.
You’re right – getting Stone, Patches, Smith & Carrier back (or some combination that fits the CAP) is what they are going to need if they’re going to get into the playoffs.
Tim
When Theadore scored last night for the first time in 28 games you wonder why were not making the playoffs. You watch Eichel and then you watch the rest of our forwards and it’s no contest who can play and who needs to go. This summer they should have a serious evaluation of each player and make the proper adjustments.
Galdom
VGK fan in Summerlin…..
Can you please explain your comment and where you got this information from? I don’t think it was based on any type of research?
You said…..
As soon as Lehner comes back LT will be benched, then RL will proceed to give up 5 or 6 goals on 20-25 shots, 3 at least will be totally softies from misplays or slow reactions. Then coach will proceed to say he was our best player on the ice tonight and then he will start every game down the stretch with about an 875-900 save percentage.
Specifically I’m referring to the part where you said he’s going to have an 875-900 save percentage. Where exactly does this come from? He has a career .917 save percentage. He had a brief eight-game stint 12 years ago where his save percentage was .888 as a rookie. He has never had a season with a save percentage under .900 or anything close to that since 2011. I’ve done the research for you but if you wish you could check for yourself that I’m not making any of this up. I’m more than happy to not talk about Robin Lehner until someone says something stupid which is why I am talking about him right now for the first time in a while.
In what some people think has been a horrible season for him he has a .909 save percentage which is above league average.
Can you kindly advise on where you got your information on how he is going to turn into a below .900 save percentage goalie? I am just curious.
To save you some time I have provided you two links. The first one is Robin Lehner‘s career numbers.
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=120942
The second link will show you what the average NHL save percentage is. If you decide to open this link up you will find that the average is .908 and Lehner is .909.
https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html
I look forward to your response.
Richie-Rich
You can check Lehner’s stats this season between 1 Dec and 15 Jan. His average was around .870 during that span. It was at that point that I concluded that he’s not the future for this team. The problem is that McCrimmon gave him a nice fat 5 year $25 million contract. To a player that has on and off ice issues and has never found a home.
Galdom
I just checked. Wrong again. From December 1 to January 15 Robin Lehner had an .892 save percentage. .870 is not even close, 22 percentage points off. And who cares, you picked a short timeline to try to support your argument.
I can do that too.
October 1 to November 11, 2021.
Robin Lehner .919
Marc Andre Fleury .881
The difference between my numbers and your numbers is mine are actually factual. I didn’t pick an approximate number like you did which was 22 percentage points off. I went to the NHL database and plugged in the dates and came up with the actual REAL data.
For anybody that wants to confirm or challenge my factual data it’s very easy to do on the nhl.com website.
And that concludes my little commentary on Robin Lehner. Just trying to keep things factual. I’m good with numbers so if someone’s gonna pull something out of their ass without backing it up I will call it out.
This actual factual data that I am providing has nothing to do with who I think should be playing right now. I’ve already said a couple of times that you got to go with the hot goalie right now. In must win games like the playoffs or what we’re going through right now which basically is must win games you have to play the hot goalie. Right now Logan Thompson is that guy. Last year Marc Andre Fleury was that guy. And in the year prior Robin Lehner was the hot guy to go with for the playoffs.
Richie-Rich
You probably didn’t include a game, but yeah – .892 ….okay….still supports my own personal opinion on him as a cup contending goaltender.
Galdom
In must win games usually the coach goes with the hot hand. Didn’t DeBoer answer this question already yesterday by starting Logan Thompson yesterday when Robin Lehner was dressed.
VGK Fan
Congratulations to Logan Thompson on your shutout and moving into a tie for second on the team with RL for the most shutouts this season!
Now for bad news this team came out in the first period and looked like a team that had no interest in trying to make the playoffs. They played slow and looked lazy committing too many turnovers. I’m not sure if there is a problem in the locker room or what the reason is for such a lazy first period.
For those who care updated dated playoff odds below:
https://www.moneypuck.com/predictions.htm
On a positive note Eichel looked amazing at times and I’m really looking forward to watching him for the next four years. Also, some good news the salary cap next year was raised by 1 million. We have 19 players signed and are 1.5 million over the cap.
I really hope this team comes out and plays inspired hockey on Friday because Seattle is playing with a chip on their shoulder and you can bet they will play hard.
THE hockey GOD
LAK vs Oilers game last night was best game of night, maybe of season to watch. LAK were playing like VGK used to play.
Galdom
And for anybody who wants to ask me why I am bringing up Robin Lehner please don’t because I’ve already explained why I do it. I do it only when someone brings up some thing that is not factual to try to make him worse than he is because they simply don’t like him. Tell me you don’t like him because he is a fat, slow, injury prone guy then I won’t say a word because you are entitled to your opinion. But if someone is going to
say he is going to let in six goals a game and have a 870 save percentage that’s a different story.
As for Logan Thompson I am very happy for him and this is just about the best thing that can happen to the VGK right now. it’s a FACT that although Lehner has a save percentage higher than league average he has not performed up to his career standard and the team needs better. For this short time period Thompson is filling in admirably and I really hope it continues especially with him having such a low salary. Without any back to back games coming up for a while he has a real shot of getting a really long look here.
EZE
Let’s celebrate LT’s difficult road to where he is. Seems like a great story on perseverance and not listening to the nay sayers. Lets get that man some proper pads so he can represent the VGK and not HSK. Imagine him backing up Fluery going into the playoffs. Oh yeah, we aren’t making the playoffs this year. See you all on the golf course.
Pistol Pete
I wouldn’t count on us not making the playoffs. The objective before Wednesday was 11-3, now it’s 10-3. Two more wins and it will be 8-3 and closing. Losing just three is 98 points plus any OTL, so that could leave a little cushion. It’s not over till it’s over.
VGK fan
Pistol Pete, we have lost 7 of our last 8 road games and scored on 2 flukes and an empty netter last night I can understand his point of view. But I do love your optimistic view and I hope you are right.
Richie-Rich
I agree PP. It’s not over yet, but I think we need some offensive punch back off of IR.
Galdom
Richie Rich. Best of luck on your knee surgery tomorrow!
Galdom
Kings 3
Flames 2