Recap: The Golden Knights looked to make it a two-game sweep in Seattle. Jack Eichel opened the scoring midway through the opening period scoring his 8th as a Golden Knight. Logan Thompson started in goal again and was flawless through 20 minutes.
It didn’t take long in the 2nd period for Eichel to notch his 9th goal of the season. Vegas took a 2-0 lead 1:26 into the middle frame. Shea Theodore tripled Vegas’ lead with his second goal in back-to-back games. The Golden Knights held a 3-0 lead going into the 2nd intermission.
Vegas kept up the pressure in the final period making it difficult for Seattle’s offense. Seattle broke through to bust up the shutout before Jonathan Marchessault added the empty-netter to seal it. Seattle would grab one back but William Karlsson hit another empty net for a final of 5-2.
The Golden Knights’ record improves to 38-28-4 picking up four total points in Seattle. Vegas will take a short trip to Vancouver for a matchup with the Canucks on Sunday night. Puck drop is set for 4 PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: The Kraken are very bad. Vegas is definitely better than them. I’m not sure I trust these wins, but I’ll absolutely take them. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Jonathan Marchessault
** Shea Theodore
* Jack Eichel
If you could draw up a style of game that suits VGK best, this is it.
Muck up the NZ, nothing really ever dangerous when SEA has zone time, and constant turnovers leading to rushes for Vegas.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 2, 2022
Eichel wins a (questionable) race to kill off an icing. Then standing directly in front of the goal receives a pass and buries it. The @EichelTower702 is growing in a hurry tonight.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 2, 2022
If you had told me before the season that VGK's enforcer this year would be a man best known for a lip sync of Barbie Girl…
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 2, 2022
Pistol Pete
Objective: 98 pts
Previous goal: 10-3
Current goal: 9-3
Pistol Pete
Eichel nets first VGK multi goal game.
16 pts (9 G/7 A) 22 games
I think I always thought sans Patch and Stone that Dadonov/Eichel/Stephenson was the best we could muster.
Pistol Pete
With every win counting down the homestretch, imagine how controversial it could
be if Lehner gets a start and loses in a bad performance.
Galdom
Wins are nice but they are not making any ground on anybody
Pistol Pete
Very nearly got some help from the Blues.
Pistol Pete
Did get a bit of help from the Sabres though with Krebs scoring first goal of the game. Preds have two in hand but several toughies down the homestretch.
Would be interesting if Forsberg decides to leave NSH for greener pastures. He’s a free agent.
Pistol Pete
Too bad they did not pull the finger on Kane. The 0-5 road trip never would have happened.
Pistol Pete
The trigger I meant lol.
Ulf
Ha – at any rate it wasn’t up to us, Even if we could fit Kane in, Kane wanted another team – Edmonton
THE hockey GOD
the mark of Kane.
Mike StG
PP – no, GOOD THING. If VGK had pulled his finger he would’ve farted in their face. 🙂
Richie-Rich
They’re winning the ones they are supposed to. That’s the first positive. The second is that LT is looking really good with a better defense in front of him. Sooner or later Lehner is going to be put in and I fear the pressure is going to be too much for him with his injuries.
Richie-Rich
Eichel continues to impress. I cannot wait for Stone to get on that line with him and Dadanov.
TS
RR, the one concern with that , is Stone is NOT the fastest, and he might struggle to keep up with Eichel. I like the Stephenson chemistry and production so far– both VERY quick..Dadanov may be able to keep up better than Stone. Could Stone be a better fit with a diff line ? Just a thought.
Richie-Rich
Yeah, I am thinking Stone, Karlsson and Marchy. What do you think about this.
Stephenson, Eichel, Dadanov
Stone, Karlsson, Marchy
Carrier, Lechyshyn, Janmark
Rondjberg, Kolesar, Amadio
When is Howden coming back?
Ride Logan all the way as long as he’s hot. Good defense in front of him. Martinez is back and McNabb. Coghlan’s been playing well and Theo is chipping in on offense. Whitecloud and Petro have been solid.
TS
Yes, stone/march/Karlsson seems a better fit. Those 3 know each other well. The 1st line of Eichel, Stephenson/ Dadanov are the Lightning Force of the offense, I believe. Carrier is really the warrior of the team. Always battling for pucks. He pushes ANYONE with him.
TS
RR, definitely ride with Logan. If Lehner is only, say 80% healed, that simply won’t be good enough…better to keep resting him if possible. Reassuring to have Martinez/ Mcnabb back for sure. Good to see those familiar solid guys on ice again..
VGK fan
While I agree Stone is slow he played well with Stephenson who is arguable the fastest player on the team.
TS
VGK fan: Good point. Just thinking Stone may be even SLOWER now, with his back issues. He’ll be awhile getting up to speed, after the layoff. I just hope if/when he returns, he can give the team the spark they have missed from him.
sb
Eichel haters running for cover.
Daryl
It was a win….
What I don’t understand is why PDB chose not to start RL. He said RL has been out and needed some practice time before playing. Sorry but I call BS on that. If he is healthy enough to dress and be on the bench, then he is healthy and ready enough to start. This especially true going up against Seattle who is the 2nd worst team in the league. This was a scrimmage game and a perfect chance to give RL a real life game without hurting the team at all
Pistol Pete
Mike lol, but in all seriousness they must have giving it more than a passing glance. He played with Eichel so it’s tempting to think they spoke with Jack about it. 16 G/10 A/+14 in 30 games. The Knights could have used production like that especially with Eichel as center. A playoff spot for sure.
Pistol Pete
That was re: Kane btw.
Pistol Pete
May have been DeBoer who had him in
SJ said “no way”.
I know I appear to have a little bit of a fixation on this but when a guy goes in and scores 16 goals in 30 games that is meaningful. We’ll see where he goes but I have the feeling Kane’s behavior improves as he matures.
Mike StG
Maybe it was Kane who wasn’t interested. The fans here hate him, plus he has a gambling problem and he stiffed a large casino conglomerate for over a million dollars. I think it was MGM who owns TMA. Awkward!
His issues weren’t like Brad Marchand’s. And he’s 30 years old, so it’s not about maturity. It’s about being a good human, or not.
Daryl
He’s old for a hockey player… If he hasn’t matured by now it’s not going to happen. Can you imagine the fan base is he did come here???
TS
Nightmare!!! Nooooo thanks!
THE hockey GOD
kraken another dirty team, no skill, goon tactics is all they got; second goal should not have been because no. 52 was hurt into the corner boards. Instead of staying down he got up, ref. could have called the play if VGK touched the puck.<<<
Pistol Pete
Looks like LR is the best choice for starter, and DeBoer is playing Lehner as the backup even though he is not 100% healthy vs. putting him out as injured and using Patera.
Fortunately Thompson is playing excellent and looking for all the world like an NHL starter.
7-4
2.55
.921
Pistol Pete
Another senior moment…I meant LT not LR lol.
Richie-Rich
Sad to say, but I gave up on Lehner back in mid-January when he posted a subpar .900 gaa between 1 Dec – 15 Jan. He was really bad during that stretch. That stretch and his performance afterwards has only served to further solidify my opinion of this front office move. It’s a $5 million dollar cap hit for a spotty and inconsistent goalie during his career. On and off ice issues all come into play as well.
The VGK is going to have go forward with the goaltending it has and hope the defense can get and stay healthy. That will help a lot. Still, making the playoffs is a long shot needing to go at least 9-3 and get help elsewhere. Once and if we get in getting to the Championship game is going to be hard. Dreams of a Cup? Nearly non-existent in my opinion.
However, there are going to be many positives to take away from this season.
-Eichel, despite the cap hit, is playing as advertised and looks to have even more potential in the future. I still want to see Stone and or Patches on the line with him or Dadanov. That will help the Misfit line as well. Next year we might see the departure of Reilly Smith who is an UFA. I think the Misfit line game strategy was changed by Deboer. They play a lot on the PK and I think are told to be defensive minded and sent in on D zone faceoffs more often than not. Still, only Marchy has been producing at 2L level.
– The defense looks to be set for the next few years. I don’t think McIdiot should be looking for cap space on D, even though both Petro and McNabb are on the wrong side of 30. They both still have a good couple of years left in them. In the meantime, I am high Whitecloud, Theodore can be spotty on D and his passing decisions, Coghlan has been inconsistent overall, but I’ve seen improvement, a lot of improvement over the past several weeks. That shot to the had to hurt. I wonder if he will be out.
– Goaltending decisions are going to have to be made. If Thompson is on the roster, he still has several years to go before the VGK has to make a move salary wise. He’s signed for $766,666 through the 2024 season! I would hate to see him put up for sale. As far as Panda goes, work with him in the offseason and get him healthy. It has turned out, so far, to be a bad move. He’s not going to have an market value on the trading block, in fact just the opposite. So, it’s time to realize that putting on a smiley face and making the best of this bad move is the way to go.
– In the meantime, Thompson may be the alternative answer long term. keeping in mind that he is playing very well against teams at the bottom of league. So, it’s too early to start thinking in terms of him even being a backup on the big club. But, he’s showing promise.
– I still have hope to see the team making the playoffs. A good run will be a huge positive in the offseason given all of the injuries this season. It’s nice to know we have quite a bit of depth on Forward and Defense in Henderson as well.
– I am not DeBoer, but I think you continue to put Logan out on the “run” until Lehenr is ready. Hopefully for the Calgary game.
Daryl
I have a problem with that…. If RL is healthy enough to dress and be on the bench then he should be healthy enough to start. LT almost got injured which means RL was about to play anyway. So if RL really wasn’t healthy enough you just took a huge risk to injure him even more
knights fan in minny
LOGAN LOGAN LOGAN
THE hockey GOD
comparing DALLAS to NASHVILLE schedule, dallas has four games in hand and smashville two games in hand. Smashville has the tougher remaining schedule by far. So between the two to potentially drop off, I would say the odds favor Smashville. They appear to be posers, and wanna bees. At this point in time.
Richie-Rich
I have to agree with Daryl. Lehner’s already a head case. Pics of him with a sword through his back are coming next except they won’t be coming from his agent.
Personally, I gave up on Lehner when he posted that subpar .900 gaa from 1 Dec to 15 Jan.
But, at this point, what the hell. If he’s active then he is supposedly the best chance to win on any given night over the rook Thompson.
Galdom
I can’t figure you guys out. You hate Lehner and you want him to play.
These games aren’t about confidence building. They are a must win games where you are playing the hottest goalie. I actually defend Lehner from all the haters and I still think Logan Thompson should be starting.
THE hockey GOD
@galdom, you will never figure them out, unsophisticated, wiggy biscuit fans.
Daryl
At no point have I ever said I hated RL. I have said he is an above average goalie.
If VGK is old saying the hot goalie, does that mean LT is the starter until? These are must win games so unless there is a back-to-bc game we shouldn’t see RL unless LT plays bad? RL will need to play at some point and there is no better “practice” game than Seattle
Galdom
Daryl, VGK only has one back to back game and that’s not until the second last game of the season. If there was a scenario in which Thompson did not have one bad game until then I would have no issue with him running the table on all the games. It’s probably unlikely that Thompson stays hot for that long but I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong.
Mike StG
Daryl – Exactly! 🙂
They’d probably be throwing bricks from the stands at him. I remember a game when the fans were chanting “Pay your debts!!” loudly. That was shortly after it was revealed he had never paid his gambling debts to a major casino.
Richie-Rich
Remaining Games
03 APR @VAN – winnable
06 APR VAN(H) – winnable
9 APR ARI (H) – winnable
12 APR @VAN – winnable
14 APR @CGY – toss up, depends on CGY standings could be they will rest players
16 APR @EDM – must win
18 APR NJD(H) winnable
20 APR WSH(H) toss up but advantage VGK at home
24 APR SJS (H) winnable
26 APR @DAL – must win
27 APR @CHI winnable
28 APR @ STL – must win
Schedule is favorable, but VGK must play 60 minutes every game, stay out of the penalty box and score on the PP. We’ll need solid goaltending. I believe Lehner will be back in goal soon. But, I still ride Logan as long as he is on this streak.
Daryl
Calgary won’t rest any players against VGK and will be favorites
Wash will be favored.
EDM, STL and DAL are must wins but all will be favored.
When I say favored I don’t mean odds of winning, but they are games VGK will probably lose.
All the other games VGK should win.
Richie-Rich
If your analysis plays out the VGK will go 7-5 and miss the playoffs. They are going to need at least 3 upsets then to maybe squeak in. 9-3 or 10-2 is the likely better projection to get in. Pretty grim indeed.
Daryl
I wasn’t even looking at points or the playoffs… But you are right, they need some upsets and some help
Tim
My your logic we should already have a 130 points if your predications were spot on from game one. Unfortunately we’ve lost to to many bottom feeders that had no business beating us but did. We lack the killer instinct and now presto were going to play the hockey we should have been playing since October. What I don’t get and yes after our latest 7 game road loses I’m a little bitter maybe you all except that pathetic play but not me. I’d like to see us get the 8th spot just to fuck with Colorado but if we don’t might be the best thing to dump a lot of dead weight and put together a fun team to watch instead of what this team has turned into.
Richie-Rich
It’s true. This season has been pretty much a complete shitshow to watch as a fan. Frustrating to the max and too often playing from behind. Not what we’ve been used to in the past for sure. To think we still have an outside chance of making the playoffs in sort of unbelievable to me.
THE hockey GOD
RR
I have enjoyed it, almost every game is the same.
It’s like a rerun, over and over. Like that movie with Bill Murray in it. Ground slog day. Turn on Flames, or Kings, or, Oilers game and they all look the same. The Kings play the 1 3 1, the VGK 1 1 3, Toronto plays all over the place. The oilers OT was a joke, as soon as oilers got the puck , they scored ! even the announcer said the “game winner is coming”. And they did it. Predictable, every game is same. Every one playing the same style, clog up the middle , block the lanes. BORING , followed by boring, and boring some more.
Galdom
Try to figure this one out. Phil Kessel has played 969 games in a row. He is 21 games away from setting the record for consecutive games played without an injury or being scratched. He doesn’t take care of himself. He’s a fat fuck. I live in Toronto and when he played here he would frequent the establishments near where I live and he would eat basically like a normal non athlete, burgers, onion ringers, beer, pub food, etc……
Nobody on the Vegas Golden Knights can stay healthy. Max Pacioretty in particular is an incredible athlete who treats his body like a temple. His lifestyle, food and workout regimen is known around the league. You can literally breathe on him and he will break a bone.
https://thesportsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/i2ib7s0.jpg
Daryl
I wanted VGK to go after Phil last year
I know there were some issues between him and other players (Malkin) when he was with the Pens, but he’s still a good, gritty player
Galdom
Max Pacioretty
https://sinbin.vegas/a-dip-into-max-paciorettys-cold-gameday-routine/
THE hockey GOD
@ Galdom maybe he needs a Boba Fett Backa tank ?
“The Book of Boba Fett reveals that Cobb Vanth is being kept alive in Boba Fett’s bacta tank, a miraculous piece of technology that can regenerate organic tissue and cure most wounds with ease”
Daryl
Cryotherapy
THE hockey GOD
NHL BOD is looking at TBL “fading’ the SAL CAP rules by supposedly keeping players on IR until the playoffs; yet turn a blind eye to obvious ‘tanking’ of games
by Calgary Flames in their last two events. NHL = WWE on full display here folks.