Recap: The Golden Knights traveled to San Jose with the intention of snapping their three-game losing streak. Vegas wore down San Jose during a 1st period four minute power play allowing Keegan Kolesar to score his fifth goal of the season. Four minutes later Jack Eichel scored his first as a Golden Knight to stretch Vegas’ lead 2-0.
In the opening minutes of the middle period Max Pacioretty snapped a puck on net that fooled San Jose’s goaltender. The scoring play was reviewed but the refs awarded Pacioretty his 15th goal of 2021-22.
The Golden Knights continued to control the game in the final frame. Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson was sharp in net stopping all but one of San Jose’s shots on net. Chandler Stephenson put the game out of reach with a last-minute empty-net score.
The Golden Knights record improves to 29-18-4 defeating the Sharks 4-1 to break their three game losing streak. Vegas will have a few days before they take on the Coyotes Friday night in Arizona. Puck drop is set for 6:30 PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: Vegas came out in the first period and did enough offensively to grab a lead against a reeling Sharks team. From there, they kind of let San Jose grow into the game, but they were strong enough to never really feel threatened. Thompson was excellent all night. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.
- SinBin.vegas Podcast
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Chandler Stephenson
** Jack Eichel
* Logan Thompson
The difference in this game has been the goalies.
The skaters haven't really been that far off.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 21, 2022
Pacioretty is officially hot. His last two have been whacky ones. 3-0 VGK in what has turned into a rout.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 21, 2022
First of many. https://t.co/E1LI9ny33d
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 21, 2022
Bob
Impressive win against the Sharks lol
Danny Gallivan
Big win. they needed that.
Eichel looked great, and so did Logan T
everybody pulled their weight except one guy, that piece of crap Theodore. That was a disgraceful game by him. He gave up 2 breakaways on the PP, he gave up another chance with more of his lazy loafing. and then he took a stupid penalty after giving up the goal by falling down. iow, he stunk and hurt the team all night.
DL
“Piece of crap” is harsh, uncalled for, and has no place here. Despite struggling on defense, and maybe of late, he did account for two assists. Moving forward maybe you can comment with more adult constructive criticism instead of resorting to name calling and other hate speech. I wouldn’t be surprised if as I write this or later others post certain names and comments for you.
Pistol Pete
DL, I agree.
Richie-Rich
I agree with DL, there has been way too much of that twitter nonsense in these threads! If you want to spew gutter trash then get over to twitter and do it. It’s why I don’t have a twitter account.
DL
As for me, I have two positive words to best describe this game…TEAM and THOMPSON!!
Knight Fan in Summerlin
Eye test poll question:
Does Logan Thompson move and react better than the VGK starting goalie?
1. Yes
2. No
Richie-Rich
Has to be a rhetorical question because the obvious answer is YES.
knights fan in minny
yes
George L.
He moves like Fluery and not a Net Post
Pistol Pete
Yes
VGK Fan
Put me down for a yes.
Knights Fan in Summerlin
Eye test poll question:
Does Logan Thompson move and react better than the VGK starting goalie?
1. Yes
2. No
Pistol Pete
Eichel gets his first, as advertised lol. He’s a point a game +1. Not bad for a guy who’s played three games in the last 11 mo.
I know, I know SJ sucks as does their goalie but this was still a nice win especially for Thompson (35/36) and the Eichel line (each had 1G/1A and 9 shots 5 of which belonged to Eichel).
We’re beginning to see who Eichel is, the athleticism, speed, strength, physicality, stick handling and ability to hold onto the puck and make high vision decisions, playmaking and the shot.
Richie-Rich
PP knows that I was not in favor of this trade. At $10,000,000 the jury is still out —- BUT – so far I have to say that I am very pleased with him. His skating and puck handling are even a bit tad better than Stone’s and Patches. Eichel’s winning me over!
I checked my fantasy league though and not a single team has Kolesar on their squad!
Daryl
Come on now, Kolesar was even able to score lol. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. It’s nice to finally get that first goal out of the way. I’m not sure what any of the Sharks players were doing as they completely left Stephenson alone behind every player. All Eichel had to do was finish the play, which he did.
Thompson looked great. I hope he gets a couple more chances. If he does and he looks good doing so, VGK will have an interesting position to be in come trade deadline
Galdom
I love Kevin Iole’s article because it was bang on. What the hell happened to the passion of this team? I like that he mentioned Kolesar as well because it seems like the passion has left the team from the very top to the bottom. I liked the Keegan Kolesar that played in the bubble last year. Good fourth line player. It’s too late in the year to fire Pete DeBoer, but if this team continues to go through the motions and then gets ousted early in the playoffs than DeBoer is gone anyways. I’ve never really said anything negative about him before as his record speaks for itself. I’m not blaming anything on him this year, ultimately it’s up to the players to figure it out but obviously the coaching change is the easiest move to make it.
Wake up VGK!!
Pistol Pete
I am confident the passion will return, in fact I’m not sure it’s actually missing. The effort and hard work is there but the timing and cohesion is lacking. Now that Eichel is in and Stone is out for the rest of the regular season (presumably) the roster can look for stability in the line combinations, work on the chemsitry and improve the execution. Eichel is potentially a big piece because if he becomes a difference maker it should build the overall confidence of the group and raise their level.
Richie-Rich
Well tonight the desperation was there, the passion and effort. I am not sure why it wasn’t the past 3 games. Maybe it was something they ate? Who knows, but that inconsistency needs to be put in the rear view mirror. And yes, I think DeBoer’s job is on the line if that lack of effort isn’t resolved going forward.
Justin
Hate to pick apart a win, but this game easily could have been a loss.
The goals by Kolesar and Patch were soft, their goalie was pretty bad on both.
And how many of the great saves Thompson made would have been goals against Lehrer – 2 or 3 perhaps. This game could have easily been 3-1 sharks.
On positive note – Thompson was excellent, very quick, very much in control. And Eichel you can see why already he is so elite. He is so crafty with the puck, holds onto it really well, stops and starts in a way the defender does not expect and his passing is just slick, creative, and precise. . He looks like a different level if player.
Richie-Rich
I am not going to criticize the win, I think that is a bit unfair but a W was not only expected it was pretty much a “must win”. There is a lot more work to do before this team can be declared a cup contender. More consistency, of passion and effort. That will come as team chemistry gels with Eichel added to the top line and we get some improvement in goaltending and defense.
Theodore is driving me a bit nuts out there on defense.
THE hockey GOD
yes Justin, I agree 100% , see my post below.
real soft goals, not fake RL hater posters who think every goal he let’s in is a soft goal.
Richie-Rich
This is a game that we would expect VGK to win, and they did. The good news is that the lack of passion, intensity and the “desperation” as DeBoering stated was not at all evident in this game. Unlike the last 3 contests the VGK controlled the puck, made good passes and more importantly was first to the puck.
Eichel looks better and better each game and his production tonight was exactly what we should expect from a 1C making $10,000,000. I expect great things from him going forward from this point. The real test will be next Saturday for him and the VGK.
Logan Thompson may be “green” but he looked fantastic tonight. I don’t see the same sort of flaws in his game that Lehner has (lack of mobility, inconsistent glove and 1-on-1 challenged). Given time, Logan Thompson could very well be a super star in this league. Sure, it’s his first win and it is way too early to make such statements about his career, but I will be watching to see how it develops.
Carrier continues to impress me. He’s tough and quick, great around the boards and cannot be knocked off the puck. He’s also good in a scrap as well. This guy is a keeper and a bargain for $1.4mil. I would like to see how he’d fit in on the 3rd line to see if he could rack up more goals and assists.
FINALLY – Kolesar finds net! He has a long long way to go before I am ready to be a fan. I expected bigger things from him when he first came up and to date he’s disappointed. I still think there are options available on HSK who would be a better 4th line fit. I still find it incredible that he was up on the 1st line at all. That move was beyond comprehension. He’s a 4th liner, IF THAT. But, hey – get some assists, goals and give someone a beat down and change my mind. He’s what? 6-3 or 6-4 and 230 or 240 right? I think he was supposed to be a better version of Reaves and that has not been the case.
So, who is in goal vs ARI and who will face COL on Saturday? Any news on Sponge Bob? I hear he fractured his labia, ooopps I mean labrum. I think you play the rook against Arizona on Friday and put the more seasoned Brossoit in against the Avalanche.
Convince me that this team is a playoff contender by winning the next two games. Arizona should be a lock. The big challenge will be Colorado.
Pistol Pete
Like you say D-D it’s just his first win but 35/36 including on a number of high danger chances, this game LT looked a lot like Fleury to me. We’ll see if he can keep it up. If so he’ll be a starter at some point maybe sooner than we can imagine.
Pistol Pete
R-R that is lol. Sorry buddy.
Pistol Pete
Nice move by DeBoer playing Thompson. One of the announcers suggested it provided motivation for the roster to play well in front of him. Astute gutsy move. Replacing Brossoit is a distinct possibility saving about $1.5m. See what happens with Lehner though. May need Broissoit and Thompson.
Pistol Pete
If Lehner goes on LTIR that will open up another $5m to work with for the TD or to activate Martinez.
Mark
I agree with Carrier, I never worry about him. He’s got speed and toughness. Also, he’s underated as a passer, he sets up alot of guys for goals. He’s a bruiser on the boards, trust me, when he’s on the ice, guys are looking over their shoulders. But, like you said, when you have such top heavy salary guys, Eichel, Stone, Patches, etc.. you have to have guys at 1.4, 1.5 million that can carry the load, Carrier is perfect with his Cap hit.
sb
Nope. He hustles from one end of the ice to another but produces very little in the way of scoring. He gets a lot of ice time and produces little. Steve Yzerman once said that not everyone can be a role player – someone’s got to score. Carrier is fast as blazes and produces little scoring. End-to-end rushes that lead to him turning over the puck. Accomplishes little. Too many role players. Not enough scorers.
Daryl
If he was on the 1st or 2nd line I would agree with you, but for someone who plays further down the line he does pretty good.
Pistol Pete
San Jose has really struggled post DeBoer.
Daryl
In 2019-20, SJS had a losing record uberPDB. Their team was old, in fa t they had 13 players who were 30 or older by the end of the season. Their FO has not done a very good job of getting talent
the REAL TS..REALLY!
RR: Carrier has been an unsung hero throughout his VGK career. Always plays TOUGH. Crashing boards going after the puck. Looking for the net, even from behind it..wish he could perfect the wrap-around goal, few players can do it, but he’s so close…
Carrier rarely gets hurt, is always hungry, plays hard every game…one of our most reliable guys. He’s a quiet warrior, comes to play every game.
sb
But Carrier produces very little in the way of scoring. Someone’s gotta score goals. It seldom is Carrier.
Daryl
Our first two lines and our PP aren’t scoring either….
the REAL TS..REALLY!
You noticed the Fleury-style saves by Thompson too? I was pumped when I watched him tonight– he may end up playing more games than expected, with saves like that. I noticed he hangs onto the puck, rather than just slapping pucks away. ..few rebound chances for Sharks. Very good to see a competent backup, given Lehner’s injury. Really good effort by the team!
Pistol Pete
Over the course of the rest of the season if DeBoer gives him the games, he may prove to be better than Brossoit and Lehner! That’s probably a stretch this early but hey, stranger things have happened.
Daryl
I think he will look great, but due to lack of experience he will make some big mistakes
Pistol Pete
What I have been saying.
“We know what he’s capable of doing offensively,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “Jack’s one of those players that when you watch him and he plays, he makes the people around him better. That’s a big compliment.”
knights fan in minny
logan was solid not taking anything away from logan but the sharks are junk
Jake
Isn’t the best player on any team the back up goalie, or QB?
THE hockey GOD
For all you newbie fans, the score should have been 1 to 0 , sharks, if Sharks had a real goalie in net; because every single one of the VGK goals was a very soft goal. Lesson to all the RL haters on soft goals , that is what soft goals look like ( and of course the ones the farce of franchise gave up in playoffs last year.)
Coaching staff gave LT an easy spot to start against the offensively challenged SHARKS. Choke Eichel is still laboring, not anywhere near his prior form, and that is why Foley and ownership still have blood in their stool. He is playing hurt, or playing trying not to get hurt.
L
THE hockey GOD
Lines three and four still need to do better, should have dominated against the very weak sharks third and fourth lines. They could barely manage consistent high danger chances.
The real test will be in the next two games, after another long layoff. NHL is doing no favors for VGK this month, next month will be different story.
Blitz
RL hater here: we are very aware of what soft goals look like, thank you. We also know what a goalie looks like that is athletic enough to move and look around, under, thru net front opposition to stop shots and not just hope pucks hit a big sloth lumbering body. We know what it looks like for AHL goalie to come in and almost get a shut out after the defense in front of him hung him out to dry time after time. It was indeed a soft team to give LT (as you would expect), but the amount of *real* saves he had to make…he was actually quite good. AND he did it backwards (wrong handed) just to spite you.
THE hockey GOD
@blitz I wouldn’t expect anything less than that from an RL poster.
did I say you were a newby fan ??
Blitz
@THG you said “Lesson to all the RL haters”. I clearly qualify. I disregarded the newby fan thing, but I do think Reimer lived up to his name (I guess that would probably be Reim-ed, with a hip spelling). I think with Kolesar sliding an open shot buy him from the top of the circle, “soft goal” was assumed by all.
THE hockey GOD
as was eichel’s flutter shot, and 67 corner shot
a real NHL goalie would have stopped all three
Daryl
I guess it couldn’t have been any worse with RL in net…. Score would have been the same
Richie-Rich
Wow, I only agree with the poor goalie play by the Sharks. The rest of your analysis, well, nope – to put it simply I don’t agree, especially the comment on Eichel. He’s a point per game guy historically and he exceeded that in this game.
Daryl
RL biggest fan and MAF most hated fan returns…. Notice how he can’t make a comment about goaltending without defending RL and bringing up MAF???
THE hockey GOD
the comment was about soft goals, and fans like you who wouldn’t know a real solid goal from a soft goal if their life depended upon it.
now go stalk someone else, troll.
Daryl
Nope, I think I’ll stick around right here…. So I can continue to laugh at your nonsense posts… Just keep bringing up MAF while trying to hide this secretkvs affair you have with him. Once again, you prove my point and so many others, us non supporters of RL are not the ones who continue to bring up MAF
THE hockey GOD
only nonsense posts are yours
Richie-Rich
I would test LT in goal against the Avalanche on Saturday to see how he fares. Play LB on Friday against the bottom feeding Coyotes. If RL is truly out long term then Thompson needs a true test.
Pistol Pete
R-R, I am thinking the same. Would that not be vote of no confidence by the coach for Brossoit though? In any case it could be a seminal event if LT beat the AV’s especially with good stats. This is getting interesting especially if Lehner goes on LTIR.
Did you see Ken’s tweet during the Kings game on the book being out on Brossoit being beatable upstairs? I wonder how much stronger LT is in that regard?
https://twitter.com/SinBinVegas/status/1494887087446708226?s=20&t=o5K1NQ_P5CiaJm3e_uC9cQ
Pistol Pete
Ken’s tweet (saves using the link I posted above):
“The book is out on Brossoit. The guys on TNT were talking about it all night and Kempe just sniped him in the same place again. Lots of room up high. 2-2”
Tim
I see potential in Eichel handles the stick well, sees the ice well should be up to speed soon. On the negative side do we look slow or is it me and I’ll say we miss white-cloud and Martinez our defense is a little porous right now.
THE hockey GOD
I agree, we are on same page
slow
and porous defense.
coghlin and 27 get pushed around like rag dolls.
Tim
For my money there’s not a player on the Knights I don’t like strange as that sounds. We’re really not a Stanley cup contender but how many are? There’s players I’d like to see more offense from Janmark, Roy, Dadonov they all have a lot of experience but it’s not showing up on the scoreboard. Carrier, Howden, Kolesar you don’t e spect as much from but every little bit would help. This Martinez sabbatical is very frustrating just can’t figure what’s wrong unless he had a bad reaction to Coviid.
THE hockey GOD
@ tim, i believe it was concussion protocol related lingering issues.
Pistol Pete
I was expecting Eichel’s athletic ability and youth to enable a fast comeback. I realize it’s only three games in and there is still a lot to prove but’s it’s an encouraging start. In any case it’s good to have him in the lineup for the stability it provides. Btw, Pacioretty, Eichel and Stone (I realize he’s out) are all a point a game or better although it’s a tiny sample for Eichel, and Stephenson is not far behind with 40 pts in 48 games.
“I’m not surprised because he’s a special player,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “If he wasn’t such a special player, I think it probably would have taken longer. But he’s got such exceptional skill that I think it allows him to get back up to pace quicker.”
Pistol Pete
Does anyone think the 1-3-1 is causing defensive breakdowns leading to breakaways and not yielding enhanced D-zone exits?
Pistol Pete
I’m trying to learn 1-3-1 it’s not exactly simple. As I understand it, it’s applicable to all three zones. Have we heard mostly for the NZ for the VGK it is all three zones?
Pistol Pete
Full ice 1-3-1:
https://www.icehockeysystems.com/blog/coaching-tips/full-ice-1-3-1-system
Pistol Pete
I notice Eichel has circled back to the blue line in the O-zone a number of times. And on the PP he’s there quite often. Is he playing 1-3-1? Anyways, when Petro, Theodore or other D go in it’s reassuring to see Eichel playing the blue line when he is the one to cover the D. He’s very good at holding the puck and cycling it from any position. With his size and speed he’d probably make a very good D but his offensive talent is better utilized as a forward.
Galdom
Good win
Pistol Pete
Guess it’s the 1-1-3 for the NZ DeBoer has deployed. Caps used it to beat VGK in the Cup finals and TBL uses it.
Pistol Pete
Here is Ken’s video on VGK implementing the 1-1-3 for the neutral zone:
https://twitter.com/sinbinvegas/status/1475894056332849153?s=21
Pistol Pete
I think there is a question at this point if the deployment has been successful or not.
Vlad
If only the VGK still had Pylon Krebs ….. would have been a close game with that useless tit on the ice
Miss them good ol days. Good to see him already leading the sabres with the worst plus/minus on that team now
VGK Fan
Wow he is a -9 in only 17 games!
sb
Why Buffalo wanted Krebs is a mystery. Maybe explains why Buffalo has been so bad for two decades.
Pistol Pete
If Thompson pans out positively for the Knights you know who there will be to thank for it?
KM.
Galdom
The Vegas Golden Knights are 9-6-4 since Christmas. Only 7 of those wins have come after 60 minutes so in the last 19 games they’ve only had 7 regulation time wins. That’s not very good.
Here is some perspective in regards to their goaltending and defensive play since Christmas as it has improved but was not as good before Christmas. For those of you that hate facts and numbers you could stop reading as I don’t want you to hurt your brain.
In this time period since Christmas Vegas has averaged 51 goals against which is 2.68 goals against per game. That is 7th in the league. Interesting that the same rhetoric that goaltending being a massive problem keeps getting brought up when in the past two months they ranked seventh in the league in goals against per game.
During the same time period, they have scored a paltry 54 goals which is 2.84 goals per game. They rank 20th in the league in this category. They have struggles to score. Kevin Iole mentioned certain players long scoring droughts in his last article.
So since Christmas they are 20th in the league in goals for per game and 7th in the league in goals against per game. As the sample sizes get larger and the team gets healthier it appears at this time that the same problems that halt our playoff runs continue to be scoring goals. That’s what has ended their playoff runs, not goaltending, not defensive play but timely goals and the power play.
Perhaps this startling reality further reinforces the need for Jack Eichel. He keeps looking better each game which is a great sign so far. If Stone and Martinez both remain on LTIR for the rest of the season we could have room to add another offensive weapon, perhaps a John Klingberg from the back end or a Phil Kessel up front.
I think it’s a waste of time to analyze every single goal that gets past us to decide whether to blame our goalie or not since scoring goals and the power place seems to be the real problem but it’s a free country so obviously do as you wish.
Robin Lehner has been the villain before he got hurt, it looked like fans were gearing up to have Jack Eichel as the next villain after he was pointless in his first game in a calendar year which was ridiculous.
Any idea on who the next whipping boy will be until Lehner gets healthy again as it seems that fans always need a villain. I don’t think Kolesar has a big enough role on this team to be the villain.
I think it’s going to be between Shea Theodore or Evgeni Dadonov.
Hopefully Lehner is healthy again soon so fans won’t have to go through the trouble of picking a new whipping boy.
VGK Fan
Thanks, that was a great breakdown I knew things had been bad for while I would just add the penalty kill has not been good also.
I personally don’t see us adding any players. I would imagine getting Whitecloud, Stone, and Martinez back at some point will be good enough. The $64,000 question is will the goaltending be good enough. If RL regains the form he showed on the last east coast swing we should be fine.
If/When we get back our remaining injured players that will solve the problem on the penalty kill as both Whitecloud and Martinez have proven to be studs on the PK.
sb
You are right. Goaltending is not the problem. The lack of scoring is the problem. Too many role players, not enough scorers. Too many guys scoring one goal every ten games. Can’t win a Cup with that.
sb
Phil Kessel? Do you realize that Phil is a minus 134 lifetime? Phil scores a goal, but gives up two. A true defensive liability. He IS NOT a Vegas-type player – not a PLUS player. Phil is a one-way player. Knows offense, but nothing about defense. He played on Pitts Stanley Cup teams and managed to be a minus player. Please – not Phil.
Daryl
Janmark is a career – 22, Dadonov is – 17, Howden is – 22, and Eichel is – 68…. I guess none of them are VGK style of players either?