Recap: The Golden Knights took on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the last game of their four-game road trip. Vegas forward Brett Howden scored his 6th goal of the season to give his team the first lead of the game.
The Golden Knights bottom-six forwards continued their strong play on the trip by doubling the lead in the 2nd period. William Carrier scored his 5th of the season to make it 2-0 Vegas lead.
Vegas fought off three Tampa power plays in the final frame to hold their two-goal advantage. However, the Lightning cut the lead in half with six minutes left and tied the game late. The game would need an overtime period and eventually a shootout to decide a winner. Mark Stone sealed it for Vegas in the seventh round of shootout.
The Golden Knights record improves to 26-16-3 defeating the Lightning 3-2 in shootout. Vegas wraps up their road trip going 2-1-1 earning five points. Next up they’ll face the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena. Puck drop against the Sabres is set for 7 PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: The Golden Knights played an excellent game on the road for two periods. Frustrating the Lightning and making life very difficult in all three zones. But then, in the 3rd, Tampa turned up the heat and the Golden Knights couldn’t handle it. Despite getting multiple odd-man rushes, Vegas did not get a single shot on goal from inside the offensive zone in the period. Meanwhile, Tampa went to work and came back to tie the game. Vegas pulled off an improbable win in shootout. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Tampa Bay Lightning game at Amalie Arena.
- Kevin Iole’s Sunday column returns
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Robin Lehner
** Brett Howden
* William Carrier
Career shootout save percentage
Andrei Vasilevskiy – .819
Robin Lehner – .543And VGK win it!!!
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 30, 2022
VGK sure do play exciting overtime games. That was wild.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 30, 2022
Bend but… broke.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 30, 2022
The Golden Knights deserve a lot of credit for making everything look disjointed for the Lightning tonight.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 30, 2022
Galdom
How do you get outshot 17-1 in the third period and also have four 2 on 1’s. That third period was very frustrating. It’s clear that Stone and Pacioretty don’t have their timing. They didn’t even have the coaches confidence until the seventh round of the shoot out. I guess that’s the negatives out of the way.
The first two periods were unbelievable. Dominance. I’m going to have to check but I doubt Tampa has had any success in the last few years especially the way they just shoot straight at the goalies chest. Without Lehner’s brilliance on this 4 game road trip they may have only gotten 1 single point instead of 5. Anyways, that’s all I’m gonna say about that. I’ll let Pistol Pete and sb celebrate Lehner and the win. A discussion I can partake in maybe on Monday when Jesse Granger sends out a tweet stating that Robin Lehner has been named NHL player of the week going 2-1, 1.29 GAA, .958 SV%.
If Fluery is allowed to struggle and go .905 over 49 games in 2019 then please allow the same courtesy to the Panda who was .904 over the first 41 games this year. WAS! Time to rally around our guy who just went toe to toe against the best goalie in the world. I’m talking about Vasilevskiy not Fluery. Have a wonderful evening ladies and gentlemen.
Rashaad
4th line filthy tonight. KHC line. Or maybe I call them Kool and the Gang. Kolesar with the sandpaper, Howden and Carrier with the offence. I like my boy Kolesar sticking up for the guys but too bad Tampa scored on the penalty.
The hockey GOD
That was bonehead penalty completely stupid and let TBL back in game. And he never hot another shift after that stupid bonehead. If I was coach he would out next game.
Galdom
True
knights fan in minny
big 2 points fun game to watch rl was good carrier had a strong game worked his butt off patrick is a waste of space invisible tonight
Galdom
Knights Fan, I laughed when you said what you said about Nolan Patrick. Brutal shoot out attempt. I still think there has to be something there in him. Let’s hope so.
knights fan in minny
hard to say if there is he had the big chance tonight with the top line and he was invisible
DL
I think we can put to rest all the negative talk about Lehner. He/We are in first place! He was solid this road trip. It’s the rest of the team I wonder about. Not worry, but wonder. If they all do their jobs to score and defend, along with solid goaltending, they have as good a chance to win as any team. And hopefully avoid periods like the 3rd tonight or worse going dry come playoffs the last two seasons. Play a solid 60 (or more) and that is the key to then possibly winning 16 games come May and June.
The hockey GOD
DL u r correct. No 2 star of game!!! By Florida experts in their three stars of game. Goalies saved bacon on this road trip. No 55 needs s head check. That was dumbest uncalled for penalty at that time in game. Dumbest penalty of year. Team made other bad decisions. Otherwise it was an awesome win!! They can beat SC team with RL on net.
LVsc
Great exciting game, and a very big win, because it put the Vgk back into first place.
Now for the critical analysis. after playing good smart hockey in the first 2 periods, the Vgk had a mental meltdown in the 3rd. FOUR 2-on-1 chances, and they tried to force a bad pass every single damn time. That was pathetic. Not one shot….and the dumb penalties hurt, especially by Patch and Kolesar.
However, the good news is that they beat a very good goalie in the shootout, and that was impressive.
Bottom line= I hope this is a carbon copy of game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in late June.
Pistol Pete
Amen Galdom.
In addition to the stellar goaltending by Lehner, so beautifully memorialized by Galdom, this trip could have used one more elite VGK sniper. I think it’s obvious to whom I am referring.
Pistol Pete
That elite sniper happens to be an elite skater as well…another attribute this trip could have used especially period 3 tonight including those blown odd man rushes.
John W
Agree that the Panda has upped his game, and in a timely manner.
More importantly, the commitment to Defense has finally appeared over multiple games. Bodes well for the rest of the season.
Good win on the road, despite a few bad penalties. Kolesar continues to have horrible timing.
Am I right there were no goals or points from the top two lines over the road trip???
As to Stone and Patch, I agree their timing is off…..but like the empty netter Stoney scored in Nashville to end his last drought, I think the shootout winner tonight may help kick him into gear.
We need – 1) A strong effort to bury the Sabres on Tuesday, then 2) Use the All Star Break to get everybody healthy at last…..and prepare for the Eichel entry.
Great game!
Hdbiker7851
Eichel time – will be playoff time – if you see him before that it will be surprising. Lehner stood tall tonight and had a lot of help for 40 of the 60. Credit where credit due –
Pistol Pete
Eichel needs games ahead of the postseason as many as he can get. I believe that will be the strategy of DeBoer and team.Think seeding as well.
Richie-Rich
I am not going to say one negative thing about this game. The road trip is over and I thought it would be a success if they got 3 points.
Well, they got 5.
Enough said.
The hockey GOD
Walrus=no1 star of game. Say no more
The hockey GOD
Where is your usual RL?love post? Goalies were excellent on road trip
Arnold Rothstein
Team Arnold opens vault deposits more e$_$$$$$. Next up Sabres win on our home ice.
Arnold the Brain
Daryl
The 3th line this entire series has stepped up and given this team life. They have played better than the 1st two lines combined (in a way). Defensively the team has stepped up big time. They held TB to 9 shits on goal in the first two periods and from what I red only 1 high danger shot.
The inky thing that really worries me S I don’t think we can rely on the 4th line to carry the team like they have been
Galdom
https://moneypuck.com/goalies.htm
Interesting link. Don’t shoot the messenger because it’s not my website. Click on goals saved above expected. While I don’t believe in everything analytics This is the stat that the nerd analysts seem to use to determine goal tender performance.
Robin Lehner ranks 14th out of 106 goalies. He’s been better than everyone thinks but up until recently has had no help from his defense. That big fat ass and barrel chest is working.
All of the greats are up there. Igor Shesterkin who will probably win the Vezina is 1st. Andrei Vasilevskiy who was probably the best goalie in the world is 5th. Marc-André Fleury ranks 102nd out of 106 goalies.
CLICK ON THE LINK
Julie
Galdom, I recall some posts from the last article that you were done posting about goalies. 🙂
Why are you out for vengeance on Fleury? Is this still about a tweet?
I won’t even mention the shot that bounced off Lehner into the net during the shootout. Oops…
All in all great game. And I didn’t have to put down Fleury to be happy for Vegas. See how that works? Let it go. He is gone.
Galdom
Okay
Pistol Pete
I must sat Galdom you did open my eyes on Fleury earlier, that not all with him his perfect including on a personal level. It’s become more clear to me why VGK moved on from him. You’re right career wise he’s better than Lehner, albeit marginally really, it was his advancing age and increasing unreliability e.g. the gaffe in MTL that cemented the decision. I have high hopes for Lenny going forward. Think he can keep improving from season to season.
THE hockey GOD
i like your posts, keep them coming !!
Tim
The third period choke out shot 17-1 and penalties penalties and more penalties. Although I see a lot of hustle in Kolesar he’s a penalty a game guy not a point a game guy. Howton and Patrick may come around but I’ll take Coghlan over Hutton if for no other reason he’s 5 years younger with a higher ceiling. Overall 5 points on a tough road trip I’m sure all involved are happy and a fun plane ride home.
Henderson One
Concerned about Patches and Stone. True Stone scored the winning goal in the shootout, but they both seem to have a throat problem in the cup games and in the big games. They seem to be MIA.
Pistol Pete
Chandler Stephenson is having a great year however I’m expecting Eichel to be an even bigger catalyst for Patch and Stone. I think we’ve seen the beginning of the end of the latter stages of the postseason scoring drought.
Assuming none are moved to make room for Eichel, Janmark/Stephenson/Dadonov will be a very good 3rd line.
Pistol Pete
I guess I kind of forgot who replaces Smith on the 2nd should he be traded, however I still put Stephenson as 3C which will make a strong line no matter the wingers. Probably he will not be as productive down there but with Roy as 4C that is the depth all the way down the middle VGK has been lacking.
where the Buffalo roam
Jack Eichel will make his debut on Feb 16 at home vs Colorado
Pistol Pete
That has been my call as well.
Pistol Pete
We can’t assume Eichel will be a cure all for all VGK offensive deficiencies, however the biggest variable will be staying healthy. This aside, a player who amasses 355 pts in 375 games on a shit team has all the more upside on a good one.
Galdom
Thanks Pistol Pete. But I would say that Fluery’s career has been more than marginally better as a whole. He’s going to the Hall of Fame. His body of work is long and impressive. He’s also seven years older than Lehner. My point is that I think Lehner can provide at the moment just as much as Fleury could. In fact if you took their numbers from the 2017-18 season until present they are exactly the same. So this is ignoring any Pittsburgh Penguins numbers or any of Fluery’s struggling years. Their numbers since 2017-18 when Vegas entered the league are as follows.
Fluery 248 games played, .916 SV%, 2.48 GAA
Lehner 186 games played, .916 SV%, 2.65 GAA
Very similar. And of Fluery’s 248 games, 217 are starting for Vegas which has been a very good team.
Since 2017-18 Lehner has a mish mash of
Buffalo 53 games, Islanders 46, Chicago 33, Vegas 54 games.
So if you want to enter the excuse of who’s playing for a better defence or a better team, Lehner played for some shit teams including Buffalo and Chicago. Yet their numbers are very similar which is what I’ve always been saying.
Also, Fleury has always been more of a workhorse with better stamina. A clear number one goalie while Lehner has always been more of a 1A a number one goalie but a tandem. I’ve always said that Brossoit should play more, at least 30% of the time. But at this point in time with his age I don’t see Fleury as a workhorse anymore.
So end result I think they give you the same things and they certainly have since 2017-18.
I just want panda to get a fair shake. Get ready for a good second half.
Pistol Pete
Exactly Galdom. I think by Fleury being marginally better I was making the comparison of Fleury late stage career—Lehner is younger. No doubt Fleury has the edge, and significantly, across his whole career.
Galdom
If we were told that on this four game road trip, Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Chandler Stephenson , Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Evgeni Dadonov and Alex Pietrangelo would combine for a total of zero points how successful would this have been. The power-play was 0% on this road trip, not one single power-play goal.
We all know the reason why they got five points on this road trip. The team did tighten up a bit more defensively but panda had no room for error as the top 7 forwards provided nothing. NOTHING.
Pistol Pete
What I like is the five man defending and that the scoring came from the bottom six. Defending and depth is the foundation, top six scoring will come.
Daryl
Yes RL played great job this road trip but he had A LOT of help. The defense has seen absolutely outstanding. They held TB to 9 shots on goal thru 2 periods and only 1 high danger chance. Another prime example is the Caps game, I think Ovi had only 1 clear shot on they PP.
Don’t take this as a negative because RL did play very good but this hsd also been some of the best this defense has played all season
Pistol Pete
I must go OT:
Before there was VGK, Rafael Nadal was my team. What he just did is unbelievable. Coming from 2 sets down to defeat the #2 player in the world ten years his junior. This with a bad foot and COVID in December. Nadal is right there with Brady and anyone else as the GOAT athlete. Tremendous ability, tenacious and humble. Nicest most hard working guy on the planet.
Galdom
I wonder if Djokovic has any regrets
the REAL TS..REALLY!
Somehow, I don’t think Djocovic regrets anything. He acts like his sh…t don’t stink, but he still sh…ts JUST LIKE THE REST OF US. I was never a fan of his, now he’s just a POS.
Pistol Pete
I was surprised Djokovic stuck to his conviction on not getting vaccinated. It seems his team overvalued the medical exemption granted by the tennis authority, overlooking the possibility the border control authority would not accept it. We’ll find out how much Djokovic missed the opportunity going forward—I assume if he wants to get vaccinated for the French Open or any event that comes before it he’d better start now. It depends if they allow a one shot process with or without a booster. A three shot process takes around 12 months.
The way Medvedev handled him in straight sets last year’s USO, I did not necessarily having him winning the AO. He may not have even been able to do what Nadal did. Nadal has been far more beset by injuries than Djokovic. Discounting that I consider Nadal the GOAT over Djoker. Their H2H is very close.
the REAL TS..REALLY!
I think Novac has decided he is above the law, and deserves special treatment. His team miscalculated the response of the AO, probably thought the Aussies would buy his story about prior infection. He offered no proof, tho. Proves that even champions can be IDIOTS. He has NOT acted like a champ should. Would Federer have tried to pull this off? Nope, too much integrity.. BUT: Aaron Rodgers sure would. Another entitled POS, above the rules. Like them or not, RULES RULE.
Pistol Pete
GOAT discussion:
Federer is out because he’ll never win another major to equal Nadal’s 21 and he has a losing h2h against both Nadal and Djokovic.
h2h Djokovic 30-Nadal 28 (most matches of any rivalry)
Djokovic has a slight lead in the h2h and without going into all the details his record is more complete in that he has won all nine Master Series events to Nadal’s seven and has won the ATP Tour Finals multiple times and Nadal has not won it once. In spite of these factors, many will give the GOAT to Nadal if he finishes with more majors. Besides Nadal could even the h2h.
the REAL TS..REALLY!
Yes, the FED Is past his prime.. just cannot sustain through the long matches any longer. He’s a bit older than Nadal and Djokovic. He didn’t dominate like the other two
, either. But it was a great run while it lasted!
the REAL TS..REALLY!
Nadal is a true perfectionist. His tenacity is fearsome. I’m a Federer fan, CLASS act. Will miss him in the tour. With Djocovich’ entitled behavior, trying to get around the covid rules like he did, it was refreshing to see Nadal win.( or ANYONE but Novac, for a change!!) French open will bite Djocovic in his entitled ass, as well. Novac needs to earn that even HE has to follow the rules….
THE hockey GOD
rating the VGK OT and SO players
if they are not on list, like 55, then they didn’t get any OT or SO time on ice, or insufficient amount of time.
no 27 Shea Theodore A+, dirty, more moving parts than swiss Rolex
no 10 Roy A , smooth
no 90 RL A
no 71 Karlson A-
no 81 March A-
no 63 Boris Badanov D
no 61 Stone B + , on shoot outs looks like a animated Pablo Picasso cartoon
no 39 Brossoit B+
no 19 Smith, B
no 26 Janmark B-
no 7 Petro B- to C
no 20 Stehenson B
no 67 patches B-
Other Comments
Howden has really stepped his game up, as I stated before breaking up his line and sitting him in Carolina game was a coaching mistake. Doubt he was injured
Nolan Patrick: I see signs in his game that he’s picking it up, taking baby steps. Remember he missed a lot of games this year. He’s finally getting chances in games.
Eichel; no way he plays before playoffs unless there is a key injury. Comment from TBL announcers, VGK as 91 million in Sal Cap from IR. Whatever that means. I believe they were quoting from old source from Dec 2020.
According to CapFriendly, Vegas’ roster, including the players on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), carries a combined cap hit of $91.4 million. That would suggest the Golden Knights need to shed nearly $10 million in salary to fit in Eichel (and Alec Martinez, who is also on LTIR with a $5.25 million cap hit).
Galdom
Another future issue but not worth really getting into now is the future of Nic Roy in Vegas. He’s become a very good player. There was an article in the athletic that said his value is that of a $5 million player. I don’t know if I would go that far but he is one guy I am almost sure they won’t be able to retain next year.
where the Buffalo roam
some PDB blunders to point out…..he should have had Karlsson take the faceoff, not Roy, because it was in the left circle. cost them the tying goal
he also should have gone with Karlsson 4th in the shootout, not 6th..that almost cost them the shootout win.
and what is with scratching Amadio and Howden in games after they score key goals for the team to succeed? Teacher’s pet 55 takes precedence over them ??
Tim
The schedule looks pretty good for February. Buffalo at home and then 6 days off then back to back with Calgary and Edmonton on the road and then 6 more days off. Then Colorado and L.A at home should be Jack Eichel Time not Miller Time. Lots of time to heal those bumps and bruises. Looks like they’ll have to make a trade or two and I won’t even want to guess there strategy but I trust they’ve had enough time to think about it.
Daryl
Does that schedule include any if the makeup games they are playing in February?
Tim
Daryl, many the Calgary , Edmonton, Colorado, and LA are all makeup games to the best of my knowledge.