Recap: The Golden Knights hosted the Chicago Blackhawks trying to win their second game in a row. Chicago took the first lead of the game midway through the opening period. Vegas had several chances but trailed 1-0 after the 1st intermission.
The Blackhawks continued to frustrate and attack the Golden Knights in the middle frame. Chicago took advantage of some defensive breakdowns from Vegas and added two second period goals. After 40 minutes of action the Golden Knights were behind 3-0.
Down three the Golden Knights woke up quickly in the final frame. Vegas tied the game 3-3 in the first four minutes of the the 3rd period. Chandler Stephenson, William Karlsson and Jack Eichel all scored to even the score. Chicago regained their lead but :53 seconds later Alex Pietrangelo evened the score 4-4. The game would need an overtime period to decide a victor. Vegas completed the comeback as Evgenii Dadonov scored the game-winning goal in OT.
The Golden Knights record improves to 36-28-4 defeating the Blackhawks 5-4 in OT. Vegas will play their next two games in Seattle beginning on Wednesday night. Puck drop against the Kraken is set for 7P. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: In a noon start, the Golden Knights looked like they sleepwalked through the first two periods. Then in the 3rd, they exploded with a flurry of goals that felt like vintage 2017-18 Golden Knights. An overtime win may have saved the season, but there are still massive concerns with what happened in the opening 40 minutes. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena.
- Kevin Iole’s Sunday column on Pete DeBoer
- An inaccurate article (this will make sense when it publishes… at some point)
Kevin’s Three VGK Stars
*** Logan Thompson
** Evgenii Dadonov
* Chandler Stephenson
Thank you Ottawa.
Thank you NHL.
Thank you No Trade Clause.You absolutely cannot be serious.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 26, 2022
Season saver pic.twitter.com/c3tsioTfE9
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 26, 2022
"I don't care how many goals he let in, he made big saves at big moments. He made a couple big saves when it was tied and it could have finished us off. That's what battlers do." -DeBoer on Thompson
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 26, 2022
"He really energized our group on a night we really needed some energy and juice." -DeBoer on Martinez
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 26, 2022
Galdom
Obviously a massive win! I was jumping up and down when Dadonov scored in overtime. But I’ve got to say that I can’t believe how arrogant this organization is. At home against Chicago and they only started turning it up in the middle of the second period??? Karlsson scored a goal which I was happy about but also very disappointed because I had assumed that he was trying not to score and was being paid off. Now it appears that he was trying and has been horseshit this year.
I’m extremely happy for Martinez getting back into the lineup. He didn’t play much and was eased into the lineup.
Is it me or did they finally get some ugly goals by having guys going to the net.
Probably too little too late but it’s just nice to see a win.
Richie-Rich
Martinez made a couple of great blocks in the 2nd period right in front of me. I’m in Section 11, Row M. He played a solid game on defense as he normally does.
The Golden Knights went to sleep at the 11 minute mark of the 1st period and didn’t wake up until the the start of the 3rd period.
I will say this much, Gallant coached teams play 60 full minutes of all out hockey with inspiration and desperation. DeBoer teams do not.
The last 5 or 6 minutes of that 2nd period was the worst I have seen this team play since its inception. They are lucky that Chicago didn’t score 5 goals in that time span.
Mike StG
RR & Galdom – The narrative you are repeating that they team doesn’t play hard is IMO misguided. I prefer HHOF Mark Messier’s postgame comments about Vegas’s performance in the first part of the game. Paraphrasing, ‘Vegas was trying to play too perfect of a game. which became paralysis by analysis and took the emotion out of their game. But in the 3rd period, down 3-0 they let it fly and got some emotion back into their game and we’re a completely different team.’
Pistol Pete
Down but not out. One little step on the long uphill climb. Now for some help from CGY and SEA—CGY a better wish than SEA.
Hopefully this win, identical to the only other comeback from 0-3 entering the third period (same score: 5-4 OT vs. STL), will light a fire to burn the remainder of the season.
A former season ticket holder
Who IS our Daddy now
The big Zzzzz
I hope Dadonov scores the winning goal in game 7 of the finals so he can tell the Knights management to suck it.
Henderson Knights
Big comeback win, very exciting…
but, the lack of urgency, the braindead first period plays by 27 and 81, and the playing down to Chicago’s level in the first 2 periods was inexplicable and inexcusable, given that the season is at stake now. and especially following the good performance vs Nashville.
and then another injury to Carrier, it just never ends. and the 5 games in hand for Dallas
that 0-5 road trip was the killer. just 2 wins on that trip and they would be 5 pts ahead right now.
But, time to be happy for the moment, and the comeback gives some hope
and hey, Nhl, thanks for voiding that trade. who’s your Daddy? now
Jim
did you hear the announcer? the VGK allow more odd man rushes than ANY team in the league except Columbus
that is a total indictment of PDB and his 1-3-1 system
guys standing wide open right in front of LT all game long, especially in the 3rd period
knights fan in minny
gutty comeback after 1 i said thats the nail in the coffin the front office owes dadanov a big apology
Pistol Pete
The bashers will claim it’s an excuse but it could not help missing Howden and Patrick, again. Meanwhile the injury parade marches on picking up Carrier. If he’s not ready Wednesday perhaps they’ll give Pavel Dorofeyev the HSK leading goal scorer another call up to see what he can do.
Daryl
Injuries are legit when talking about overall but when your stats aren’t performing that is blamed on injuries then that is an excuse. I said before that vhk not making playoffs is because on injuries but they team overall isn’t very good which was seen when most players were healthy
Henderson One
Patrick is simply injury prone as is Patches. Patrick will never contribute to this team.
Richie-Rich
Huge come from behind win by the boys today. They came out shit hot and firing on all cylinders in the first 9 to 10 minutes of the 1st period. They completely dominated Chicago during this time span even though they only had 9 shots on goal in the first period. Those 9 shots were mostly high danger.
The VGK went completely to sleep after that and did not wake up until they came out for the 3rd period down by 3 goals. In fact, the last 5 minutes were so bad that 3 Golden Knights just stood near the crease for the entire time allowing Chicago to just tee it up and blast shots on net.
The Golden Knights are so very inconsistent. When they turn it on they are the best team on the ice. For some reason this team can’t put 60 full minutes of inspired play on the ice. I am not sure if it is due to the injuries, the mixture of AHL call ups, or just plain old DeBoering trying to control the flow of the game with his “plan”. Whatever it is, it doesn’t provide good entertainment for the fans. They way they play, from behind most nights, is frustrating as hell.
At times the passing, decision making and lack of vision was so bad that I simply had to cover my eyes and mouth.
Dadanov — How do you like me now? Showing the front office just how dumb they are.
VGK fan in Summerlin
Did Theodore get credit for that first goal against his own team? Nice deflection…
VGK fan in Summerlin
Nice to see Jack Eichel get so fired up when goals are scored, dude has a lot of fire. When he and Stone play together gonna be a major party after goals.
The REAL TS
Yesssssss!! Despite the lack of effort 1st 2, that 3rd was the best comeback of the season! I saw the hustling Knights of old, relentlessly going after it. Played like… their season DEPENDED on it!
The fans were LOUD, and SO WAS I!!
The REAL TS
Dadanov deserves his own ” ironman” award, having survived this past week, then to perform as he has, shows he is ONE TOUGH GUY! The fans appreciate him!
Tim
The Knights in there 5 year existence have had crazy good and crazy bad happen to them. Add Dadonov to the crazy list as far as we know a trade has never been stopped because of this sort of mixup but here we are. Dadonov back for 2 games 2 goals now how far can this karma carry us. Management has to be just pulling there hair out especially if he catches fire and leads us into the playoffs.
VGK in Summerlin
Question for everyone here, I’m interested in honest opinions:
Is Logan Thompson a better goalie than Robin Lehner?
Thompson needs more experience of course but say for next year is it crazy to think he could be a viable option?
VGK fan in Summerlin
Who is a better goalie, Logan Thompson or Robin Lehner?
Opinions please….
Galdom
Robin Lehner. Come on! I’m taking the guy with the career .917 save percentage over the guy who has 10 total games of NHL experience. However, these are all must win games and you play the hottest goalie just as you would in game seven of a playoff series.
The REAL TS
Agree with Galdom. Thompson needs time and experience to compare to Lehner. But we are very fortunate Thompson has risen to the occasion, given our goalie situation. We’re
lucky to still be talking playoffs at all!!
Frank
Thompson can be much better than Lehner. Just needs some time and a little more control in his game. Positionally seems to be sound and moves quick laterally. At times takes himself out of play and needs better rebound control. Time will tell. But he has better skills than Lehner.
THE hockey GOD
no 23 = real captain of team
woke up team in locker room in between period 2 and 3.
Always last player off ice.
Daryl
It’s a great win but there is no way this game should ever have gone to OT
Daryl
I had vhk winning 3-1
JockEnvy
Great win. Dallas and Vancouver right in our tails. Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in between the 2nd and 3rd. My guess, Eichel and Martinez lit that locker room up.
43% chance to make the playoffs going in. There’s still hope.
Pistol Pete
Forgot about DAL. Still four games in hand though.
Previous goal: 12-3
Current goal: 11-3
Pistol Pete
The bashers don’t agree but with the level of injuries this season this team has no business not being completely out of the playoffs picture.
Daryl
They are doing good for the injuries they”ve had but if they ate in any other division they would clearly be out if the playoffs
Mike StG
Daryl,
I find it almost funny how you can’t say anything positive without a “but” followed by a negative. Read every single comment you posted on this article – I rest my case. If your spelling was better I might actually think that you’re Ken B. 🙂
And you don’t need to retort that I’m wearing rose colored glasses, because you know that would be hogwash. I just keep reading your posts in the hope that one day I see one that simply says something positive and leaves it there. Lol
Daryl
So all my posts are t negative??? No matter how good you are there is always room for improvement. If you only concentrate on the positive you will never improve
Pistol Pete
It’s silly to infer “what if” if playing in a tougher division. It’s never that simple. It’s always possible in that situation that a team’s play becomes elevated all season. In any case it’s speculative. Speculation is one thing, reality is another.
Daryl
Isn’t that exactly what some are doing when they say what if we had all our players???
Pistol Pete
Fwiw when we were all badmouthing Dadonov, I always knew he’d put together a run. They needed to make cap room and he was the most logical choice whether he was scoring or not.
Pistol Pete
Come to think of it it would have been harder to do if he did not have that slump but they always knew he’d eventually get out of it. DeBoer et. al. are not incompetent like the bashers say they are.
Daryl
He just isn’t worth the $5m he is getting paid. He had a good game at the end against a bottom dweller team. I’m actually happy for him after what vhk tries to do to him
Pistol Pete
Of all the cliches put forth by the contrarians none is more transparent than playing in a weak division. Especially the first season where the VGK swept WSH and TBL the two best teams in the East. You can’t reason with these guys. It remains their biggest talking point, excuse against this team that came out of nowhere.
Mike StG
PP – First, in the first 2 seasons the Pacific was pretty good. Sharks went to the WCF after beating Avs. The next 2 years the Pacific was dreadfully bad. But this year I’m not so sure. There is more parity this season. In the East the 8 teams going to the playoffs has been set for some time, and that’s because the other 8 are for the most part just atrocious. Who’s to say that if one of those 8 playoff teams was in the Pacific that they would be in first? Half their games have been against lousy teams.
I agree that it’s a nonsense argument to compare the conferences and divisions. But I think in defending your position you went overboard in referring to the 17-18 season (TBL, WSH). That was 4 years ago and not relevant to the here and now.
Daryl
And injuries and bad play are your biggest excuses…
Any team can beat any team in a 1 game series, it’s about beating them in a 5 or 7 game series
sb
Here we go again with these lies, “Everyone hates the Golden Knights – Most hated team in hockey.” Absolute nonsense. The best indication of fan sentiment is stadium attendance – how many people are willing to spend money to watch a team play hockey. Both at home and on the road, VGK’s have the highest stadium percentage attendances. 104.3% home attendance and 94.5% on the road – the highest percentages in both categories. So the lie is fans are spending $200 bucks on a ticket because they hate VGK’s, home and away? And once again, VGK jerseys and merchandise are top sellers in 2021-22 ……… because fans hate the Golden Knights.
THE hockey GOD
half the rink was filled with Chicago fans, and other quarter empty seats. The rest with non paying children.
VGK fan
You are correct it was half Chicago fans but there were no empty seats in my section place was pretty much full.
Thursday game did have several empty seats in my seating area. If we continue to lose on the road I expect the last 5 homes game will have lots of empty seats.
Mike StG
sb – If you follow the sport nationally and in other media (outside Vegas) Vegas IS pretty much the most hated team BY OTHER FAN BASES. Some of it is jealousy, evidenced by complaints that Vegas had an unfair expansion draft advantage (though that claim evaporated as The Kraken are in the cellar and they had an even bigger “advantage”). That was followed by the piling on regarding the Fleury trade, and now with the Dadonov trade.
Nothing we can do about that. And you are right that in Vegas the fan base is alive and well.
Daryl
I disagree on the Seattle draft, I think they had a huge disadvantage. I do agree that vhk isn’t like because of the draft and many thinking it was unfair. Then add on the MAF trade and the Dadonov debacle, you get a lot of fans the do not like VGK.
I find the attendance numbers funny because they will say at 101% capacity and I will have almost the entire row open. I’ve flown out to VGK 3 times in the past 4 years and each time I get discounted dmticjets from the hotel as part of some package.
The REAL TS
Yup. Just read about this. Other fan bases say VGK are the entitled ones, got preferential treatment that 1st season. They have a valid point. And yes, other fans have shown envy at our success, and are cheering our troubles. I think any winning team has their share of haters, and we are no different.
Mike StG
On Dadonov, let’s stop the revisionist history and look at the facts:
1) they didn’t make a dumb decision to acquire him in the off-season. He was added to improve scoring. McK said from the outset that they expected him to help in that regard, and his historical average showed he could add 20-25G.
2) at the time they had no idea whether they would be able to get Eichel. So their decision HAD to be with the assumption that they would not, and that the adds they were making in the off-season would have to carry them through the season. Dadonov, Patrick, Howden we’re added to add scoring depth. In addition, it seems that VGK had decided that L4 needed to change from being a grinding, defensive line to an energy line that could add scoring. Those 3 players were part of the adjustments to their bottom 6.
3) to expect that Dadonov wouldn’t have an adjustment period coming to Vegas is not reasonable. Especially after a miserable season in OTT separated from his family due to Canadian Covid protocols and the NHL’s realigning divisions into an all-Canadian North. Patch took the better part of his first year adjusting to Vegas’s system. Evgeni is currently on a pace to reach his historical numbers – in the 20-25G range for the season.
4) the reason Vegas traded him was purely due to the cap issues resulting from acquiring Eichel in season. It wasn’t a dumb decision, it had become necessary and was unrelated to his performance this season.
In judging his performance with Vegas there are some other factors to consider.
His productivity in goal scoring is affected by the playmaking ability of those on his line. In FLA he had that, in OTT he did not, and for the majority of this season he did not (besides the fact he was constantly playing on different lines due to all the injuries).
He is typical of Russian skaters, who tend to always be in motion. So even when he’s net front it’s not that he is planted and standing there for periods of time (like JVR for example). He will skate and end up in the low or high slot, which makes the passing ability of his line mates even more important. To pass to where he will be, not where he is. A lot of that is dependent on knowing the tendencies and play of line mates.
Overall, he has contributed to the team. After a period of adjustment, and with the addition of Eichel to the lineup, it seems likely that his current play is closer to what we can expect from him thru the end of the season than what we saw the first 30 games.
Last, though I was skeptical of the Dadonov acquisition when it happened, I think the results to date show that the FO made a good move. And though I liked Holden from Day One despite’s Ken & others criticizing his signing, it was the right decision to move him given they extended Marty and needed to make room for younger Dmen to assume a greater role. Could they have acquired a younger scorer with a lower cap? Probably, but it would’ve cost them a 1st & more, and I think they were keeping their ‘powder dry’ in case Eichel became available later. Which he did. 🙂
Mike StG
Daryl, Seattle had even better expansion draft opportunities than Vegas. Don’t see how you disagree with that.
First, Vegas was only guaranteed no word than #6 pick in the Entry Draft (which is what they ended up with). Seattle was guaranteed no worse than 5th (and they got 2nd). Do you know who went 5th in 2017? Elias Pettersen. 4th was Heiskanen, 3rd was Makar. We got Cody Glass. Seattle got Benitez with their 2nd pick, who is going to be an elite NHLer.
Second, the deals that McPhee got other GMs to agree with were a large part of Vegas’s first year success. That wasn’t an advantage, it was tactical smarts.
Third, Fleury’s available wasn’t an advantage, it was simply timing and player availability.
Fourth, the fact that GMs didn’t want to make deals with Seattle like they did with Vegas wasn’t a disadvantage for Seattle. It was a result of Vegas’s prior strategy. And I think Francis, realizing that, decided that they would just draft players the best they could and then pile up picks at trade deadline. Which is exactly what they did.
IMO it’s very possible that in Year 5 or 6 Seattle could very well be a cup contending team and be that for years to come. Whereas Vegas by their acquisitions chose to try and win now with the risk that in Years 7 and beyond they might end up facing a rebuild.
BTW, the over 100% figure are partly because they count tickets sold (not butts I seats), plus they have the SRO areas at the west end of TMA – Upper Deck and Flight Deck West, plus there are 3 lounges on the east end. I think a lot of of open seats are owned by those who bought season tix just to resell and couldn’t sell them.
Mike StG
Man, auto correct! Seattle got Beniers, not Benitez!
THE hockey GOD
mike agree with all your points, hard to argue, unless you live in Mayberry and your name is stalker Gomer.
Only thing it , Kraken may make it to finals in ten years, not six.
Daryl
You think about me as much as you think about MAF… Do you have a little man crush????
Daryl
I disagree simply because the vhk draft was the first of its kind. FO weren’t exactly sure which way to go or what to expect. Thanks to VGK, Seattle and the rest of the NHL was better prepared to deal with that type of draft.
But don’t get confused on how u see VGK playing out in that durst year. I don’t think they were given anything and I predicted they would finish dead last. I’m not saying VGK was gifted anything.
As for the pop numbers I completely agree with you… And that was why I thought posting those numbers is silly