Recap: The Golden Knights got off to great start getting help from two rookies. Forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg each scored their first NHL goals to give Vegas a 2-0 1st period lead.
Jonathan Marchessault stretched the Golden Knights advantage to 3-0 late in the middle frame for his seventh goal of the season.
The Wild made a run in the final period scoring two to get within one. Laurent Brossoit stood tall in net down the stretch to preserve a 3-2 victory.
The Golden Knights record improves to 8-6-0 winning their second game in a row. Vegas’ prepared for their next opponent on Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks. Puck drop at The Fortress is scheduled for 7 PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: Vegas continued their string of strong defensive play early in this game and were aided by a pair of career-first goals from Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg. They stretched the lead to three, which apparently is not a great lead to have in T-Mobile Arena this year. Luckily, the PK was great, Brossoit was even better, and they hung on in what was a “gutsy” win. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Minnesota Wild game at T-Mobile Arena.
- Time to start praising the coach for where the Golden Knights stand
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Jonas Rondbjerg
** Paul Cotter
* Laurent Brossoit
"This bus has been driven by our goaltenders and our leadership." -DeBoer on going from 1-4-0 to 8-6-0
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 12, 2021
It wasn't easy. It wasn't pretty. But VGK hung on.
2-0-0 to start the homestand.
Periscope to chat about it in about an hour.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 12, 2021
Huge mistake at the blue line, Smith hops on it, makes a great feed to Marchessault and he absolutely buries it.
The Golden Knights lead 3-0!
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 12, 2021
The Horsies are galloping!!!
Jonas Rondbjerg with his first goal. Wins a race to the puck then beats Talbot clean.
2-0 VGK in their best period of the season.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 12, 2021
Justin
Wow, what an impressive win against a very good team. This rag-tag team of silver knights and walking wounded has little business being 2 games over . 500. deBoer and player leadership really deserve a ton of credit, well done.
LB looked excellent and mega contracts to Cotter and Rondberg on their first nhl goals tonight. Both were great plays and great shots.
Coyote
Agreed.
Big Bad Vlad
Ducharme…” As an NHL executive texted us after the game, “Suzuki’s earned Team Canada consideration with his versatility. Whether he makes it or not, he’s a complete and competitive player who is turning into one of the best young ones in the country, and you’ve seen that on most nights and not just this one.”
Vegas should try to get players like these…. F’n Krebs…ba ha ha thank god that POS is gone
Good win tonight boys!!!
Vic
Cotter and Rondbjerg doing things Glass and Krebs simply could not do….hanging onto the puck to create their own scoring chances by powered past the dman, and then actually scoring. Cotter had 4 hits in less than 8 minutes of ice time. To borrow from Yogi Berra….Hockey is 90% mental, and the other half is physical. Nice to see the young guys building confidence and hopefully more ice time comes as they learn.
Quality win and hoping #23 is back quickly.
Tim
There’s a lot going on in our first 14 games. Credit DeBoer with finding a way, credit management with drafting Cotter and Rondbjerg just 21 they may be keepers. Hopefully Martinez doesn’t have eye damage but he may have a nasty scar. I guess I was wrong about Jack Dugan hard to believe he’s that far down the pecking order. I still don’t like Kolesar’s game once again he couldn’t score if his life depended on it. Each win is 2 points no matter how we get it. Our injured aren’t coming back anytime soon so it’s one game at a time mentality. I’m encouraged with some of our young players and add Brisson who’s leading #2 Michigan in scoring and Ivan the Terrible who’s coming over after his KHL season that’s two more young forwards to add to the mix to what we already have. Then add Hague, Whitecloud, Roy, Coghlan we keep getting younger. After that you can add Patrick, Howden. and Kolesar who are all young but not sure of there upside. But overall I’d say things look bright for the future.
Pistol Pete
Who would have thought with Tuch out before the season started, Patch and Stone gone by game 3, Karlsson goes out, who would have thought they go 7-2 after a 1-4 start? Give credit to DeBoer, all the coaching staff and the prospects evaluators for being able to select those HSK players most capable of handling themselves at this level.
Pistol Pete
Tim, I like to think there is still hope for Dugan. Hopefully he can retool his game for the NHL. What works at the NCAA and AHL levels does not in the NHL. If he can just defend first, drive for the net and shoot, he’ll make it in up at some point. With his nearly a point a game pace in the AHL maybe he will have value in one of the upcoming cap compliance trades. With the VGK it looks like there is too much competition for him to make it up. He may need to find a parent team with potentially more spots available.
Pistol Pete
Cotter and Rondbjerg. These kids getting their first NHL goals quickly, causes one to wonder about Kolesar.
Pistol Pete
This is a well coached team.
Richie-Rich
Fix the power play and FO% and I would be on board. I still believe that this team needs to average 4 goals to be successful. The offense is still not clicking despite this one off great performance.
THE hockey GOD
hard to fix PP when you are getting lowest chances to be on PP in whole league and all your main players are on IR.
Mark
All guts tonight. The 2 kids looked good tonight scoring their first goals. It’s really a terrific story how we have produced with half our team out. Credit the 2 Mac’s for drafting good talent. Looks like we have the depth to hang in their until our team gets back to a full squad. Go Knights !
Pistol Pete
Too early to tell, but based on that game, Cotter/Howden/Rondbjerg has the potential of being about as good a 4th line as the team has seen. Let’s not forget, Howden is a first rounder and only 23.
Pistol Pete
Cotter: 1 G/0 A/+2 (2 games)
Howden: 1 G/1 A/+2 (12 games)
Rondbjerg: 1 G/2 A/+2 (7 games)
Leschyshyn: 0/0/-3 (12 games)
Leschyshyn, who played up on the 3rd line this game, is a bit of an outlier stats wise to tonight’s 4th line members.
THE hockey GOD
no 15 has played well enough despite a minus three
Blitz
I agree. I think #15 is the most noticeable of the AHL bunch. He shows good wheels on the forecheck has had some chances in front of the net. Some good defensive plays. Looks more comfortable and dependable every game so far. I am actually surprised he hasn’t scored yet, hopefully soon for him. Makes sense why he has been the top of the call up list.
Even without the goal I think Cotter has looked good for his two games. I don’t think he is a better skater than #15, but he brings a grit or chippiness to his game that I don’t see much on this team any more. I hope he gets a few more games at least.
Rondbjerg is getting better each NHL game too (that’s not a surprise really, unless you are Cody Glass). His pass on Cotter’s goal was legit and his goal was nice as well. I’ve noticed him from time to time, but to me not the most noticeable of the bunch so far.
Kind of shit season so far with injuries and a slow start, but fun to watch these guys.
THE hockey GOD
Cotter plays big, he looks bigger than he actually is, is a decent skater, has decent hands, and will likely get stronger. Put him in the Gordie Howe type model of a player.
Pistol Pete
Hopefully Dorofeyev, Primeau and Dugan are taking notes. Defense first at this level and then be able to drive the net and SHOOT.
THE hockey GOD
i don’t see dugan making it
Pistol Pete
As I indicated below, Dugan has 36 AHL points in 41 games. Decent by any standard. Weighted in assists but nevertheless that should attract the attention of other teams.
Pistol Pete
What is likely with Dugan is he makes another team. VGK and HSK have too much depth for him for the foreseeable future.
Richie-Rich
Isn’t Primeau like 6ft 6in? I would like to see him up on a line with Roy, Hague and Kolesar. Mass/Speed/Bone Crushing…..
THE hockey GOD
yes Primeau and the Jamaican are monsters.
Pistol Pete
Carrier as big and fast as he is, he’s a potential trade to help with the cap compliance down the road. Will have to do with how well Cotter, Rondbjerg (and Leschyshyn) do going forward. Carrier is off to about as good a season start as we have seen , so we’ll see what happens when he comes back from injury. Carrier to me has always been a guy who should score more based on his skating and speed. Sort of a better scoring version of Kolesar.
29 G/29 A/-6 (266 games: 21.8 pts/game)
Richie-Rich
If Cotter, Rondjberg and Lechyshyn produce we can say goodbye to Kolesar and Carrier. No brainer.
THE hockey GOD
i’d try to find a way to keep both of them, especially Carrier. Hoping that no. 55 is late bloomer. Coach has confidence in him, puts him on both PP and PK.
Pistol Pete
Depth is when your bottom six can score and there is no desire whatsoever to promote any of them to the top six.
Pistol Pete
Remember the 1-4 start season #2 and struggle through the first 25 games (9-12-1 through game 22). Some sort of thought Schmidt’s 20 game suspension was a driver of it but it was more systemic, coaching more than anything probably.
#1: 0-1
#2: 1-1
#3: 1-2
#4: 1-3
#5: 1-4
#6: 2-4
#7: 3-4
#8: 4-4
#9: 4-4-1
#10: 4-5-1
#11: 5-5-1
#12: 5-6-1
#13: 5-7–1
#14: 6-7-1
#15: 6-8-1
#16: 7-8-1
#17: 7-9-1
#18: 7–10-1
#19: 8-10-1
#20: 8-11-1
#21: 9-11-1
#22: 9-12-1
#23: 10-12-1
#24: 11-12-1
#25: 12-12-1
#26: 13-12-1
Stayed above 500 finishing 43-32-7. Of course this was the season that culminated in game 7 vs. SJ where DeBoer failed to call TO resulting in Fleury giving up 4 goals in the 5 min. major. Season 3 DeBoer was fired in January after losing four straight giving up first place.
RIchie-Rich
You mean Gallant, not DeBoer. But yeah, that was a tough start.
Pistol Pete
Yes Gallant lol thanks!
Pistol Pete
Dugan has 36 AHL points in 41 games. That might be of interest to another team. As I indicated, looks like VGK will be a tough roster for him to make. Not saying it’s impossible.
Pistol Pete
Dugan needs some special attention coaching to get him over the top, a potential lack of NHL ability notwithstanding. I don’t see why he can’t tweak some things. You don’t have to have exceptional speed to make it in the NHL. Look at Patches and Stone.
Tim
Pistal Pete, As I’ve stated before with Dugan’s history you would think he’d get called up but for whatever reason he’s so far down in the pecking order he probably won’t be a Knight for long. Can you imagine what’s going through his head with all these call ups and he doesn’t get a taste.
Pistol Pete
Tim, I’m pretty sure they worry his +/- would not be good. I’ve learned that Eichel-like (less actually) offensive talent notwithstanding, those who get the call ups are those they deem less likely to give up goals. NHL play is hard to defend against.
THE hockey GOD
at times the coach had three rookies out there at same time: 43, 46 and 52.
i hope 23 is ok, or they will need call up another rookie
vegassportsdoc
@vegassportsdoc
·
7h
Over 50 stitches for Martinez! Ouch. Those will probably come out within a week then get him back skating and exercising. Gotta protect him long enough to keep it from popping open again but wouldn’t expect more than 2-3 weeks away.
Richie-Rich
Damn, 50? Time for Hayes to be called up! Put him on the line with McNabb and call them the Bash Brothers.
THE hockey GOD
yes on hayes, but most likely will see the Russian kid who isn’t ready to play D in NHL.
I wonder what happened to
Jake Bischoff
Henderson Silver Knights
Blitz
What about Hutton? I not even sure I know who this guy is or if he is available. His name is on the active roster.
THE hockey GOD
Hutton , yeah forgot about him, he was on ice today practicing. Would have liked to have seen him play a game to see what his game looks like now and if he’s fit.
Hasn’t played since last year. CAnucks coming into town looking for dead cat bounce after being trounced last nite, they will not be a happy team to play against tomorrow.
Hutton skated in 38 games last season with Anaheim and Toronto. He posted one goal, four assists, 54 shots, 39 blocks and 44 hits.
Richie-Rich
Jake Bischoff is on IR. I think LTIR.
THE hockey GOD
“This bus has been driven by our goaltenders and our leadership.” -DeBoer on going from 1-4-0 to 8-6-0
I thought VGK had a goal tending issue ???
Richard Santomauro
It does, one solid win against a top tier team doesn’t change the problem. Let’s see how they do between now and December 25th. The next big challenge is next Tuesday night. Hopefully Stone and Patrick will be back.
Lechyshyn, Rondjberg and Cotter all earned the right to stay up. We shall see.
Also, didn’t I see Kaprizov miss a wide open net last night? You don’t see that very often from a top tier sniper! Kolesar likely rubbed shoulders with him at some point before that shot!
Tim
Richard, You can look at the glass half full or half empty I like to look at it half full.
Richie-Rich
It isn’t a matter of glasses empty, full or whatever. What it is all about is the Wins and the Losses and positioning for a playoff run. We’re 4 points out of first place and in the hunt right now, which considering the injuries is a fantastic place to be. Yes, it could be a lot worse than it is.
I am not going to ignore the obvious problems on my home team. They are what they are. Power play horribly broken, defense spotty, offense nearly non-existent. VGK is lucky to be a point out of 4th place. Very lucky.
THE hockey GOD
topsy turvy night across the league as edmonton bounces back for win, pens beat hot panthers at home in OT, habs beat blames at home, depleted Caps beat wings away.
Kings, ducks and Jets remain hot, islanders/kracken remain cold, AVS trounce canucks.
The Kracken are not VGK II proving again how difficult it is to make an expansion team work. Still a young season and plenty of time to turn it around. But unlike VGK who knew that had a good team by around Thanksgiving of their first year, that does not appear to be likely in crackhead-ville unless they start going a tear. Kudos again to FO.
Richie-Rich
Let’s be more accurate when giving out credit to the expansion team’s first year. The GM was McPhee, Kelly was just an assistant. All the credit goes to Foley and McPhee for year 1. McCrimmon hasn’t taken this team to a cup final as a GM and the team has not reached the heights of that first season.
On paper, the team is a helluva lot more expensive and choking on cap. It’s also a lot older, has a shit power play and has actually gotten worse in goal and on defense.
So, KUDOS to Foley and McPhee for year 1! I do agree with that.
Tim
Richie – Rich, your comment is wrong. Before they had the expansion draft George scouted half the teams and minors and Kelly did the other half so your wrong he was very much involved.
Richie-Rich
Kelly wasn’t elevated to CO-GM (or whatever he is) until 2019. The full credit for the 1st year goes to the General Manager of the team – George McPhee who had the final say on all of it – period.
Pistol Pete
McPhee gets the credit, however in reality it’s a team effort, endless due diligence and brainstorming. McCrimmon was part of it before becoming GM.
Pistol Pete
McCrimmon was assistant GM from day one, an important role that plays a major part in informing decisions by the GM.
THE hockey GOD
you left out fact that nearly half the team’s veteran players have been injured ! No 23 now TWICE. Tell whole, not half truths.
Blitz
Not the second coming of VGK expansion team, but the Krackheads were in a totally different situation, teams not panic giving out extra players and picks. They had to straight up choose from the list. There were some high dollar good players on it though, but they chose to build a middle of the road team with super low cap. They had the opportunity to add guys like Tarasenko and Price (would have been bad to start the year) and really build a max cap playoff team. They chose not to do that. I think they tried to build a big defensive VGK busting team and then maybe used the cap to build more if they had/have a playoff chance. So far not so good for them. Still alot of season left.
Richie-Rich
Well, this is one of the games I expected to lose. The VGK came out and played outstanding hockey. They laid back a bit in the 3rd with a playing not to lose game plan, but they weathered the storm with a timely late goal from Marchy late in the 2nd period. I am really liking that line with Roy at C!
I think VGK needs to find more starts for #39. You don’t want him getting stale. He looked awful against Detroit but played great last night against a strong Wild team.
When the team returns to health we might just want to see a lot more of Lechyshyn, Cotter and Rondjberg and less of Kolesar and Carrier! Poor Kolesar. He continues to be stonewalled by the Hockey Gods. One thing is certain, when Kelly starts doing the CAP math the three youngsters are likely in and Kolesar and Carrier are out.
What impressed me most about last night was the crisp passing almost throughout the entire game. It could be these players are starting to gel?
Okay okay okay Ken. Credit the coaching for last night’s victory. Give it when it is earned! Killing off a 5-3?
The only negatives?
1. 0-2 on the Power Play, which continues to struggle.
2. What is this issue with Face Off Violation Minors? Seems so easy to fix, but we have two of them in back-to-back games.
THE hockey GOD
@Tim, nice historical feed back. 1- also least amount of PP attempts in league.
Also, Wild was coming in off Back to back in Arizona, and another come from behind win. But they played strong and could easily have taken this game. I like Greenway, or Greenbalm, or Greenstreet, Green what ever. Maybe VGK can get this player one day.
I would be very surprised if all injured players make it back 100% by playoffs, but I said that before.
Pistol Pete
DeBoer mentioned in the post game that Broissoit will be getting more frequent starts.
Henderson One
Looks like we might have a new set of Misfits.
THE hockey GOD
^^^^ Misfits II ^^^^
TS
Really good game! After losing Fleury, I was concerned about the back-up goalie position…I’m relieved that Brossoit is doing very well protecting the Net. He plays with confidence, and stays calm and controlled. And the team has come together well, considering our injury situation..as these young guns prove themselves, it gives the veterans some breathing room. Keep it up, guys!!
Tim
I can tell you so much I like about this team but I’ll give you the short version. How unique is it to have so many injuries on one team and now #Martinez goes down. I doubt any team has ever been in position to bring up so many prospect at one time playing in meaningful games. I’m sure tomorrow we’ll be adding another with Martinez down and I’m betting it’s Miromanov.
You hear we spent to much for Petro to me money well spent, Picking up Eichel if healthy we picked Buffalo’s pocket. You hear this nonsense our window is closing well I’ll argue it’s wide open. Besides all the youth I mentioned in my other post I see a future for Korczak, Dorofeyev, Diliberatore, among others. To play all these kids and somehow still win games is a credit to DeBoer whether you like him or not it’s hard to argue with his success. This whole thing may collapse and we’ll go on a long losing streak but for now one game at a time and I’m loving it.
THE hockey GOD
I would like to see the other two you mentioned on D Korczak (but he’s low on seniority poll), Diliberatore, or Hayes ahead of the Russian. Don’t need another offensive minded D man at this point , who really doesn’t play D with no. 23 out. Prefer to replace no. 23 with a d man who plays a similar style to no. 23.
Blitz
Lots of good thoughts on last nights game. Super great to watch a decimated team take its young guys and beat a legit team. The next few games are going to be rough. If we can pull out a win against VAN that would be great. I totally do not expect us to beat Carolina. So 1-1 would be awesome and a win for us IMO.
Last nights game, good thoughts:
-Nice to see they went back to Brossoit so quick. It is not cool to let him rust out for so many games then expect magic. The guy is competent, but needs a realistic rotation.
-Roy was my first star last night. He was making great play after great play. I was a Roy naysayer last year. I am very up on him now. Kudos to him.
-The kids were great, we all saw it. I will throw in Cogs too and even Howden. Cogs the last couple of games is coming around and winning me over. Howden was “noticeable” and is up from “I haven’t noticed him”. Saw a couple of good plays. Ignoring the stupid golf rule faceoff penalty. That rule should just be a kick out and re-drop nothing more.
-Janmark finally had a couple of “noticeable” things last night. He was real good at the end of the game. I’ve been down on him this year. I think if he wants a roster spot, when health comes back, he needs to find that fire that made him useful last year.
The not great:
-Kolesar seems to be able to get in high danger scoring position, but literally has no ability to lift or place a puck. I am getting down on this guy. “What would you say you do around here?” Pillow checks and fighting non-fighters to draws is not enough. He may be better defensively than my unskilled eyes can see, but I have no idea. At this point I feel he’s higher on the pecking order than the kids, only because he has more NHL experience. Waiting for someone with a better eye/understanding, like Mike, to come on here and explain to me Kolesar’s worth over some of the other players we have seen this year.
THE hockey GOD
yes, no. 55 is still young, “they” say it takes longer for a “power forward” to “develop”.
For Saturday : I am very much concerned about VGK coming down after a “high” from Wild game, and a Canuck team coming off a low, and bad beat down in last game.
Then CAnes, a hot team now, comes off back to back games, gets a day off. Flies into Vegas to start a long two week road trip. They will want to start their road trip off on a good note.
Two very looming games ahead for VGK.