Recap: Coach Pete DeBoer went back to Marc-Andre Fleury at home for Game 5 after giving Robin Lehner the nod on Sunday. Midway through the first frame the Canadiens threaded the Golden Knights defense with a breakaway pass setting up a loose puck in front of Fleury. Montreal jumped on the rebound and scored the first goal of the game. Vegas was unsuccessful with their six shots on net and trailed 1-0 after the opening period.
The Golden Knights really struggled defensively in the 2nd period. Montreal found an open man twice in Vegas’ zone and scored twice taking a 3-0 advantage. The Golden Knights couldn’t generate offense again and went scoreless through 40 minutes.
Vegas began the 3rd period with desperation and urgency. Max Pacioretty broke through and scored the Golden Knights first goal of Game 5. Montreal continued to frustrate Vegas throughout the period and the offense dried up for the home team. The Canadiens flipped in an empty net goal and won 4-1 in Vegas.
After losing 4-1 to the Canadiens, the Golden Knights face elimination on Thursday night. The series goes back to Montreal in must-win Game 6 for Vegas. Puck drop is scheduled for 5 PM PT. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: Self-inflicted wounds haunted the Golden Knights in a big way in Game 5. They weren’t exactly playing well but they were doing enough to keep the game close. However, mistake after mistake after mistake took the game from close game to an insurmountable deficit. Vegas came back and started playing a lot better in the 3rd, but it was way too little way too late. These last six periods simply haven’t been good enough, and they’ve got six more periods to get it right. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs Montreal Canadiens Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena
- VGK beating themselves. How they can stop.
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Brayden McNabb
** Nic Roy
* Alex Pietrangelo
End of the game is characteristic of the VGK night as a whole.
VGK need a 2 game winning streak to keep the dream alive. This team has been down before, they've responded every single time, there's STILL no reason to believe they won't here.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) June 23, 2021
Nick Suzuki sticks in the dagger with his 3rd point of the night.
Mark Stone remains pointless in the series.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) June 23, 2021
VGK imploding now. This is not good.
VGK need a hero. Mark Stone tried to be one and it blew up in his face.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) June 23, 2021
Positive news… VGK have now trailed in 10 of the last 11 games.
They've come back to win 5 of the last 7 before today. No reason to think they are down and out in this one at all.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) June 23, 2021
THE hockey GOD
no 29 will not see the light of day in rest of this series
Richard Santomauro
This loss isn’t on Fleury. Blame Holden on that 1st goal and PDB for not adapting at all in this series to the trap being set by Montreal.
THE hockey GOD
didn’t say he was, as Howard said his style of play is not well suited to MTL style of play
Howard
Ok and we saw that tonight. Case in point – granted, Holden didn’t get back but MAF way over played that chance and slid way too far out of the net whereas Lehner would have been a standard save. The Habs player was held to the outside, MAF just simply over played that.
2nd goal he was WAY TOO FAR out of his crease – u only do that on shots coming from a break away SIDE TO SIDE. U have to make yourself bigger there. MAF gave himself no shot. Last goal was a real tough one for any goalie to save.
VGK broke an unwritten rule in NHL – if u win a game because your goalie STOLE THE GAME, u stick with that goalie. Not sure it would have mattered tonight though, but may have been 1 to 1 and another OT game.
PDB has made no adjustments and while Ken is basically right in his observations, the biggest issue is that VGK forces low % shots from too far out without traffic INSTEAD OF PASSING CROSS ICE.
Credit to Habs, they force you to make fast decisions (as all good teams will do). This is where Stone has absolutely shit the bed,. He’s trying to be over fine in his play which causes him to THINK WAY TOO MUCH instead of just making the play.
The last 3 games should look very familiar to everyone – how are Habs scoring? Break-aways, odd man rushes, SAME AS DALLAS last year because VGK is FORCING play while Habs generate offense from OUR MISTAKES.
More cross ice passing, WAY LESS BLUELINE AND LONG POINT SHOTS. Marshy and Tuch been guilty of this,. It’s clear to me VGK doesn’t believe they can sustain any attack, because when they do gain the zone, they just settle for low % shots and doing so quickly, just like Bubble last year.
This is entirely on the head coach and if we lose, he needs to go. Also, make a commitment to ONE GOALTENDER by trading one away and get what u can for him.
Because of age and contract length, I would keep Lehner, trade MAF to Pens, make it work.
MAF is still a very good goalie but again, my view is based on age and contract length. Lehner has 4 more years left, MAF 1 more year.
Look, no one is going to beat Tampa anyways and if they beat NYI (they will) and Habs beat VGK (they will), u will see Habs get murdered by Tampa as Tampa is primarily built to destroy trapping teams like The Habs.
So once again, how do you beat trapping teams with really good sticks? YOU MAKE CROSS ICE PASSES EARLY AND OFTEN and work for a high danger chance. Habs will not allow you to cycle the half wall, they just won’t as they’re just too strong.
Habs weakness is their dcore is very slow. Now, refer to game one, Remember Theodore FAKING THE SHOT and passing it? LIKE THAT. but you got to make VERY FAST decisions. VGK just holds the puck in the cycle without purpose, stand around, move it 5 feet to nothing, then back to blueline where Theodore take very low % shots just like against Dallas last year.
VGK is going bad when DMEN take too many of those shots. Must ONCE AGAIN MAKE CROSS ICE passes. and keep making them until it works out.
One was made to Smith who shit the bed right at the door. There was another where a VGK forward right before a tv timeout had the middle, BUT SETTLED FOR A QUICK SHOT, instead of skating in for a high danger chance.
Again, all of this is entirely on PDB. That is all!
Daryl
I disagree with you on the goals…. Lehner has had a history of bad rebound control. Besides not being able to get back to his feet, that was the biggest issue brought up about him. Yes MAF could have done a better job with that rebound but if Holden hadn’t take the play off, it really wouldn’t have mattered. On the 2nd goal, I think MAF was in perfect position. I don’t put that goal or the 3rd on him at all. MAF has had a few soft goals theses playoffs, but I don’t think on of them were tonight.
I agree that PDB hasn’t made a single adjustment. Changing up your lines isn’t making adjustments. I’m talking about scheme wise. He’s been useless in that aspect
Frank
Howard….. Are you a goalie? Have you played as a trendy? Both of those shots, MAF did EXACTLY what you want to do. The breakaway he saved.. unfortunate that the d was not there to clear the rebound. Second chance, you have to come out and challenge. He did and got beat by a perfectly placed shot. Could he have saved one?? Maybe. Could he have saved both. No chance. Knights still would have lost.
Frank
Sorry… Tendy. F*$#kin auto correct. Point being, Flurry played his ass off. Not his fault. We could not score.
THE hockey GOD
Howard i saw the same thing in Fleury’s play, poor rebound control and out of position. Lehner had better rebound control. I expect them to go with Lehner the rest of the series assuming he’s healthy.
Just like Cody Eakin’s mess up in San Jose, it is likely that Fleury has seen his last days as a knight. You just don’t mess up in the semi or finals in Stanley Cup. That is normally your ticket out of town.
I don’t think it’s all on PDB though, the players are not executing. I don’t think they would have executed any plan against MTL (the way they played ). VGK looked slow and hesitant, make wrong decisions. There is no plan to make them win more battles along the boards. They are out muscled every time. Even MTL said they look like a tired team. Maybe some fresh legs will help. But I doubt it. McNab said that they would change things up. They have had multiple games to do so. It hasn’t worked so far. This team isn’t built for marathon required in playoffs. The always seem to run out of gas physically and mentally.
Daryl
You are probably right…. I’m surprised he was even in net tonight. I don’t blame MAF for a single goal. He could of had better rebound control on the first goal, but if Holden wasn’t out for a Sunday drive it wouldn’t have mattered. Now comes in the question…. who starts in net in the next game
THE hockey GOD
holden even if he caught up would not have prevented that goal , he was on wrong side. Holden = AHLer.
Michael
THG, there was no “if” Holden caught up. If you look at the replay of that goal, you could clearly see that #1, Holden was not skating back and #2, he was watching the puck, not the trailing player. Daryl is correct, Holden took the play off. I think even the color commentator remarked that Holden got caught puck watching.
I gave Holden credit earlier this series for his play in game 1 and against Colorado. I will now call him out for his inept play.
THE hockey GOD
i agree he was not catching up but it didn’t matter, he would not have stopped that goal.
George L.
Vegas is killing themselves by continually not showing up for games until the third period.
This series is done.
Our forwards can’t score and our defense gets outplayed.
I’ve seen this movie before. Such a shame.
Coyote
Please don’t flay me, but I’d rather see Reaves being physical, than VGK turning the puck over all the time. I mean, Reaves doesn’t score, but neither do any other forwards, really.
Emilio
Definitely a gamble but hey sometimes you win.
Frank
Team loss. This is garbage. We are playing Montreal’s game. Just like we did with Dallas. Utter crap this game was.
Richard Santomauro
I point to PDB for not being able to adapt to this defensive strategy.
If we fail to advance I will have a lot more to say about the McPhee & McCrimmon experiment.
THE hockey GOD
I don’t think any changes by PDB would have changed the outcome. Players did not execute, not coach’s fault
Daryl
I agree…. I’m still waiting for the great PDB to make the necessary changes and adjustments I keep hearing about. I don’t put all the blame on him as the players are the ones on the ice, but it’s his job to set them up for victory and he isn’t doing his job
Howard
PDB is not capable of changing his style. U can ask NJD and SJS fans about that. Pete will never make the adjustments as he thinks his style will beat all styles. It might, MIGHT if you had 2 more quality centers, but we don’t. When a team suffers from the same problem they had in bubble last year, it’s ENTIRELY on the coach. I’ve talked about the adjustments needed as a lot of us know what is needed specifically, PDB just isn’t doing it so unless Lehner stands on his head next game (yes, it will be Robin in there, should have been tonight). we will lose this series.
THE hockey GOD
I would say it’s more FO fault, PDB is playing the hand he has been dealt with. They didn’t fix all those problems exposed in last few playoff series.
sb
Fault? DeBoer? How about MAF .880% SA? Compare to Price, .963%SA. DeBoer isn’t the goaltender who’s paid $7 million to stop pucks.
Daryl
No, but PDB is the coach and the one who is supposed to make changes to schemes and play style and yet we continue to run the same plays over and over again even though they don’t work. How much is our Captain being paid to lead this team and score goals??? Notice how you haven’t once brought up our inability to score goals
Frank
Chances my friend. Look at the goals. We gave Montreal three clean looks. We got shit. Our goal wasn’t even a clean look on goal… Just a great shot. Sorry to say save percentage does not tell the story of the game. We got out worked, out hustled and out chanced.
Mike StG
They should bench Shea in Game 6. Constantly throwing the puck away. I think he just can’t handle the pressure deeper into the playoffs. He did the same thing against the Caps – recall the misplay against Smith-Pelley that lost the game? He would be a good trade piece for a top 6 center and/or sniper, along with Glass.
Howard
Mike StGn – I’ve been saying this for 3 years now! And, you can get a lot of value for Theodore. He’s not needed, we have Petro for many years. There’s a lot of trades we can do. I had a very good trade worked out on paper for Hertl and Couture – we desperately need better centering, centers who establish net fronting., Those 2 I mentioned are among the best at this;
hdbiker7851
Howard – there are certainly a number of things that can be said about your posts – they make anyone who has any knowledge concerning the game of hockey laugh – the statement above ” I had a very good trade worked out on paper for Hertl and Couture – did you submit your proposal to the FO? They have players now that are capable of of establishing net front presences but lack the balls necessary to do so. Centering isn’t Vegas’s only problem by a long shot they are under the miss informed idea they can buy their way to win the Cup – it hasn’t been done before and won’t be in the foreseeable future if ever. Money, regardless of the amount, won’t buy the attitude necessary to be winners that’s required and for whatever reason the FO believe otherwise. While Vegas may have a decent team on paper unfortunately in their case that doesn’t transfer to performance on the ice. The Montreal team doesn’t walk on water but in their mind they do and that’s all the matters. They remind me of Vegas yr 1 team who had the mind set necessary to accomplish what they did I am sorry to say I don’t see that with the current team. I hope you are not planning on attending game 7 as I seriously question there will be one – I sincerely hope I am wrong but unless they clean up their act the party is over. Reading your posts I know you know the definition of insanity – send a note over to the FO with the definition they obviously are unaware of it or worse yet don’t know what it means.
Jeff
The “Country Club” culture of this team is certainly its downfall. They believe they can put forth effort when and if they want and they can win the Stanley Cup. As you have pointed out it doesn’t work that way. Last night fans finally realized that this team was not putting out effort and rewarded them with some well deserved boos. There is a reasonable question as to whether this team’s first two lines choked in this round of the playoffs or just thought they didn’t need to work and put in the effort required to win. Whatever it should be a wake up call for Mr. Foley that he may need to make some major changes if this team is to meet his expectations and the expectations of the fan base.
THE hockey GOD
They should bench Shea in Game 6<<or move him to center or wing and bring up 14 from the ACES.
Ryan
PDB is a loser…ruined SJS, ruined NJD…ruining VGK…
Stone is useless…booing long overdue…shows the other 80% of the fanbase how stupid they really are…
Season ends Thursday in a shitty foreign country afraid of its own shadow over the flu, to a team who is barely better than the Ducks…
Get ready for a long, years long drought a la LA Kings due to FO lunacy in overpaying players…VGK mystique and uniqueness gone…
THE hockey GOD
“ruined…” blah blah blah. Hard to ruin something that is already flawed.
ulf
ok agree with your first statement, PDB isn’t an elite coach, and to be honest we need to look at VGK’s roster without the rose-colored glasses. Having Stephenson as 1C is the first big indicator to know all is not well in the state of Denmark…Patches is also historically not a great playoff performer, etc. etc.
But come on, let’s stay classy. Canada is a great ally and a really fun country to visit, Quebec especially. They’ve been handling COVID just fine in the long run.
VGK need to respect their opponent. The Canadiens play a difficult style for the Knights, and they have more Cup winners and more Olympic medallists on their team. Say what you will about some of their players but they’ve shown they deserve to be here.
dirty dan
ok boomer
Richard Santomauro
Before this round Vegas was “heavily favored” based on the season statistics. Montreal is playing like the won the President’s Cup this year instead of Colorado, and the Golden Knights are lucky to have won 2 games given the fact that they cannot score on the man advantage. It is 0-12 or 0-13 now?
Credit Montreal for executing their game plan to perfection. In game 5 they forced 14 giveways (GVA) while only turning it over 4 times. Montreal had more speed, better checks, better passing and better goal tending through the majority of this game.
18,000+ fans should have their tickets refunded for such a disgraceful showing by this team.
Yeah, I just said that.
George L.
I stopped watching halfway through the second period. So I agree.
Mike StG
Power play was so bad and slow the MTL defenders were just standing there with their arms folded, tapping their skates on the ice waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen.
Jeff
This is a lazy team. Not willing to put in the work to be a champion. Stone is MIA and has not shown leadership necessary from a captain. Pacioretty has largely been MIA as well. The effort in this game was not there. They didn’t even show effort until the third period when the game was essentially out of reach. I agree with the comment that Foley should refund price of tickets for this game as there was no effort put forth.
Montreal playing like they want to win and are willing to put in the work and effort to do so. On paper the VGK may be the better team but they have not shown that they have the heart of a champion. Looks like a disappointing end to the season.
Richard Santomauro
I will reserve my disdain for now. I have to agree that the Knights are not showing up until the 3rd period. They appear to be going through the motion of the same old same old plays that got them here in the regular season. The offense is always pressing up the ice. You hardly ever see a backwards pass to relieve pressure (until the 3rd period).
They still have a chance to win 2 straight and prove themselves. If they don’t I will have a lot to say as a season ticket holder. If the Knights want to continue to earn my business they at least have to show up and put in the effort. 0-12 or 13 on the power play isn’t what we pay to see.
THE hockey GOD
it looks like team has run out of gas
== again ==
missing the net so many times like they have done is sign that they are tired team.
Howard
Richard Santomauro said “You hardly ever see a backwards pass to relieve pressure (until the 3rd period).”
RIGHT, and I’ve been beating the drum on this over and over. VGK is always PRESSING to gain entry, and their ozone entries are LOW QUALITY. Cross ice passing = D to D, DON’T enter zone, instead cross ice slightly backwars to the trailer = OPEN ICE, Habs Dcore trap won’t be able to cover that. Now, when they come up on you, DON’T THINK and waste time, make a fast pass AGAIN ACROSS the ice.
If Habs play Tampa in the final, u will see Tampa utterly destroy Habs trap, they know how to pass ice to ice and how to skate outside/in and GIVE UP THE PUCK before dman can get there.
Stone man, JEEZ, the man just overthinks everything and takes WAY, WAY TOO LONG to make decisions. Yes, Habs have played very well and I give them credit, but this is entirely on PDB not getting this team to play the right way. For heaven’s sake man, this is THE SEMI-FINAL of the playoffs! VGK is playing like their shit don’t stink, like it’s a given they should win, like some regular season game.
Contact Tracer
PDB driving the ship like he always has …. yawn ….
Best financial move for us was when foreigners Reevo and Robin Kneeler pulled their antics in Canada. We haven’t and will not spend another red penny on anything VGK. Saved tons by not going to any games. The first couple years were a blast, but seeing the darker side of the organization is a real turnoff for us. Dismantling the misfits and canning Gallant improved our financial situation.
I do scan arena prices before the games to see what the MGM crooks are up to, and what the sheep will pay. Saw a pair of glass seats for thousands for tonight’s embarrassment. What a great memory to carry into your future ….. unless you are a Hab’s fan!
The VGK boys are a lost tribe of islands. I believe they are trying, their skills are very overrated IMO. They’ll soon be enjoying their sports cars, caviar, and golf … sniff, sniff …..
knights fan in minny
see ya cry baby they dont need you continue to be bitter punk
VGK fan from Canada
Ryan and Contact Tracer
Not totally hockey related but could not sit by and not react to your comments.
Of last nights roster, all but three players were foreigners and 13 of them were from that shitty country to which you refer.
Perhaps you should request that the GM who is Canadian should resign and be replaced by an American who probably at some point came from somewhere else. The new GM could then only sign American born players.
Then you can cancel the season tickets that I own since I am Canadian and ban anyone who is not a US resident/citizen from purchasing tickets.
I would then suggest that the team for which you seem to be a “fan” would not exist.
Duckboy
Lots of good comments in here
First let me start with it’s possible we come back and win 2.
It’s also possible to roll a 7 100 times in a row on the come out.
Team looks tired and out of compete. I really wanted to see someone compete so I turned over to an episode of Chopped during second period to see some real effort and fire.
2 factors
1. being unable to win games they dominated and making previous series longer than they should be.
2. Playing like 10-15 games players short on a roster. Front office contributed to this.
This style is a real problem for us. From the Ducks to Minnesota to now Montreal (forgot about Dallas). We don’t have the quality finishers or the style/coaching to overcome. I actually think we are better suited to play Tampa bay but they would probably kill us even if we did win this series.
It’s all on the front office and some on the coach:
The suzuki/patches trade only worked out if vegas wins the cup….guess what?
Petro has been good last 7 games unlike the first 10, but how much more does he degrade each year? More interested in Honda commercials.
Maybe they make him play center AS THATS WHAT WE NEEDED!
We have no depth. The 3rd line would struggle to get time with the sabers.
Tired of watching Theodore get worse each day.
Pdb changes the lines but the SAME STRATEGY GETS THE SAME RESULTS U FOOL
PDB!
I mean overall this is really a joke. I am mad at myself for watching and being invested in this flawed Illdirected team that has NO intangibles like first years team this long. This franchise now has chokers in its DNA.
Pdb has now completed transformation to Vegas Sharks.
Get ready to suck until we get a real gm. Then add 3 years
Richard Santomauro
It’s a credit to the FO that Jon Merrill and Nick Suzuki are on the verge of advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.
By the way, fail to advance and the entire PDB experiment is a complete and utter FAIL. Get ready to suck until we get a better FO, and add 5+ years not 3.
I’ve already made payment for next years season tickets. I believe it is my last. I think after that I will move down to the Silver Knights in Henderson. At least those kids will be hungry.
THE hockey GOD
you can move to LA, and root for up and coming LA KINGS !
Tyler Durden
At least the Kings know how to close out when they are in position to win the Cup (2x)
Tim
Instead of knocking the Knights, coaches, and management we should congratulate Montreal. They’ve out played us, out hustled us, and 11 goals in 5 games and O for the series on the PP you have to admit they deserve it. We hit a wall every year with a goalie and until we get legitimate centers it will be ground hog day year after year. Suzuki would look good in a Knights sweater I’ll bet at the time they wanted Glass in the trade for Patch and we wouldn’t give him up so they took Suzuki. It’s going to be an interesting off season.
Duckboy
Here are some reasons
A – because this site is called sinbin.vegas
B- because we don’t follow or care about montreal
C- they play a shit style of game and they weren’t expected to the cup SO WHO CARES
D- you don’t lose as a huge favorite because the other team is better. U lose because u beat yourself and the other team over achieves.
E- they don’t need another cup
The off-season will only be interesting to see how mccrimmon messes this team up more
ulf
in regards to “D”, both the West division and North division were not the strongest in the league. In fact the West division might have been worse, since literally half the teams are rebuilding.
Montreal has a veteran team who look extremely coachable and haven’t had that lineup since after the trade deadline. Give them some credit, it’s not that the Knights are doing this to themselves. The Canadiens are also playing very effectively. Not over yet, but still credit where credit is due.
THE hockey GOD
spot on Tim, I don’t think anyone wanted GLASS. Suzuki looked good from day one in practice at City National. He looked good when they played the rookies tournament. He’s a bit small but he’s good.
sb
The stats don’t lie – MAF, .880%SA (at $7 million per season). Price .963%SA. If MAF played like Price, VGK wouldn’t be looking a loss #3. I know. I know. It’s Lehner’s fault. No it’s DeBoer’s fault. No it’s the GM and President’s fault. It’s Mr Foley’s fault. Remember that game two years ago with the Sharks? It was probably DeBoer’s fault then too.
Daryl
Spoken like someone who didn’t watch a single aspect of the game!!! In your eyes, PDB is the best coach ever and there has never been a goalie as good as Lehner. How many times have you gone back to that one single game against the Sharks? Does it ever get tiring? What was your response when Lehner gave up all those goals not too long ago?
THE hockey GOD
“What was your response when Lehner gave up all those goals not too long ago?” no goalie in league would have done better. The team was tired off a long series. Welcome to bettman’s NHL where parity is the name of game. Any team can beat any other team.
hdbiker7851
thg – parity gives everyone an equal chance at success and makes for good hockey across the board. Why would you want just a couple of teams dominant because they had the money to do so? It sets the stage to be responsible in your spending to acquire the best you can afford. Vegas has not been real wise with their spending and contracts and have dug themselves into a hole believing they could buy their way to success while not addressing the real need. As you can see that’s not working out to well and very poor budgeting. You know what they say a fool and their money are soon parted.
THE hockey GOD
unfortunately BIKER I was not clear in my thoughts, but since you went there I will give a brief response and then I will get back to my original thoughts in my post above In Bettman’s NHL teams that do what you suggest “responsible in your spending etc” those teams are still stuck when they are successful. They build a good team, can’t afford to keep players due to salary cap. So they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. It stinks to high hell of socialism.
My post regarding parity was mainly focused on those posts saying that VGK was the over whelming favorite and not about what you brought up. Sorry, I should have made that clearer. I agree that VGK hasn’t spent wisely. Being made over whelming favorite at the beginning of this series is more a reflection of ignorance of bettors , those setting the odds, and public. I remember in 1993 when Gretzky’s LA KINGS were the favorite over the HABS. We all saw how that ended up. Whenever the HABS are in semi’s or finals you can NEVER discount them out and never make the other team the over whelming favorite. Nor should you dwell on that. The HABS are the WORLD’s hockey team. The WORLD being all things CANADA.
J. Sweeney
I think the travel across three time zones may be having an impact, with rest etc. Montreal played in the North Division and was used to having play in different time zones, specifically when facing teams like Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.
Also, maybe the North Division wasn’t truly as weak as everyone assumed. There wasn’t three really weak teams like the King’s, Ducks and Sharks to pad the win column.
Even Ottawa, which finished last in the North, played teams really tough, not getting blown out, and look to have a bright future with their young talent starting to emerge.
THE hockey GOD
@ J sweeney, I hear you. I brought this up earlier too. The HABS Are used to cross country travel, the VGK not. Also, another thing THE ICE was terrible. VGK rink manager needs to do a better job. Players were falling all over the ice.
Maybe the gREEdy owners should re think playing hockey in middle of JUNE in the desert and end the season at the end of MARCH / beginning of APRIL. Like rational people would do.
Jake
Vegas looks tired, physically and mentally. The difficult series vs Minnesota and Colorado drained them, now a well organized machine is bleeding them out with aggressive and smart play. Rope A Dope II run by an assistant coach.
Montreal was able to rest up after their thrashing of Winnipeg.
It isn’t hopeless, yet. Lehner in net with a team that has the energy to play an entire game without bonehead mistakes offers a bit of hope in Montreal.
Suzuki is the player we needed to keep!
Julie
I saw the end of the 2nd period, PDB looked pretty angry, flung off his mask and high-tailed it back to the locker room. Maybe that was the adjustment, a display of emotion. It’s hard to imagine they all are bad because we still kept it 3-1. We didn’t get Islandered or have a repeat of the infamous Colorado Game 1. That has a lot to do with Fleury and dare I say a little Petro and McNabb. Montreal came out cocky and whiny and I forget the term Don Cherry used to describe them, something like they are not structured, they play each other’s positions constantly. I think he’s right. Vegas can’t make MC play like them, so they need to get loose and surprise them in Game 6. Little chance of that because something isn’t registering again with PDB. I think it’s him because you would see the team doing something different at some point if the strategy changed even a little.
I really hoped the forwards would do more. It doesn’t seem to me that they are being shut down, they just lost the will to win. They played Minnesota and Colorado in a row and those were probably two of the grittiest teams beat. Maybe the strategy PDB wants them to follow has deflated them. He wants them to win his way and they aren’t that kind of team.
Peter
Julie,
Did you just say Colorado is a gritty team ha ha ha. Soft as puppy shit
Richard Santomauro
PDB has not adapted his style to the Montreal mobile trapping defense. VGK forwards are getting manhandled by a bigger D and Montreal is getting a lot of giveaways and takeaways playing that trapping and fore checking pressure.
The passing has been absolutely horrendous until it becomes desperation hockey time. Then it is too late. Worse – the non-existent power play.
While I still hold hope that something will change, this series and the season is likely over Thursday night. Then we can turn to the off season strategy discussions on personnel.
THE hockey GOD
you meant the players have not executed, it’s not all on the coach. You can instruct players to do this or that, but until you coached you are clueless in blaming the coach. You have no idea what the coach instructed the players to do.
They players tried, but could not do it. They are tired and out of gas. That is pretty obvious. When a team misses the net so many times like VGK has , that is sign of tired team. Has nothing to do with coaching.
Richard Santomauro
Let’s really be honest. VGK shooters miss the net A LOT, even during the regular season.
THE hockey GOD
more than regular season, even the announcers are getting annoyed with it, 81 is their favorite target.
DOC (Go Knights Go)
STILL POSSIBLE !
(the fat goalie hasn’t sung yet)
Richard Santomauro
Yeah Doc, but you can here him starting to practice. Stone looked absolutely frustrated out there.
THE hockey GOD
MTL has played against Stone, they know how to defend him.
And Stone is not the super star everyone has made him out to be.
He style of play is not suited to grind it out, marathon playoff structure. He never hits anyone. He’s a stick man. And they play him like VGK played BIG MAC of the AVS. They have two, sometimes three defenders on him at all times.
Theresa soles
The VGK devolved into MEDIOCRITY last night. It was painful to watch. Our offensive players are MIA. They skated slow. Flat. Unsure of their own play. The only spark I saw was in the 3rd period, after our lone goal. Too late to wake up and PLAY PLAY-OFF HOCKEY. Very disappointed in their lack of intensity and urgency…how can this team, that won so many games in the season, look so LOST in the playoffs? Is our division so weak that we are being handled so easily now? Are we buckling because of the high expectations everyone had going in? Or are the VGK just a “show team” for the locals, just not competitive enough against the big teams? I HAVE MANY QUESTIONS. I TRULY HOPE THE TEAM HAS ANSWERS ON THURSDAY.
Ryan
The “show team for the locals” is 100% accurate…we dont have a serious team, a serious FO, or a serious fan base…
Ryan
The “show team for the locals” is 100% accurate…we dont have a serious team, a serious FO, or a serious fan base…
We have legions of locals who think this is a show for small dogs and plastic birds…they dont know hockey
THE hockey GOD
@ theresa Soles
I pick D ) all of the above
sb
MAF – .966%SA, .870%SA, .889%SA, .880%SA.
Price – .867%SA, .936%SA, .956%SA, .905%SA, .963%SA.
Lehner – .964%SA.
The explanation for the 3 losses is very clear. The numbers tell the story.
Julie
When you mix apples and oranges, you get fruit salad.
I’m sure you don’t blame Lehner for getting eliminated in the playoffs last year at all. Those shutouts he got don’t mean much if his save % isn’t even in the . 92 range. Game 1 with Colorado this year was a fluke, right? Lehner took off 6 weeks but that Jennings trophy was all him, right? That Minnesota game in the regular season,what was it 6-stupid, yeah…When you want to compare like for like you might have a point. Good grief. Not even the analysts on tv thought Lehner should play last night.
Daryl
And up until the MTL game, Lehner had t beaten a team all season with a winning record. And I’m sure you will find an excuse for the losses in last year’s playoffs. As I said before, you want to out all the blame on one player and excuse everyone else. There is more to a game than just stats…. A person who only uses stats either doesn’t watch the games or is clueless and doesn’t understand the games
hdbiker7851
Amen Julie and Daryl –
Jeff
Knights need 2 X 3 periods …… not the same as “6 periods”. They have to win 3 periods and they have to do in 2X in a row.
Walt23
glaring weak spots=
team looks slow and disorganized, and getting outworked and outhustled, even at home, which is inexcusable at any level.
top 6 forwards have been an embarrassing disaster in this series.
PP is a total season-long shitty flop, and that should mean* out damn Spott
3rd D pair has been awful in this series…. 2 and 22 have been burned repeatedly by speed of Anderson and Byron etc
Fleury’s game 3 blunder was a turning point in this series…. It is the difference between the Knights still being up 3-2 right now instead of down 3-2…….. it was a demoralizing moment for the team, just like poor PP’s drag the team down. But, you would think that the comeback OT win in game 4 would have lifted the team, but that went right down the drain with last nights disgraceful ice capades performance.
Stone picked the wrong time to go Stone cold
Vic
Very bad omen this year was the number of times the VGK completely outplayed the opposition, but then give up the first goal on the first shot. Not the sign of a cup winner. Of course it happened again last night with the Habs having zero shots until the 10 minute mark. The next period and a half was all Habs. VGK favored again tomorrow night but last night was the last time the gamblers are going to get terrific odds betting against the VGK (+550 on the reverse puck line thank you). Let’s hope the Habs read our comments as most of us think it’s over for the VGK. Hey PDB…here’s something simple….get the guys to all think ‘defense’ and stay in the game until….bingo…a scoring chance. This is the simple strategy being used against you…again.
phantom major
PDB getting outfoxed by a Lukewarm asst coach in Montreal. but hey, he always has his SJ drinking buddy to commiserate with, you know X marks the Spott.
the Rangers vs VGK next season should be a gallon of fun. yeah, no.
THE hockey GOD
@PM push button pete is pushing all the buttons, the players admitted in post game interviews that they were not playing as well as they should be. That is on the players not the coach.
Furthermore the ICE has been an issue for two of the past three home games. Players were falling all over the place. The bad ice favors the HABS, not the VGK who are the faster, more skilled team. These is due to 1) hot weather 2) poor facility maintenance manager who is clueless on how to maintain building temperature and surface ice temperature and 3) greed of NHL owners. Who in their right mind would want to play hockey in middle of June/July in middle of 100 plus desert ? That is ludicrous !! This team is built for skill and speed. If they play to their home rink advantages at this time of the year they built the wrong type of team to compete under these conditions.
Daryl
It is still PDB scheme they are playing and it’s not working. Yet they keep doing the same thing over and over again. It’s similar to last year when what VGK was doing wasnt working and PDB came out and said he wasn’t changing anything. PDB will change up his lines but that’s the only adjustments he makes
phantom major
especially the PP……THAT is on DeBoer and his SJ buddy, totally. and of course the players who have failed miserably on it all season, with #27 at the top of that list
Vic
Nice job Phantom. Coach Gallant may be getting a few of his VGK favs to join his NY party? Yeah, no. LOL.
Julie
Well, the Islanders just beat Tampa! That’s fuel for the primary hope for tomorrow! Great game! Vegas has it in them, too!