Recap: It was a wildly entertaining 1st period in Minnesota. The Wild opened the scoring but Vegas would respond a minute later. First Shea Theodore tied the game and fellow defenseman Alec Martinez gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead on the power play. Both d-men recorded their 8th goals of the season. Minnesota tied the game but Vegas wasn’t done scoring. In his first NHL game, Golden Knights prospect Peyton Krebs threaded the needle and set Alex Tuch up for the go-ahead goal.
The high scoring continued into the middle frame. Mark Stone scored his 21st goal of the season to give his team a 4-2 lead. Minnesota would get one back but Jonathan Marchessault gave Vegas another two-goal cushion.
Minnesota scored midway through the final period and they weren’t finished. The Golden Knights gave up two goals in the final two minutes to blow their lead and lose in regulation.
Vegas’ record drops to 36-13-2 after their disappointing 6-5 defeat in Minnesota. The Golden Knights and Wild will face off for the last time on Wednesday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 5P PT. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: It was a wide-open style of game, one the Golden Knights would usually like to avoid against the Wild but they were able to be opportunistic when their chances came and buried a bundle of them to head into the 3rd period up a pair of goals. The Wild broke through for three, including a pair late, in a game where the goaltending let the Golden Knights down. Very tough loss and a rare one for the Golden Knights. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center
- SinBin.vegas Podcast
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Alec Martinez
** Mark Stone
* Shea Theodore
Let's talk about that nightmare of an ending. https://t.co/xt6hqedqk7
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) May 4, 2021
House of Horrors continues. Yikes.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) May 4, 2021
This has not been Robin Lehner's finest night, but the defense has let him down on multiple occasions. Rare failure at 6-on-5 there by VGK.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) May 4, 2021
Old habits die hard. Yet again, the Golden Knights just cannot win puck battles in front of their own net against the Wild.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) May 4, 2021
DOC (Go Knights Go)
Horrible Loss!
You can’t give away a game like that!
Plenty of blame to go around last 10 minutes of the game!
This one hurts!!!
Pistol Pete
Mostly Lehner I’m afraid. I would say the first three goals at least were soft. Lehner is just too much of “a piece of work”. In retrospect not a good acquisition. They should have stuck with Fleury and gamble a prospect works as a back up.
Hdbiker7851
It is obvious why he is the walrus he has zero athletic ability and flops around like a fish out of water. A man his size should do everything he can to say on his feet and cover the net cause once he is down he’s out. The team in general should be ashamed of themselves. They are incapable of sitting on a lead and get burnt every time. They had the game won then took their foot of the gas – they got what they deserved a d hopefully a wake up call. The fact they scored 5 goals shows they can beat the Wild if and when they stick with it. Hopefully Wednesday MAF makes it 490 wins and takes over third place. It is very sad to loose like that – mentally they could be in trouble I guess we will see Wednesday
George L.
Terrible night for Robin to have a terrible night.
We have to get the puck away from the front of the net because Minnesota lives there or they crash hard.
We definitely need to play our game not theirs.
Ricardo
Lehner sucked.
Howard
Loss entirely on Lehner. He gave up 4 VERY BAD goals. But #VGK FO huge ego won’t allow them to do the right thing – play MAF as starter, PERIOD.
Worst fundamentals I’ve seen this year from a Vegas goaltender. When you kicksave a puck, a good goalie gets back on balance. Lehner was sprawled out several times, horribly off balance.
Look, VGK has no chance at Cup with Lehner in net, NONE. They do have a chance with MAF in there. I just hope BGK front office’s huge ego relaxes a bit.
Justin
Absolutely atrocious game for Robin Lehner. Yet another incredibly soft goal through the five hole in first 5 minutes. How many times have we seen that this year, my goodness. Second goal can’t glove a shot from the blue line and then it bounces out of glove and gets hit into the net on a rebound that should never have happened. Wow that was bad ahl level goaltending. 3 rd goal soft as well. Lehner is a good guy and can play well at times, but man the soft goal he allows will just kill knights in playoffs.
And this is first time he’s played a good team this year – minnesota or colorado and look what happened… Yikes.
Jeff
Petro’s contract and lack of performance continues to hurt this team. Hard to believe they are forced to play with inferior lower paid players or 11 forwards due to cap.
Blitz
I agree 100% Jeff. This clearly is the difference right now. The team is hurt every night by the cap in one way or another by a guy who is playing at a level of maybe our 4th best defense man.
Emilio
Lehner is the backup everyone knows that. Fleury needs a break. This man puts the team on his shoulders. He can’t be out there every single night. Lehner is one of the best backups in the league. Let off a little bit will ya.
Ricardo
I suggest DeBoer bench Lehner and put Fleury in full time. Lehner as a backup.
Lehner was a joke tonight.
thomas pilkington
As usual, Wild outhustled VGK….opportunistic scoring but my gosh, puck battles, lost all night, ..backchecking….whatever might that be…..and Whitecloud, Hague ,Shea and Petro were terrible. I am still waiting to see Shea or Petro body check someone….and no words for Lehner who can’t control any rebounds….he needs serious work on his game. This does not bode well for a deep playoff run….disappointing that they couldn’t close the deal when they needed to. Comes down to a simple thing…..desire. The only bright spot was Krebs
rgangue
Physicality is not Petro’s game despite his size. On the powerplay he is so methodical and predictable he creates nothing.
Ricardo
I suggest DeBoer bench Lehner and put Fleury in full time. Lehner as a backup.
Lehner was a joke tonight.
Emilio
If Fleury is to be the starter for playoffs that strategy won’t hold up.
vgk21
That was a total collapse in the last 10 minutes. They looked tired and not hungry enough at the end… now they have to prevent the collapse from going beyond this game…
rotating goalies with no incentive is a dumb idea. it should be you win you start the next one, you lose you sit the next one.
Jeff
They have not shown that the have the heart of a champion.
Rob
Robin was horrible tonight . At times was flopping around like a fish on ice
Emilio
To lose like that is no bueno.
The people want blood. I guess it’s Lehner’s today.
Hdbiker7851
It is obvious why he is the walrus he has zero athletic ability and flops around like a fish out of water. A man his size should do everything he can to say on his feet and cover the net cause once he is down he’s out. The team in general should be ashamed of themselves. They are incapable of sitting on a lead and get burnt every time. They had the game won then took their foot of the gas – they got what they deserved a d hopefully a wake up call. The fact they scored 5 goals shows they can beat the Wild if and when they stick with it. Hopefully Wednesday MAF makes it 490 wins and takes over third place. It is very sad to loose like that – mentally they could be in trouble I guess we will see Wednesday
Pistol Pete
IMO VGK did what was necessary to win. When your goaltender is having a horrible night it’s nearly impossible to win an NHL game especially against a good team.
Pistol Pete
Krebs looked like a keeper tonight. No Cody Glass type concerns here. Not so far anyways.
Pistol Pete
Ken, you were right about Glass, all along, and as you pointed out he may well develop into a good NHL player, but to just look once at Krebs the difference in speed and finesse is palpable. Gary Lawless thinks he’ll win rookie of the year and his scouting is pretty good from what I can tell.
sb
One Game …………. jumping the gun?
Pistol Pete
Overall IMO VGK looked the better team this game, other than goaltending.
DOC (Go Knights Go)
Lehner had a tuff game, no doubt.
But, he got no help moving guys out from near net, in that last 10 minutes.
But he is a convenient target to get ripped apart, and I knew he would.
We have no killer instinct to put away games.
Richardo
Lehner is a joke
Pistol Pete
VGK played well scoring five goals. Good teams
apply pressure when facing a third period loss and that is what MIN did. Lehner’s minimum three soft goals cost this game. Fleury had maybe his worst game for VGK vs. Sharks in the five minute major, but that may well have been mitigated if Gallant called time out. Sometimes you lose when your goaltender has a very off night, however this one occurring when it did calls into question Lehner’s fitness going into the playoffs.
Emilio
Amen to that
Richardo
Lehner is over his head. He’s not even in the same class as Fluey. A joke.
Tim
All the comments Lehner sucked which is true but let’s dig a little deeper. He missed a month with what we were told was a concussion was it or did he have some sort of breakdown? Something is not right and if he has issues then I can understand but he can’t play and give this type of performance. That was a loss for the ages. Anyway it’s over time to move on but it looks like the Wild will be hard to beat they’ve got what we had the first year the never give up attitude.
Hdbiker7851
Tim please don’t make excuses for Lehner his performance speaks volumes and tonight was a perfect example of why other teams let him go which l have stated from the beginning. This elite title people placed on him was a joke. As for the other 8.8 mill per yr guy that if also proving to be a very poor ROI decision- 13.8 mill waste of cap dollars. If they don’t get the attitude necessary to win they could very easily land up in third place.
Julie
HD, I agree with you. From a business standpoint, there has not been much return at all from Lehner or Petro. Lehner is fine as a backup, but something keeps him from capitalizing on his potential. I also agree that the team needs that hungry attitude to win. I watched all the post game interviews, Lehner acknowledged he needs to do better, Stone was transparent, PDB talks like he always does, dopey with a touch of optimism. The team needs to shake it off and come out swinging tomorrow, and keep swinging until the 60 min are up.
sb
What? Lehner is something like 20 and 3 since coming here. Not much return?
Daryl
But this year alone he has face 2 winning teams and has an L for both. I’m not putting all the blame on him but he had a horrible game. I said since they day he arrived he has an issue with rebound control and it was evident in this game
Julie
Tim, I have 3 family members on my husband’s side of the family who have mental health issues. I live it everyday (for over 10 yrs) and while everyone is different, in general there are good days and not-so-good days. Medication for anxiety, mood stabilizers are only there to keep someone facing these issues from going too far down (or up). Without being around Lehner, it’s hard to say if he is simply having a bad game, and/or is complicated with a bad mental health day. That’s true for anyone, issues or not. We will never know unless he tells us. One of my family members seemed to be doing well and then we hear from her counselor she’s having thoughts of self harm. It’s just that hard to tell and it’s a struggle everyday for the family as well as the individual.
Pistol Pete
Tim, VGK would normally win a game scoring five goals. A bad night by the goaltender lost this game, so I’m pretty confident VGK will come back on Wednesday with another strong performance in front of Fleury. Remember, only the playoffs count, winning the division for home
ice and an “easier” first round notwithstanding. Besides, maybe the Sharks 4-2 lead against COL holds up! Life could be worse!
Tim
Pete I wish I had your confidence but this was money time and we lose to Arizona then we barley beat them in overtime then we get thumped tonight. If we couldn’t beat them tonight I don’t see it happening. I hope I’m wrong but this was the final push and it’s not going well.
Tim
When you think about the misery Fleury went through last year and to come back this year and save our season I just wonder what’s going through DeBoer’s mind right now. Management is on the hot seat first with Petro’s 8.8 million salary and now Lehner with his 5 million salary. We are in cap hell because of these two moves and were no closer to winning the Stanley Cup. Management gave us a great team out of the gate there’s no denying that but they have now put us in a jackpot. We have very little in prospects coming that can help Whitecloud is good D-man no offense, Hague and Coghlan are just bodies. When you look at D-Men like Cale Makar, Adam Fox, Byron Bowman to name a few it’s a no contest.
vgk21
Sharks just choked a 4-2 lead and blew the game in OT to Avs.
This night just got a lot worse
Pistol Pete
Well Tim worst that can happen is MIN has home ice and we play them in round one. Lehner definitely has some weight on his shoulders getting shut out in ARI and now this. I don’t share your pessimism as VGK has one of the best D scoring teams in the league and all the top team stats benefit from playing weak division teams. It’s been a crazy season with the compressed schedule. Just too early and uncertain to call. Whoever brings it in the postseason is what counts, all else is speculative basically. About tonight, I thought VGK was the better team.
A VGK Fan
Thank god we didn’t all listen to Ken and get rid of MAF for lehner. It’s obviously MAF is the better goalie. MAF doesn’t give up on plays and is always trying to hustle to make a save. Lehner didn’t hustle or can’t hustle. At least not like MAF.
Funny how Ken is quiet when Lehner is exposed like he was tonight. Still waiting for Ken to admit he was wrong about MAF.
Daryl
I’m not sure what Jen was actually thinking but my thoughts are VGK should have gotten rid of MAF when they signed Lehner. It has nothing to do with which is better as I’ve dede ding MAF being the starter beginning with last year’s playoffs. The reason I say they should of gotten rid of him is because they don’t need the salary of both. And VGK did everything they could have to get rid of him. Lucky for all of us, VGK couldn’t find any takers.
DOC (Go Knights Go)
Ok, got a few hours sleep, so can look at this a little better this morning.
Lehner’s worse game as a Knight. Yes, it was bad. He looked slow and seemed to just freeze in place after making first save and unable to respond to rebound shots. But these games come around every so often.
I KNEW the Lehner haters would unload and they are. That’s ok, nothing new there. There was more evolved than just HIS play, but no excuse here from me.
We ARE in the playoffs, so that’s the positive I take away ….. BUT:
I also honestly believe we MUST win the final 5 games to take the division. It looks as though we would lose tie-breakers if we tied in points. We MUST win all 5 games and reach 84 points, which AVs can’t reach, if we beat them.
This will be very difficult, but it can be done.
vgk21
the Avs have 4 games vs the creampuff LA Kings, and the Wild have 2 vs the creampuff Anaheim Ducks, while the Knights must play 2 vs the red hot Blues. and of course 1 left vs Avs.
the schedule says that the VGK blew their best opportunity last night
vgk21
tomorrow night’s game in Minn is basically the battle for home ice in round 1. and it is vital to win cuz the Knights have been a disaster in Minn since the beginning, and especially this season.
is Pacioretty going to play?
vgk21
The Knights played with only 17 skaters.
It’s the fifth time this season they’ve dressed less than the normal 18 and the second time against the Wild. The Knights are 0-4-1 in those games.
That is on you, McCrimmon
rgangue
Thanks to that Petro contract the team is handcuffed with the CAP. Its go to know he has 6 more years of this with a no movement clause. Better get used to mediocre.
Tim
As we all know goalie is the most important position in hockey and if you don’t think so your on a different planet. What’s interesting is we play the Wild Wednesday Fleury up, next game Colorado is Lehner up? I’d say he probably will be get back on the horse and see if you fall off again. I figure The Wild are on a roll they’ll probably beat us Wednesday and then we’ll lose to Colorado. St. Louis is in the fourth spot they may rest some players which they won’t be to concerned if they win or lose some should split with them and then we should beat San Jose. The last 8 games were money time and I see us ending up 3 wins and 5 loses. Prediction as follows.Arizona 1-1, Minnesota 0-2, Colorado 0-1, St Louis 1-1, San Jose 1-0 which is you do the math is 3-5 when it was money time. That is not a recipe for a long run in the playoffs Unfortunately.
Daryl
Lehner should get the start against COL. If PDB wants to win in the playoffs and use his best goalie to do so, then let Lehner play against the other best team in the conference. As of right now, Lehner hasnt faced COL and is 0-2 against MIN
PJT
Wow. You guys are mostly fair weather fans. So you are supporters of VGK only when we win? Were we watching the same game? From my perspective, the momentum swung against us mainly because of puck luck, D failing to clear the puck out of our zone, players not playing desperate enough, goalie performance in that order. It’s easy to just pick on the goalie when he lets in 6 goals and I’m not saying he’s entirely blameless but he isn’t the reason we lost the game.
This is the time of the year in the regular season where you rest your stars before the playoffs so everyone saw what happened to Patches and decided they didn’t wanna get hurt before the playoffs. So the energy wasn’t there in the 3rd period and we didn’t play desperate enough. We were gifted the only power play in the 3rd and squandered it because we thought we had enough of a cushion. That’s hubris and it will bite you in the butt always.
Most of the goals against Lehner came from rebounds and the D just standing there hoping to block the next shot. As soon as Fiala shot that puck that bounced off Lehner’s pad, Martinez should have hit him with a body check instead of trying to play goalie.
Kaprizov was brilliant and his equalizer was well deserved because we can’t win a face off and failed to clear the puck not once but twice. Whitecloud shows his inexperience and McNabb didn’t help much.
Finally the last goal was an eye-seeing bomb from a distance that was screened. That’s a puck luck kind of goal that reminded me of the 17 second 2 goals that won the Blackhawks their 2nd Stanley Cup against Boston in 2013.
Lehner may have had issues after letting a couple of soft goals. Goalies are suppose to have short memories when that happens but when you have voices in your head questioning you and doubting you, that can be very difficult. The important thing is that he can work on it and maybe in future, PDB can recognize the situation and pull him out for MAF.
All in all, we controlled the pace of the game. Peterangelo having played with Taresenko knew how to neutralized Kaprizov. Pick on him, beat him up everytime he touches the puck which we did. But we forget that only worked after Taresenko became a big star and Kaprizov is only just a rookie. So that only served to piss him off.
In conclusion, just be glad we had this painful game in the regular season and not in the playoffs when it matters. Teams are prone to having that meltdown game once in a while and we saw that in that Sharks vs VGK round 1 playoffs and now this one. Let’s all have short memories but recognize what we did wrong and be better for the playoffs. Go Knights Go!
hdbiker7851
PjT – a lot of words which could have been said in very few – not the attitude to win, the team was not that good in general despite scoring 5 goals, the goaltending was non- existent and wishful thinking if you believe it was just a painful game. We are in Cap hell because of the 13.8 mill mgt pissed away thinking they could buy the Cup that just doesn’t happen. You can’t by a winning attitude and that’s seriously missing. Hungry clubs are dangerous and unfortunately despite words to the contrary doesn’t equate into action and performance in Vegas’s case
Jeff
Well said. This team does not seem to have the heart of a champion!
DOC (Go Knights Go)
Well said PJT !
A tuff road to win all 5 of our remaining games, but we CAN do it.
At any rate, the playoffs will start and we ARE in the playoffs!
As far as Lehner, haters just wait for the chance to spread their hate even more. One person actually said: ” there has not been much return at all from Lehner or Petro”. How can a comment like that about Lehner be said with a straight face? He has been very good with the Knights, PERIOD. That’s the facts!!!!!!
Hang in their real Knights fans. Better yet to come!
Julie
Always a coward when addressing one of my statements, Doc. You should get that checked. I certainly said that with a straight face. You are supposed to ignore my posts, or did you forget in all the excitement your promise?
Regarding Petro and Lehner – yes, we should be getting more out of them for the money. Stone got 9million last year and wasn’t putting up the numbers he is now. Maybe it takes a year or so and some hockey clubs can afford that luxury. Sorry you don’t agree. Well, no, not really sorry, it just validates the rest of us are on the right track.
DOC (Common sense, no hate)
You only comment on here if Flurey does something you can praise or if you can throw hate on Lehner. Who’s the real coward here?
And, what track is that the rest of you are on?
Thank you for acknowledging me by name, I feel so honored!
ha ha
DOC (Common sense, no hate)
Yawnnnnnnnnnn!
Daryl
That’s Doc for you… He says he is done with you and is going to ignore you but then turns around and makes a Comme t about something you said without saying you were the oe who made it. He is such a HUGE Lehner fan and I’m sure he is hurting right now. Fact is, Lehner has faced 2 winning MIN teams and is 0-2 against them
DOC (Go Knights Go)
Hey, little man is back, giving us laughs and enjoyment! Please continue with your ridiculous comments for our pleasure. ha ha
DOC (Common sense, no hate)
You and that other are just starving for attention.
Attack all you want as two nothing people, still add up to ZERO!!!!!! ha ha
Daryl
I’ve never left… Want some enjoyment to read? Your beloved Lehner was horrible and lost that game. Try to defend him
Daryl
You all remember that Russell Crowe movie, A Beautiful Mind? That’s Doc with his make believe friends and their emails!!!
Daryl
You said very little in that whole speil. Some of that defensive Puck clearing comes back to rebound control on your goalie, which has been an issue for Lehner forever. You can go back to my comments about him last year before the playoffs. Again, nobody is fully blaming the goalie but he let in 3 or 4 very soft goals..
As far as rwting players and no emotions, that might be true for teams who are locked I to certain positions but VGK is still fighting for 1st place with home ice advantage. Sorry but they don’t get rest.
Petra has been a waste of money. He’s scared to throw a check or get hit himself. I get that it’s not his type of game but there are times when you need to knock someone off their skates. He doesn’t have it in him
vgk21
VGK schedule=
Wed in Minn
Fri and Sat home vs Blues
Mon home vs Avs
Wed at SJ
Daryl
At least we have a very easy finale lol
Justin
Sky is not falling with a loss or 2. A lot to be thankful for last night. The team broke out of the minnesota curse and scored goals in bunches, wow! Krebs looked very good, and the kid is 20 years old! Very good skating, aggressive, quick decisions, good passing. VGK was aggressive, not seeing a lack of heart of a champion, in fact the opposite is true. How many times have we seen them come back when the chips were down this year. They are a very scrappy bunch of fighters and they’ve proven that many, many times.
Last night was plain and simple a game they would have won 5-2 had maf been in goal most likely. Just a horrible night from Lehner. Defensive breakdowns yes, but be realistic, you’re not going to stop all high danger chances against a team like MN. They’re very good, that’s why they’re good they create high danger chances, which your goaltender has to stop some. What can’t happen against a good team like that is spot them 3 goals that were so soft their own players that scored them were laughing as of to say I can’t believe that worked. In games against very good teams it’s gonna come down to one goal, and when you give them 2 -3 freebies you are just not gonna win.
sb
The problem? Same it’s been for the past 3 years. The TV analyst hit it. He said that Minn doesn’t have a Number 1, Number 2 and so on lines. EVERY line is a Number 1 line. That’s the difference between Minn and VGK and a few others. VGK have two very good forward lines and Tuch. VGK DO NOT have even three good lines. Beyond Tuch, there is no secondary scoring. No real depth. Just a bunch of fan favorite/good locker room guys/palookas eating up Cap money with next to zero production. Tuch has been forced to play on the third line for 3 years without a decent forward helping him out. $5 mil of cap wasted on zero production 4th liners. Oh! But their fan favorites and LOYAL. Can’t get rid of them becuase of this loyalty thing. And lose when it counts.
PJT
Considering MIN had their playoff roster versus VGK with key players missing the line up, I’m ok with this loss. You are right that we didn’t roll 4 lines and we had newbies in our lineup. That is a tough matchup against a team of seasoned players that are playing in tight formation. Trust me, if we had a healthy Patch, Nosek and Reavo vs them, we’d easily have won. Bring back the 4th line that has given us success before: Carrier, Reavo and Nosek. Enough of experimenting with the lines, now is the time to solidify the team before the playoffs.
Patch – Stevo – Stoner
Marchy – Wild Bill – Smitty
Roy – Janmark – Tuch
Carrier – Reavo – Nosek
The above lineup would have cleaned up at MIN. Not just rolling 4 lines, but every player is as strong defenseively as they are offensive.
No more taxi squad, no more rookie auditions. Time to get serious with our offensive line up.. Time to win the cup.
Go Knights Go!
DOC (Go Knights Go)
I like those lines. (maybe work Krebbs in once in a while)?
I really miss Nosek and REVO!!!!!!
We’ll be fine in POs when we can roll 4 full lines!!!!!
Daryl
That’s funny, because just the other day VGK played a COL team that was missing 5 very good players and the VGK fans on here dismissed that claim, including the other person who replied to you
Emilio
That’s a solid looking line up!
DOC (Go Knights Go)
Yes it IS!
Emilio
The only thing I’d change to that line up would be to flip nosey and reavo. Outside of that it looks good.
DOC (Common sense, no hate)
There’s some, who mainly only comment when there is something they can praise one goalie for and throw hate on the other guy. I think that pretty much defines cowardness.
DOC (Common sense, no hate)
Believe as you will little man.
We all know you live in an alternative reality.
I’ll just keep laughing with my “make believe” friends and sending and receiving “make believe” e-mails.
ha ha
Daryl
You said it
DOC (Common sense, no hate)
Yea, make believe ….. just like the virus, hey son! ha ha
Daryl
Not sure your point on this. This when you need to take your meds. I’m not sure how covid is relevant to hockey. I never said the virus was make believe. Maybe you are trying to inject politics back onto a hockey board. So while yes I did vote for Trump it was mainly because Biden is as looney as you are and he’s already proving that to be true. I am a registered independent and have voted for both sides
Daryl
Just make sure you are wearing 4 masks now… since your looney brothers says you need to