Due to a rash of injuries to “fourth” line players like William Carrier and Tomas Nosek, coupled with injuries in the AHL to Tomas Hyka and Brandon Pirri, the Golden Knights were forced to create some abnormal lines for last night’s game in Pittsburgh.
With six available forwards to fill out the bottom two lines, All Star head coach Gerard Gallant chose to play Cody Eakin with Oscar Lindberg and Brendan Leipsic. That left Pierre-Edouard Bellemare with wingers Ryan Carpenter and Alex Tuch.
He may not be finding the net, but at least he’s been creating chances with Tuch. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
The Bellemare line fared just fine against the Penguins, but the supposed third line which racked up a total of 6:28 of ice time as a unit, was nothing short of a disaster.
First off, the Leipsic-Eakin-Lindberg line took five draws as a group, three in the offensive zone, one in the neutral zone, and one in the defensive zone. This is an indicator that Gallant saw the line as more of an attacking threat.
In the seven shifts over those six and a half minutes, the Golden Knights gave up one goal (and another mid-change), were outshot 8-2, and gave up seven scoring chances (four “high danger”) while creating just one of their own. They spent a majority of their time on ice inside of their own zone and were usually forced to change when they finally exited the zone creating a defensive zone start for whichever line followed them.
The worst part of their shifts together is that a majority of them took place with the Penguins fourth line on the ice against them. More than 50% of the time Leipsic, Eakin, and Lindberg were on the ice together, Ryan Reaves and Zachary Aston-Reese were on the ice with them. Aston-Reese is a rookie who was playing in his second career NHL game, and Reaves is an enforcer who’s career possession metrics are among the lowest in the NHL. Between the two of them (who were playing with a mixed third player due to in-game injuries) they have a career 30 goals in 473 games, yet Reaves scored with the Golden Knights third line on the ice.
It just didn’t work together, but it’s no fault of any one of the pieces. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
Now, it’s not time to start throwing around hyperbole asking for all three players to be waived tomorrow. A lot of this comes down to chemistry and fit between the styles of play of each individual guy. They just don’t mesh together. If anyone should understand this concept, it should be Golden Knights fans who have watched numerous players bud into stars due to being placed in different circumstances in Vegas than with their former team.
The line of Eakin, Leipsic, and Lindberg isn’t particularly adept at any one skill, but even worse, it really doesn’t fit with the style of play the Golden Knights employ. They are not particularly good in transition, their forechecking is average, and their ability to break out of their own zone is not great… when playing together.
Simply put, that group of three did not work, at all, and Gallant need to recognize it and make the adjustment heading into tomorrow night’s game in San Jose. Offensively a bit will likely be lost taking Tuch away from Carpenter and Bellemare, but two balanced lines outweighs an okay one and a nightmare. Tuch, Eakin, and Leipsic on one line, and Carpenter, Bellemare, and Lindberg on the other, it’s really the only option.
Hopefully Turk agrees.
RJ
I don’t disagree with anything, except I am hesitant to break up Carp and Tuch as line mates, in my opinion their chemistry seems to be developing a little and If we aren’t going to add a piece, then we need to develop the lines we are going into the playoffs with. Maybe Carp-Eakin-Tuch again? What we really need are Carrier and Nosek back.
Both have heart, but Leipsic and Lindbergh are both weak links on this team. Both are one tool guys that don’t fit in with the team strategy.
This team might not need to add a piece to finish a successful regular season, but I think a scoring wing is necessary for us to make a deep run this post season. (To be clear, I’m happy with standing pat). The teams we will be facing in the later rounds of the post season are all buyers, and adding another scoring wing would help us keep pace. I wonder what the asking price for Michael Grabner or Toas Plekenic are? We have a couple extra 2nd rounders coming up and I wonder if we could add a rental piece for one of those.
Ken Boehlke
I don’t disagree on the Carpenter Tuch thing, but for the short term while Carrier and Nosek are out, I don’t think there’s any way to keep them together. Only option I could see would be Tuch-Lindberg-Carpenter and Leipsic-Bellemare-Eakin. Can’t say I love that option.
Bent Hermit
Just think where this team would be if they would of took Grabner instead of Lindberg.