Recap: The Stanley Cup champions traveled to Chicago trying to stay unblemished in the young season. The Blackhawks jumped on the board with an early power play goal by 1st overall pick Connor Bedard. Minutes later William Karlsson evened the score with a PP goal of his own.
Jonathan Marchessault snapped the tie 7:30 into the middle frame by scoring his third goal of the season. 80 seconds later the Blackhawks scored the equalizer. After 40 minutes in Chicago, the game was locked in a 2-2 tie.
Vegas regained their lead 0:13 seconds into the final period from Nic Roy. The depth center picked up his third of the season to give the reigning champs a 3-2 advantage. Later Mark Stone doubled VGK’s lead, scoring his first goal of 2022-23. Paul Cotter sealed the game with a late game power play goal.
The Golden Knights’ record improves to (6-0-0) defeating the Blackhawks 5-3 in Chicago. Vegas will head back home for a Tuesday night matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. Puck drop is scheduled for 8PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: Vegas didn’t quite look like themselves for the first 40 minutes of the game. Far too many turnovers, especially in the defensive zone plagued VGK early but Adin Hill kept them in the game. In the 3rd, the champs showed up and blew the Blackhawks away. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.
- Hot start nothing new from Cassidy-led team
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Mark Stone
** Michael Amadio
* William Karlsson
The Golden Knights have still never lost in regulation on the road against 6 different NHL teams.
San Jose (11-0-3)
Vancouver (7-0-2)
Chicago (6-0-2)
Ottawa (5-0-0)
Seattle (4-0-0)
New Jersey (3-0-2)— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) October 22, 2023
Adin Hill is making difficult saves look easy.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) October 22, 2023
William Karlsson continues to have an awesome start to the season. Dude has been flying out there every shift.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) October 22, 2023
Jailbird
Another win. First defending SC Champ to start 6-0. Rolling along!
Pistol Pete
6-0-0. The Knights now stand alone for the best season start by a defending champ.
Paul Cotter 1 G/3 A in 6 games not too shabby.
Ron
Great game for Golden Night and to set a record! Vegas is a great hockey city! The Silver Nights won also today! Golden nights 6-0 and Silver nights 3-0 for the season!
knights fan in minny
12 points to start the young season gotta love it hawks have a long way to go
Emmanuel
Chi-town looked amateurish in the 3rd. They have a long way to go.
Pistol Pete
24 year-old Grigori Denisenko #15 draft pick who we picked up on waivers from Florida (he played game 5 and had a look early in the game) has 2 G/3 A in his first three games in Henderson (scoring in OT tonight). At a speedy 5’ 11” 186 with really good hands looks like he could be serious competition for Brisson. Potentially another astute pickup by VGK scouting.
Pistol Pete
Corrections on Denisenko:
He’s 23 (not 24: turns 24 June) and that is 4 games (not 3): 2 G/ 3 A
Notable others (max. age 23):
Brisson (age 22) 4 games (2 G/1 A)
Brabenec (age 20): 4 games (1 G/3 A)
Demek (age 20): 4 games (0 G/1 A)
Brabenec a point a game. Denisenko the season points leader in the age 23 and younger group. As I mentioned above, Denisenko shaping up to be major competition for Brisson, in fact if he continues to score, he may get called up ahead of Brisson. He’s faster with at least as good hands.
Pistol Pete
Bringing in a guy like Denisenko to compete with your #1 prospect. That is good scouting and good management going back to McCrimmon.
Pistol Pete
Denisenko has 26 NHL games (0 G/7 A) and one playoff game vs. zero NHL games for Brisson. Per above, he’s a #15 pick (Brisson #29). Their 2022-23 AHL seasons were pretty similiar.
Pistol Pete
2022-23 AHL seasons:
Brisson: 17 G/20 A (58 games = .64 pts/game)
Denisenko: 12 G/24 A (56 games = .64 pts/game)
Very similiar.
Pistol Pete
Scoring in game 1 and going pointless for the last five, I am expecting a run from Barbashev.
Danny Gallivan
Barbashev’s bad giveaways on his exit passes at the blue line are what got him benched.. He needs to start moving his feet, clear the puck out, and quit trying to force short lateral passes that are easy pickings for the opponents.
He played great last season, but so far this year he has been mediocre, and less physical as well.
Hdbiker7851
And to think they gave up smith who is doing well in Pittsburgh. Not one of the better moves
Jailbird
That’s a ridiculous statement, after 6 games, and you know it hd! Barby is in a bit of a funk right now, but he will play out of it! Typical senseless comment from you.
Pistol Pete
Agree Jailbird. As I posted (above or below) Cassidy will get Barbs going. That’s his job. North of 50 pts would not surprise me in the least.
Jose
You are an idiot homo biker
Tell us again why Jack Eichel is a cancer.
Pistol Pete
Easy Jose. Age before beauty, eh? I mean disrespect buddy and I agree with your point but the guy you responding may be old enough to be your grandfather, like me lol.
Jose
I should choose my words more wisely. Meant no disrespect..
Pistol Pete
Cassidy will get Barbs going again. He’s a good coach and that is all it will take.
TS
Like, Where is Waldo AKA Barbashev?? Anybody see him? The guy from last season?
Pistol Pete
Philly is off to a respectable start. Tuesday at T-Mobile could be tough.
Pistol Pete
Nice game for Cotter. He won’t be getting scratched for Dorofeyev anytime soon if he keeps going. At the same time having Dorofeyev waiting in the wings to come in and try to do what he did last season is not a bad situation for Cassidy to be in. Depth.
Pistol Pete
Nice retrospect. Hiring Cassidy was just such a shrewd move by McPhee and McCrimmon. Two former hockey players, a world of experience in managment, smart guys.
Pistol Pete
Nice “retrospective” I meant. Another senior moment lol.
TS
Confusing game. 1st 2 periods were like a Chinese Fire Drill, constant back- and- forth on ice by both teams, with little to show for it.Puck possession was fleeting, at best. Our players seemed confused at times, spacing off.( mixed lines?), Hill was left open too often. Poor D at our own net.
BUT— that 3rd period was REDEMPTION. The guys came to life and finished the game with a nice run.
Idk what Coach told the boys in the locker room, but it worked!
Looks like the Chicago Wonder Boy got a good taste of the CUP CHAMPS, and he wasn’t quite as wonderful VS the VGK ….
Jailbird
This is kinda game we will see once in a while. Boys aren’t perfect. They knew they had not played well in first two periods. They came out in 3rd and corrected that!
Tim
Like you all 6 and 0 is great but the real story is we’ve had 16 different players score a goal and all 20 players have at least one assist in the 6 games. To me that has to be some sort of record. We truly have a team. McDavid hurt looks like his hip that could be serious and then what Edmonton?
TS
Tim, he was somewhat injured at playoff time, didn’t perform like he should have…( a friend of mine saw the players on the strip when we played them, and McDavid was clearly limping, complaining of having to climb stairs). McDavid had a poor scoring performance in Vegas, because he was hurting, I think.
Could his injury now be a carryover, I wonder?
knights fan in minny
this is all were going to here about is his injury
TS
Minny, is he nearing his ” Expiration Date”, as a player, I wonder?
knights fan in minny
no he is not near his exp date, but it will be the talk of canuck land!
Pistol Pete
Comparing Barbashev’s current five game pointless streak I checked Smith’s game logs from last year and these were his consecutive pointless game streaks:
(5) two game streaks
(1) three game streak
(2) four game streaks
Cassidy must have seen something Barbashev was doing that was unnecessarily interfering with his play making performance. Otherwise pointless game streaks are to be expected. Barbashev is mired in this streak to some extent due mistakes he is making. I have confidence in Cassidy’s ability to address the situation.
Tim
Pistol Pete, your a logical posters so let me clear this up. To stay relevant you need to stay young. Barbashev 27 versus Smith 32 is an easy call. next Martinez at 36 and pacjal at 23 is the next easy call, march at 33 next year and Elias Pettersson 26 will be the next easy call. The name of the game is keep quality but continue to get younger. Martinez, Marshy, and a cap raise of 4 million gives us a chance to resign who we have to Stephenson etc. and have enough to add a stud like Pettersson. Just keep getting younger and pick the right discarded players like Howden and Amadio and we’ll be fine.
knights fan in minny
petterson would be nice the reports are the nucks are.working on a deal tsn reports.
Pistol Pete
Tim I completely agree. McCrimmon chose to move on from Smith and sign Barbashev because he is significantly younger and showed he can play on the Eichel line. I was showing the Smith pointless streaks as point of reference to
Barbashev’s current 5 game pointless streak.
My point stands though. If Cassidy identifies errors that impact playmaking performance he’ll take countermeasures like counseling and benching.
Tim
Pistol Pete , Totally agree Cassidy is a my way or the highway kind of guy. Which if your off your game you’ll sit until you find it as Barbashev found out last game.
Jailbird
I just don’t understand. We just won the Stanley Cup and have virtually the same team back annnnnd we are currently 6-0. Yet we have these comments about replacing or adding to roster.. can we not simply enjoy what we won and how we are winning NOW! We have a whole season ahead of us. Who gives a rats ass, now, about next year. Come on!
Richard H Lynch
Exactly, Railbird., Enjoy the moment.
Tim
Jailbird, Your right on all accounts were on top of the world and we are all happy campers. You have to keep an eye on the future and right now our future is bright. Teams that were good like Detroit and Chicago win championships and then plummet to the bottom is what our management team will prevent by continually moving out older assets and bringing in fresh legs. To your point enjoy every game this year make a run for the Cup but be ready to make a run for the Cup next year. Always keep an eye on the future so we don’t end up a bottom feeder.
Richie-Rich
Last January I kept on waiting for the team to fade. The all-star goalie was hurting, Stone on LTIR and yet the team kept finding a way to win. The difference? What saved this team from slipping?
Bruce Cassidy
Were 6-0-0 now with Whitecloud and Petro sidelined. Korczak and Pachal are filling in nicely. Korczak will head back to Henderson with Petro likely coming back for Tuesday’s contest against the Flyers.
I really like Cotter’s work along the boards and behind the net in the OZ. I think Cotter knows that Pavel’s in the wings and I think that is pushing him to play his best. I think both bring different things to the game, although I see Cotter as more of a Carrier like player and Dorofeyev as the more natural replacement for Smith.
PP?
Pistol Pete
Agree on all points R-R. Having Dorofeyev waiting in the wings is a nice situation for Cassidy to be in. And yes Cassidy is a difference maker. In hindsight McPhee and McCrimmon look very smart for cycling through Gallant and DeBoer. DeBoer especially. Moving on from Gallant was a no-brainer but DeBoer who is a very smart coach and personable guy was a more subtle call. Look at what happened in the Dallas series. Cassidy beat DeBoer.
Pistol Pete
P. S. R-R
I do see Dorofeyev as more of a finesse player than Cotter, potentially more like Smith. Of course replacing Smith means playing the 200 ft. game and if anything Dorofeyev is more defensively adept than Cotter thus far. Noticed Dorofeyev’s strength on the puck had improved when he came in last year but seemed somewhat spotty in his two games this season. Not sure if that was just those games or if it’s more systemic but he should be able to permanently elevate it. He’ll have to if he wants to play full time at this level.
Richie-Rich
Cotter and Dorofeyev have different styles and attributes. We are in agreement. Cotter is a good candidate for line 3 or 4. Dorofeyev is more of a natural replacement for Smith. But, the jury remains out on both of them until we get to see how they actually develop and fit in. Both still have a lot of upside to show us.
larry
Im not at all surprised about barbashev…..i quasi understand why he was paid like he was paid after the playoff run all of VGK had…i just dont think his style of play is sustainable for the 82 game grind…i predicted he would be on the 4th line after 20 games…could happen sooner…i also predicted Hill would be relegated to backup status after 20 games…uh….NO!! lol…VGK has been nothing short of super-resillient thus far in the early season…much happier with Cotter’s recent play…his physicality is much wanted but he needs to become a bit more selfish and fire that 1 timer more often!!…anyone know about whatever is going on with #90??
Pistol Pete
Cassidy will keep Barbashev on track. The guy gets $5m. Cassidy will straighten him out. If not he’ll get traded and since him and his beautiful wife love living in Vegas I don’t think he wants that to happen. Giving up playing with Eichel? I don’t think so.
hdbiker7851
PP – kind of sad what Barbie is currently going thru for whatever reason – he was a beast in the playoff playing for a good contract which as we know he received. He seems to now experiencing something similar to what he went thru with the Blues. Lehner was another example of something like this as you know – a contract then ________ fill in the blank?? I see where our boy Smith is doing well in his new home – still question if getting rid of him was the right decision, a consistent 200-foot player and leader every night.
Jailbird
Calm down everyone on Barby. It’s JUST 6 games. He will be fine.
Pistol Pete
Five games actually…he scored game 1!
Richie-Rich
Let’s stop with the Barbashev bashing already. The season is young. It’s natural to try and find fault. Everything is clicking very well right now. Enjoy the ride. I am sure there will be some real bumpy times ahead.
Save your rounds.