Recap: The Golden Knights were looking to snap their losing streak with a victory in St. Louis. Keegan Kolesar gave Vegas a 1-0 advantage with his first goal of the season. Seconds later the Blues answered right back.
St. Louis took a 3-1 lead, scoring twice to start the 2nd period. Captain Mark Stone cut into the Blues lead with his 11th goal. After 40 minutes, the Golden Knights trailed 3-2.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored a big game-tying goal 8:21 into the final frame. With time winding down, the Blues regained their lead and went on to win 4-3.
The Golden Knights record drops to 17-11-11 falling to the Blues 4-3 in St. Louis. Next up, Vegas will travel to Chicago for a date with the Blackhawks on Sunday. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: No team is going to play 60 minutes of perfect hockey. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to even be better than your opponent for 60 minutes in the same game. VGK’s problem right now is that in the minutes they aren’t the better team, they are getting trounced. Three straight goals in the middle of the game dug a hole that even though they got out of, they couldn’t stay out of. They have to find a way to stop the bleeding faster than they haven’t recently. It’s the #1 reason they’re in this funk. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.
- Stop the bleeding
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Pavel Dorofeyev
** Tomas Hertl
* Mark Stone
Jack Hammer
oh no!
Emmanuel
You said it all brother
ID10T w/ a Ba1100n
They rang in the New Year with a lead they couldn’t keep,
The Blues came stormin’ back, sent the Knights right off their feet.
Three straight in regulation, with the dads there in the stands,
Not exactly what they pictured when they booked those travel plans.
Ohhh Vegas… they fight, they fall, they try to rise anew,
But this time it’s the Golden Knights who end up singin’ the Blues.
Another lead surrendered, another tough night through,
Usually they beat St. Louis… but tonight the Blues said “new year, new you.”
Between the blue lines lately, they’ve been playin’ fast and loose,
Puck management goes missing, like it hopped a Vegas cruise.
Turnovers spark a party, give the Blues their favorite views,
And suddenly the Golden Knights are the ones singin’ the Blues.
But here comes Pistol Pete now, with his rose‑colored glasses on,
Preachin’ how they’ll turn it ‘round because Mitchy’s come along.
He’s selling hope and sunshine, but the fine print still consults:
“Remember, folks—past performance does not predict future results.”
And something stinks in that room, and it sure ain’t the jocks,
The mojo’s gone missing like it slipped out with the pucks.
The vibe is off, the rhythm’s wrong, nothing feels strong—
So Vegas leaves St. Louie singin’ a sad, sad song.
23
let the trades and changes begin.
Bill Foley must be royally pissed off right about now.
Henderson One
You have to have someone to trade that another team wants! This continues to be a Country Club team.
Emmanuel
Trade market really slow this year….not many sellers.
Richie-Rich
Totally on Hanifan, the Olympian.
I am not sure what sort of play he was trying to make there, he clearly wasn’t going to be able to go through Buchenevich there. So, just barrel into him and turn the puck over? I am not going to back and look at the options he had, but there had to be at least 3 other options from this side of the red line.
This team is snake bitten and maybe they need something special. I would suggest one of the following:
1- An exorcism.
2- A Voodoo Doll Seance
3- Have every player tape a good luck charm sticker inside their helmet
4- Come on to the ice and circle around backwards instead of the normal way
5- Wear their socks inside out
DO SOMETHING!
ID10T w/ a Ba1100n
Hanifin and Theo are pretty good at turning over the puck between the blue lines. The difference is Theo produces offensively, Noah, not so much. Although he has put several in his own goal. That was a problem last season.
TS
Hypnosis! Mind- Meld! Extra Prevagen! ANYTHING!! Gotta be be an improvement to what we see now!!
knights fan in minny
What a Dung Show losing to the worst offensive team in the league
JB
I’m simply coming to the realization, that, we just aren’t that good. Or. We have low confidence and team pride? I really like Butch, I think he’s a very good coach, but has he lost this team? Hell I don’t know but the blues one of the worst teams, are the ones we should beat! We have scored first in a number of the games of late and just can’t keep up after that. This just doesn’t look good right now, and I don’t give a crap that we played well (and lost) against the AVs. Doesn’t mean doo doo now!
hdbiker7851
Way too much standing around in the D zone waiting for something to happen. It’s becoming embarrassing – when they were fortunate to tie it up the writing was on the wall playing for a tie which would have been better than the ultimate outcome, however, the result in all probability would have been the same as OT and SOs aren’t their strong suit. Watching of late identifying their strong suit is a test as they haven’t demonstrated they have one. Eichel was struggling – not sure what his issue was but by the look of his play not sure he is totally healed. It hurts to say but they are a sorry ass bunch at this point. That is not being negative that is telling it as it is.
Rrale
I do agree with the statement above it is time for trades to be made. Maybe one or two goalie’s who can stop a shot for 20 feet? Saad’s time has come and gone, time for a change for him. Smith just cannot remember how to score. Whitecloud has proven game after game he does not have the fortitude to play good solid defense. Others on the team need to be reminded standing and looking at the puck will get you a new team to play for. This team used to be one that out hustled the other team.
Emmanuel
Its funny you mentioned Whitecloud, ive seen a real steady decline since the begining of season. Trade bait?
Henderson's Finest
Time for a player’s only meeting? Mark Stone needs to get this team back on track.
Leonard Wise
This is the month they should have at least 22 points in these 17 games. They have already lost to two beatable opponents. If they get less than 15 points a major shake up is coming. We can’t even get Peter’s one victory points. Should beat Chicago they are on a back to back. Another bad game today. Maybe Mitch could score a goal.
Richie-Rich
It’s true. The Golden Knights have always been known to out hustle their opponents to pucks and flip the ice. Those days appear to be long gone.
former season ticket holder
This team more resembles Seattle now, we have lost too many to salary cap, only 1 of the 6 D men fron 23 played, and he is suspect..
I have watched in game one on ones between Bruce and players and I see more looks of resentment and resignation rather than acknowledging a mistake with renewed effort… but this team definately needs a players only meeting and lock the door from the outside until there is only one player left banging on that door to be let out.
This B.S. of the slow starts is enough, the one goal lead in the first turning in a usual multi goal trailing after 2 periods…is looking more like the same B.S. the Pens went thru last month.
Enough!
FG
VGK went from having the #1 D corp in the league (by Dom’s ratings) to now one of the worst, missing four players from that lineup. If McNabb is week to week, that like means a month and January could be ugly.
It also would help if Schmid and Hart could just be average.
The only way they survive January is if the top nine play at least up to their salary level.
DeezNutz
I’ve been saying for years now this team needs to wait out Stone’s contract and try to a quick re-tooling of the roster. We can’t have a loaded top 6 of all play makers and nobody that can score 40-50 goals per season. We also need to build some draft picks and some prospects up so the GM should avoid making any drastic changes at deadline. Instead just see what they can do with what they have (hopefully fully healthy but I doubt it) and look to next season or even the season after next. This team is build horrendously bad for Bruce’s system. A system that focuses so heavily on defense it comes at the cost of offense while our top players aren’t exactly high octane goal scorers to begin with so it lowers their offense numbers even more. Having Barbashev on the top line is atrocious.
Overall I’m pretty much ok with losing the following players:
Hill
Saad
Smith
Stone (or at least extend to a super team friendly deal with injury history in mind)
Sissons
Lauzon
Kolesar
Try to get upgrade or drafts for each of these players with SCORING TALENT, HEALTH and SPEED in mind. All 3 of these things we desperately need.
DeezNutz
I would even add Karlsson to this list.
We need to go for Pastrnak. His contract is about 2 million more than Stone’s currently is. If we got Marner to replace Stone so we can sign Stone for EXTREMELY CHEAP and try to get a Pastrnak for Eichel’s wing.
hdbiker7851
DeezNutz – Question – what makes you believe Pastrnak is the answer or better yet even available?? They have toooo much money tied up in a few players already why would you add to the problem. We need some young, hungry rejects similar to team one that had something to prove and interested in giving it all. Adding more expensive hardware is a waste of dollars at this point – they don’t have any excess as it is which ties their hands – why compound the problem.
Sirgoomba
And, who in there right minds would take any of these “4th line hangers on”, not a single GM. They are now smiling that VGK is finally dropping from the elite. The FO has no one but themselves for this mess!
Walt
no player only meetings?
no coaches kicking over garbage cans and showing some damn emotion?
no GM wakeup trades? or even statements of urgency or concern?
well then, I guess status quo will continue, and rock bottom here we come.
larry
I was at work and didnt have a chance to watch the game, but read all the twitter comments and Ken’s postings.
Really no reason to watch the replay as its just rinse and repeat, same problems, same issues every game, and Ive spoken about it overly often. lack of speed, lack of creativity, lack of youth, lack of lack!
I dont know what they can do to fix the problems. apparently there is even less of NHL talent playing in Henderson than we even thought, as the Front Office is not willing to bring up a younger and most likely faster player to see what he can do on the big club.
While we dream of a trade(s(, there is no tangible asset except probably Karlsson, and as much as we love him he has been injury prone the last 3 years and will soon turn 33.
The biggest mistakes were the long term signings of Theodore, an essentially unproven with VGK Hanifin and the beyond belief signing of Hill for those years and that money.
I have no ideas what the answers are for this team at the moment, the absolute best and only thing going for them at the moment is that they play in the Pacific!!
larry
Further, I honestly felt that if Hanifin scores in Game 3 against the Stars, from the exact same spot he had scored in either Game 1 or 2, they would have easily closed out that series, with a Hertl getting stronger off his knee surgery, and Stone getting healthier after his spleen surgery, I dont recall who their next round opponent would have been , but I believe they would have been primed to legitimately defend their Cup.
Last year I remained confident they would perform well in the playoffs, and felt their downfall was lingering injuries to some of their main players:
Barbashev was never the same after being body slammed to the ice by Foligno halfway through the season
Hertl was nowhere near the force he had been after suffering that shoulder injury late in the season
Eichel was clearly suffering from what ever caused him to miss the last 6-7 games of the regular season
I looked at all of this and drank the Kool Aid of excuses, in hindsight and retrospect VGK was damn lucky to escape an upset against the Wild who were the better team for most of that series, and our truer colors showed against the %^&*% oilers as we had no offense, no transition no 5×5 answers, and sadly this has been a carryover to this year, and I really dont know how we will be able to turn this ship around.
All i want and hope for is to be proven wrong!!
larry
KEN, if things continue to go south, and as you spoke about why buy if floundering in mediocrity, I never thought I would broach this subject, but could you see VGK being sellers, and if they were what could they possibly sell??
WE SUCK
Reality check, this is one of the worst teams in the NHL! Thank God we got the cup. Its going to take about 5 years to fix this mess. I said it at the time, trading Thompson was the worst trade we ever made, including Suzuki trade. SELL SELL SELL, no one should be untouchable.
Leonard Wise
The amazing thing is that no team in the Pacific division is a positive on goals. What a dog blank division. A lot of bad hockey being played.
Pistol Pete
New territory minus Theodore and McNabb. As Ken tweeted, first time since February 14, 2021. When the coaching staff pulls a veteran like Megna from Henderson and not Cormier, Kmec or another prospect it tells us all we need to know. The prospects are deemed to not be NHL-capable as far as defending or at least Megna with his 194 NHL games is a better risk. Megna was -2 so we’ll see how it goes. Perhaps they will go to a prospect after all.
Korczak is emerging as the most reliable D. He has the best +/- of the lot of them and some points too though not on the scale of Theodore and Hanifin. Hanifin really needs to improve his +/-
Henderson's Finest
I believe Cormier is hurt. He hasn’t been in the lineup that last few games for Henderson. Thus the reason he wasn’t called up.
TS
WE ARE LOST WITHOUT OUR VETERANS. IT’LL ONLY GET WORSE FROM HERE. FORGET PLAYOFF HOPES
. AND….HOPE THE FRANCHISE SURVIVES THE OVERHAUL IT NEEDS.
IDK HOW WE RECOVER FROM THIS MESS W/O HUGE CHANGES….
Larry
TS, I’m sure you read all my posts here and felt my concern over what is taking place.
I just looked at the schedule today and saw our next opponent the Blackhawks are playing today, which means we will be facing a below average team on a B2B for them.
Can a game like that be considered a must win barely half way into the season?
Sadly I am thinking that’s exactly what it is! Hoping every team in our division loses every night is not the way we improve our team and make a statement the rest of the year and hopefully into the playoffs.
TS
Larry, i’m waiting for Cassidy to show his displeasure and disappointment in his team.
He NEEDS to show some kind of emotion some frustration, anger, concern—- ANYTHING!!! His stoic, unemotional responses to these losses is maddening!!!
I’d be pulling my hair out!! I’d be screaming out loud!! Oh, wait— i already DO that!!
VGK fan
ok so chicago ended up winning and had to go to a shootout to do so, so it would seem golden knights should be a fresher team tomorrow, and for whatever its worth a big favorite to win too, yea i would say its a big game if they should lose.
Richie-Rich
I would say that today’s contest against Chicago is going to be a key game for this season. Chicago is #28 out of 32 teams in terms of points. However, they are about 22 points better than The Blues in terms of GF/GA.
I expect some major changes to the bottom 6 and as well as the defense if they should lose this game today.
Richie-Rich
Bringing Megna up tells me all I need to know about the recent poor decision making regarding acquiring veteran talent. Saad-Bust, Lauzon-Bust, Sissons-Bust, Reinhart-Bust. There’s a lot of talent on this team for sure, but there isn’t a 40 to 50 goal shooting threat on the roster. Great Centers, piss poor wingers with the exception of Dorofeyev who is above average but not great. Over spent on talent leaves little room for options at the trade deadline. The Front Office should start thinking about putting some fan favorites on the shelf for sale (Stone, Smith, Karlsson, Kolesar, Barbashev, Hill, Theodore, Hanifan, Whitecloud, Reinhart, and even Hertl should be considered). This is, of course, if the team continues to slide backwards. What 40-50 goal scoring threat might be available in a trade? The only two players I would consider keepers at this point are Eichel, Marner, Dorofeyev and Bowman.
larry
RR, I watched a bit of the HSK game tonight on Scripps, and saw a little something from Lacyzinski, and also from a player I have long scorned and that is Rondjberg, how could someone like #46 not be a better winger than Saad is, or sadly than Smith is as well, is there a harm in bringing them up and given a chance?
Richie-Rich
I thought that Rondjberg would be a regular by now. He certainly cannot be any worse than those in the bottom 6. There’s no harm at all in bringing him up, but this coaching staff and the VGK front office must feel that the current status quo gives them the best chance to win. How much longer do they need before they realize it is time for a change?
Leonard Wise
If it’s a five year rebuild Marner and Eichel should be considered they will be 34 at that point and only lower our draft position. They are also the only ones that can bring a good return. But have no move clauses. They probably will make playoffs because Pacific is so bad. Not because they are good. Also in last 17 home games only 3 wins. This will lead to more empty seats. More pressure on management to change things.
TS
Leonard, kinda tough to see so many empty seats at home games..could be because of Holiday spending, but more likely because of the losses. It will only get emptier, unless we start winning…
Larry
…..but on the bright side of dark things, tickets will be way more affordable lol, though the product on the ice will be sub-par.
As much as we are all in distress about our team now, I don’t really see the above scenario taking place this year or in the near future…..I HOPE!!!
Larry
I just saw that the blackhawks are -120 +1.5 goals on the betting site I use, how can I pass up that opportunity???