Recap:The Golden Knights were looking to take a 2-0 series lead with a Game 2 victory. Deep into the opening 20 minutes Vegas drew a power play opportunity. Seconds later Golden Knights captain Mark Stone gave his club a 1-0 lead. Three minutes left in the frame the Mammoth answered back to tie the game before the break.
Five minutes left in the middle frame Utah took a 2-1 lead. Without hesitation the Golden Knights fought back and Ivan Barbashev evened the score a minute later.
The Mammoth regained their lead late in the final twenty minutes. With 2:51 remaining Vegas pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. Utah held off Vegas’ attack to seal Game 2.
With their 3-2 victory the Mammoth even the series 1-1. Both teams will travel to Salt Lake for a Game 3 battle on Friday. Puck drop is scheduled for 630PM PT. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: VGK played another excellent defensive game by limiting the chances in front of the net for a majority of the game. In the 3rd period though the Mammoth started finding more ways through the middle of the ice and it opened up an avenue for them that hasn’t been there much through the first five periods, the rush game. They were able to capitalize on one of those chances as Guenther blew by Theodore, then the second and third whacks at it went to Utah. VGK have a bit of adversity to deal with the for first time under Tortorella. Nothing over the top, nothing they can’t handle, but a bump in the road. (Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from Game 2 of the first round series between the Vegas Golden Knights vs Utah Mammoth at T-Mobile Arena.
- Offense, offense, don’t go away now repeatable offense?
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Brayden McNabb
** Mark Stone
* Ivan Barbashev
Bim Jurke
Does anyone ever get sick of watching Theodore just be an absolute terrible defensemen. He got turnstyled, missed two chances to clear the puck and ended up behind the goal for the game winner.
He’s absolutely useless.
Bim Jurke
Does anyone ever get sick of watching Theodore just be an absolute terrible defensemen. He got turnstiled , missed two chances to clear the puck and ended up behind the goal for the game winner.
He’s absolutely useless.
Jose
Entertaining game. Looking forward to Friday
DeezNutz
Marner = ghost
Dorofeyev = ghost (I’ve seen enough do not offer this guy anymore than 6 million AAV)
Hertl = ghost (fat beer leaguer)
Eichel is not a threat to score goals whatsoever at this point. He is so used to setting up plays at this that he is basically useless when you need goals.
Kolesar couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
Congrats VGK you failed to pass the puck into the opposing teams net once again not surprising.
Kelly said we signed Marner because we needed goals LMFAO what a fucking joke. Should trade our entire top 9 forwards and Theodore for Guenther and Cooley.
TS
Ah, deez, don’t hold back! Tell us what you REALLY think!
knights fan in minny
Fat Beer League poster Little Nutz
Larry
I will agree certainly on Hertl, and as well on Dorofeyev who looks slow and weak on and off the puck, these are and have been major concerns and will be going forward if things do not turn around.
Marner has been noticeable especially defensively, but obviously is needed offensively as well, but is saddled with an ineffective #16 currently, I thought Reilly had a good game, was working really hard, and didn’t go unnoticed by the coaching staff as he was out there for the majority of 6×5, maybe he might be moved up to play with Marner, and put #16 to play with his fellow ghost Hertl and could act like a kick in the butt!!
still believe
even though its a nice thing for him to have we are not paying Marner all that money for his D but rather to be a driver of offense, and he needs to lead as maybe it will help Doro or even as you said Smith on the 2nd line and drop Doro down to play with hertl and maybe they both can wake up. Lets hope on friday vgk can regain home ice.
JB
The Knights didn’t look like the same team tonight, in my opinion! The hits were down, got outshot . Jack continues to just not look right. Doesn’t seem to be that interested at time. Theo is his normal pussy self. So now how will they and tort rract to this first loss since he arrived? And Will Hertl ever show up?
leonard wise
This is what I was worried about when I said we can’t rely on the scoring of this group put together by Mc criminal. DeezNutz can’t disagree with you 0 goals from Eichel Marner and Doro. Can’t continue this way or we will be going home fast. We’re totally out played the last two periods. I know things can change on a dime. But, if we lose this series Kelly better be gone. What was sad we didn’t even look like we had a chance to score in the last period. They completely dominated us. We changed the coach so let’s see how he handles adversity. If it wasn’t for Hart this is a 6-2 game. Felt a little like Edmonton series like you knew ew couldn’t win. Hopefully I’m wrong but this was ugly need to hope Utah makes a lot of mistakes like the Barbashev goal.
Ruthless babe
Theodore should be riding the Zamboni in his commercials after that pitiful display of flatfooted failure.
Theodore ? no, show him the door
Richie-Rich
R1 G2 Analysis UTA 3, VGK 2
After the first period the Cassidy team returned and the Tort team checked out. We’ve seen this all season long until the coaching change.
Much less physically, lack of aggressiveness, slow to pucks and losing every single stick battle.
Goading Stone into a 2 minute penalty and scoring was embarrassing. Credit Utah, they were by far the much better team in the 3rd period and that’s when the VGK normally turn it up a notch. Not tonight and that should be a concern going forward.
Henderson One
Theodore got totally embarassed on the final goal. The Utah player made him look like he was standing still as he blew by him. Misfit for sure.
Anthony
Marner is an exceptional regular-season player when the pressure is lower and the physical play isn’t as intense.
He’s the kind of player who gets you into the playoffs only to become a ghost—just an average player once the high-stakes postseason games begin.
Sad but true.
Dorofeyev has been our top goal-scorer for the last two seasons. If our leading scorer also turns into a ghost in the playoffs, we have a major problem.
Eichel hasn’t been the same since the Olympics. He isn’t being decisive the way a player of his caliber should be, and even worse, it looks like he doesn’t even care.
Barbie, Stone, and Hart are following up on their excellent first game, but they can’t win every game on their own.
I’m not worried about this loss; I still think they’ll take the series in six games. However, what is concerning is the pathetic performance of Marner, Eichel, and Doro, we won’t go far without our best players.
Go Knights Go!
Richie-Rich
The lack of situational awareness and instinctive reaction to pass the puck was a constant theme in the 2nd and 3rd periods last night. Too often, after skating into the offensive zone instead of passing he held it too long allowing multiple skaters to converge and strip him. Very unlike a Tort coached team. This was classic Cassidy.
Anthony
I’m having a hard time with the criticism regarding the system Cassidy has put in place.
This past season under Butch was rough, but I think the reason for that ineffective play was something going on behind the scenes between the players and the coach—something we might never truly know. In previous years, even though Butch’s system is primarily defensive, we saw the Golden Knights shatter points records, put up some of the best offensive numbers in the league, and ultimately win the Stanley Cup.
Bottom line: I have immense respect and gratitude for everything Coach Cassidy has accomplished with the Vegas Golden Knights, whom we all love here.
TS
Did ya’ll see Nick Roy’s game- winning OT AV goal??? Roy has found his place in Colorado, and he is rolling!
Exactly WHY did Mgmt trade him away, again??
Duckboy
Nick Roy 1 playoff goal this year
Marner 0 goals
Richie-Rich
CAP space. They didn’t want to pay him.
TS
Rr, he was worth the $$$!! And he’s just 29 yrs old. He was that big, strong young player that we always hear coaches talk about.
Look at Tuch—he’s a powerhouse in Buffalo. Another big, strong player, traded away..
So many trades, so many new pieces— but is it really working out for us??
Richie-Rich
With 5:25 left in period 2 of game 3, the obvious answer to your last question is NO, it is not working out for us. Eichel got his first of the playoffs on a nice little rebound to an open net. But, we haven’t seen much from this group. Hertl, Marner, Stone, Dorofeyev and Eichel need to be producing more, A LOT MORE. They are not and this has been a theme all year long. Get behind, chase, chase and chase. If we cannot soundly defeat this Utah team we have no chance to beat the better teams in the league.
We’ve pretty much proven that we haven’t been able to do so all year long.
knights fan in minny
My God bandwagon jumpers Quit crying One loss Fold up The franchise The problem here is some people think they’re supposed to win every game It doesn’t happen Get a clue
TS
You tell ’em , Minny!!
Rrale
The VGK were outplayed in the second and third periods last night. Eichel is back to playing with the puck on his stick. I agree Eichel does not seem to be the same player he was before the Olympics.
Doro is showing why he is not worth more than five million per year.
Refs did not help the game with missed calls, again.
Lack of puck luck (Anderson helper). I do not blame Anderson as that stuff happens, just look at Stone’s goal.
Hart was really good again in goal last night. Kept us in the game.
With as bad and slow as the team looked last night, I still have hope they can win the series.
Richie-Rich
4, Four Million for Dorofeyev. Stop overpaying.
Richie-Rich
The good news, I guess, is that the VGK should have scored 4 or 5 goals in that first period. They had numerous grade A chances that they failed to cash in on. Unfortunately, this isn’t a fluke. It’s been a consistent theme all season.
More troubling than anything else was getting totally manhandled and destroyed in that 3rd period. That’s something that this team isn’t used to. The 3rd period has been VGK’s strongest period all season long, until this game for some reason.
Vic
Utah’s youth and speed took over as the VGK couldn’t keep them in check with hits and lost most battles. When Utah controlled the puck, they seemed to find guys with perfect passes to enter the O zone and stuck to a plan coming in waves. Didn’t see Utah do that as much in game one, but watching them in the latter part of the year, that is the style they play…effective puck control and finding the open guy. Will be two difficult games in Utah. Comments about Jack are spot on as he’s not the same player….still an elite passer, but he NEVER turns toward the opposing goal and never seems to get open enough and always trying passes. Maybe he can try once in a while to take the hits and go to the net? Could be hedging his bets from his surgery? Certainly he is less aggressive than he was. Need him badly.
Larry
I thought Hart had a good game in goal though I’m still concerned about his rebound control overall, though in no way was he to blame for the 3rd goal, zero chance to control a rebound like that, that issue was totally Theodore as well as a too late and too little effort from Eichel on the back check.
My concern is still that Power Play and the continuing use of Hertl in the bumper, it is a worn out and outdated system, stop trying to feed him there, it also negates the cross ice pass to Dorofeyev as that area is clogged up. Either camp Hertl at the blue paint, or better yet put Andersson in there because he is literally the only one that actually moves and opens up space to create opportunities.
And speaking of which, that was quite the gamble on the early goalie pull to give us a chance, but that 6×5 bordered on pathetic or more likely exceeded the borders, ineffective and ineffectual, holding onto to the puck, put the damn pick towards the goal, my goodness 2 goals were scored in the game just putting it towards the net and loose pucks can actually find their way into the net, try it sometime it just might work!
steve
clearly the power play needs an adjustment, what you said could work but i doubt a change can be made at this point of the season but something needs to be done, cause shots have to go in the direction of the net look what happened in minnesota tonight it went in off 2 stars players into the net, luck happens
TS
Larry, I honestly haven’t seen any benefit to this extra man plan. Pulling our own goalie leaves us wide open,and having 6 players is NOT a force multiplier, never has been
. At least, not with our team.
knights fan in minny
barby Had a fantastic game one on three goal was a thing of beauty danced around all of them and a sweet back end have to regroup and go get game three
Hdbiker7851
Not sure if talent and skill over youth and desire will work out in Vegas favor. Utah are fearless and Vegas more hesitant with the puck. No quick crisp passing shots etc.. on pp. Fortunately for Vegas the pk is top shelf at the moment. Th boys have their hands full with the speed and desire of Utah youth.
Canada
I went back and watched the highlights after leaving with 5 minutes left in the game , couldn’t watch anymore . There were actually some good efforts put forward but they just didn’t have the jump . Theo just pisses me off most nights but last night was a doozy. He should watch the tape as to how fast he can skate the shift after he was turned inside out with his half ass effort . He can do it he just doesn’t want to. that dog wont hunt , has anyone seen him throw a body check ,he should be leading the defense by now and he just wont. so disappointing. i am also tired of listening to Torts say the same old crap every night . When will the real Tort show up he is going to have to call out the slackers or he might be one and done.
Richie-Rich
I think it is Ben Hutton time. Sit Theodore.
Larry
As much as I am not a Théodore supporter, there is zero chance he will be replaced.
FG
Physicality 1
Youth, speed and skill 1
Unless the top 6 and defenseman score, VGK will have another series loss where they did not generate enough offense, despite all the roster moves, traded players, lost draft capital. That would be a McCrimmonal disaster