Recap: The Golden Knights And Winnipeg Jets faced off for the second team in the NHL playoffs. Game 1 started off tight with both teams limiting quality chances. Winnipeg outshot Vegas 14 to 8 but the game was locked in scoreless tie after the opening period.
Winnipeg got off to a quick start to the second period. The Jets opened the scoring 1:24 into the frame. Before the Golden Knights could settle in the Jets took a 2-0 lead. Late in the opening period William Karlsson cut the visiting teams lead in half.
After some sustained pressure, Winnipeg regained their two-goal advantage 3:53 into the final frame. The Golden Knights had several chances, including a late power play but couldn’t generate any offense. In the final minutes Winnipeg added an empty net and a garbage time power play goal.
The Golden Knights drop Game 1 to the Jets 5-1 and trail by one in the seven-game series. Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday night at 7 PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: The Golden Knights fell into a bit of the trap they’ve been hampered with in playoffs past. Not enough going to the net which only amplified when they started having problems getting through the neutral zone. Top players weren’t good enough either. VGK must look themselves in the mirror and figure out the right way to play, and in a hurry, before Thursday. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs Winnipeg Jets Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena
- VGK’s forecheck must challenge WPG’s first pass better
- Diving into the matchups and Jack Eichel’s impact in tilting them back to VGK’s favor.
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Alec Martinez
** Reilly Smith
* William Karlsson
If you want the simplest answer to what happened tonight, VGK lost 3 of the 4 center battles. Karlsson played well, the other three got outplayed and badly.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 19, 2023
Empty net and the Jets take Game 1.
So many of the concerns that have existed all season all cropped up in one game. It's just that though, one game. More committed willingness to do the right things in Game 2 and they'll be just fine.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 19, 2023
Not only was that power play a disaster, the crowd completely turned on VGK during it. Screaming at Theodore to shoot it, then boos a few times when VGK cleared it on their own. Not good.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 19, 2023
There have been plenty of games where this has worked for VGK this season, I've said it all year though, it won't work in the playoffs. Need to get to the center more. Absolutely imperative. (stick tap @NatStatTrick) pic.twitter.com/1qUqC5vVE6
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 19, 2023
hdbiker7851
Welcome to the Vegas shit show. Playoffs are a all a new season and if Vegas expects to continue on after the play this evening, they better clean up their act. It almost appeared they had no interest in winning. Soft on the puck gave up early when loosing the puck and their fore checked sucked. Winnepeg was all over them like flies on crap. Embarrassing and painful to watch sorry to say. The better team won hands down.
Carl
Stone is 50%. A liability. May be time to cut losses and bring in a healthy Dorofeyev.
hdbiker7851
Interesting someone else now believes Stone is a liability which unfortunately under the circumstances is true. To expect anything else after what he has gone thru is not realistic.
On another note, all four home teams lost tonight – could be early golf for many unexpectedly.
George L.
So much for the Eichel show.
Duckboy
A soulless performance by a team I actually thought had a ton of heart during the season.
Awesome stats
Eichel -3
Stone -3 0 shots
Petro -2 0 shots
Marchy 0 shots, but he had 9 hits…that’s what we pay him for…what a jackass
Amadio was a joke tonight as well
Stone was moving like a mummy or zombie. Maybe not a great idea to throw him in the line up.
It’s one game but jeez it was pretty bad and not much time to fix.
I’d take showing effort in game 2 as improvement.
Ps crowd was shit no energy at all
Richie-Rich
Actually the crowd was pretty into it in period 1. They came back in period 2 after Karlsson’s goal. The crowd energy level evaporated when the Jets got that 3rd goal. Then it got really ugly during those shit power plays.
The Jets had more pep in their step and were just flowing to the puck. The Knights seemed like they were thinking about strategy and positioning and thus they were on their heels the entire night. I saw some life in the last 5 minutes of period 2, but beyond that the Jets kicked ass for about 55 total minutes of this game.
Where can we track offensive zone time stats? I bet this stat was completely lopsided.
Nicky P
Simply mind boggling to have only 2 shots in a 3rd period in a playoff game down by 2 goals. WITH a power play thrown in there !
No comprehensible excuse for that. The boos were well deserved imo. Zero effort for more than half the game is unacceptable, especially when the stakes are so high.
Richie-Rich
Eichel won 1 faceoff out of about 5 or 6, and the one he won was quickly taken away by the Jets. Both Stone and Eichel looked completely lost at times out there. What I mean is it was like they both had blindfolds on.
Bringing in Stone stone cold was a huge mistake for this team. Maybe you bring Stone in if the team is up 3 games to none or 1. Chemistry was completely off.
Offensive zone time was complete shit. No sooner did they get the puck in deep before it was almost immediately taken away or turned over. On the other hand the Jets pinned the Knights deep in their zone for long periods of time during this game.
I think that the 2nd goal should have been saved, but there was no way the goaltender was going matter this evening with the shit show in front of him.
The positive?
The score could have been 8 or 10 to 1.
The double cheeseburger is fantastic, good fries too.
My 3 Stars of the night?
1- Karlsson
2- Blue Man Group
3- Show Girls
On to game 2. Really, backs are against the wall on Thursday.
Forget this game, it was one no one will want to remember.
NorthernVGKFan
Was there tonight for first playoff game since Sharks in season 2. Surprised at number of empty seats and low energy sense of unease in the crowd. Wondered if this reflected number of one goal wins and and lack of full 60 or even 40 minute games during the regular season. As the game got worse and worse, the constant scoreboard demands to Make Some Noise became more and more grating. Hopefully they will watch a lot of tape and move forward with lessons learned.
Frank
Stone is an absolute liability out there. I can’t believe Cassidy watched him rehab and practice and said, yeah, let’s throw him out there. He’s not 50%, heck he may not even be 25%. He directly contributed to goals two and three for Winnipeg (on second goal could not skate down the Winnipeg player and goal three made an errant pass in the offensive zone that contributed to odd man rush). He needs to be benched until he gets it right. $10 million dollar man was also absent. They all got punched in the mouth and embarrassed. We’ll see on Thursday what this team is all about. But for heavens sake Cassidy, don’t trot stone out there again.
DPG
That was terrible but what concerns me is we’ve seen them play like that a lot this season regardless of their 2 big win streaks. There is something fundamentally wrong with this team and I think the players know it too.
DocDG
The worst game of the year at the worst possible time. As I drove home I was trying to remember a game where the knights were as bad as the 2nd and particularly 3rd period tonight. Then I thought about the last regular season game of the first year. It was a road game in western Canada against a non playoff team, it was meaningless. The Knights were really terrible. After that they went to the Stanly Cup Final. Thursday will probably determine which way the team goes in this round.
I was always worried about how long it would take Stone to be effective. The first few weeks this year he wasn’t himself, eventually he did come around to play his game and was quite effective, then he got injured again. This team does not have luxury of allowing him to work his way back into playoff hockey shape during the playoffs.
With 5 minutes left we had a power play and were 2 goals down. I really can’t understand why Cassidy didn’t pull the goalie to make it a 6 on 4 advantage for up to 2 minutes. I really believe that was our only chance to get back in the game. We had already proven that the 5 on 4 power play wasn’t working. If we had scored one at 6 on 4 the crowd would have gone crazy and who knows what might have happened in the last few minutes.
Hdbiker7851
Dog dg- when they had pp opportunities they were useless so thinking 6 on 4 would make any difference is just a bigger joke. They were pathic all night and should be embarrassed how poorly they played. They have had 82 games to get their pp etc in order and meaningful which will turn out to be their Achilles heel. Sorry to say.
Jailbird
One game not a series makes. Of course a great game for the gloom and doom crew. Throw in the trash and start anew Thursday. Lots of very good teams lost, at home, in game one. Series are 7 games. There’s a reason for that. One bad game can be just the medicine we need. Fear not we will be back strong in this matchup.
knights fan in minny
all you whiners should change the channel and watch corn hole
TS
Kfim, is CORNHOLE onTV?? I’m gonna look into it! Lol
knights fan in minny
the cup champs lost do you think their fans are bawling their eyes out and bitching yeah the squad sucked some people act like the season is over
Dylan
Must all be Joe Biden’s fault.
WOKE ICE!
Bobby
All of the above! How to explain how they can be so good since the all-star break, and then come out with that lemon. Rick Bowness employing Stars tactics that always seem to work vs VGK come playoff time. Brossoit back to being pre-surgery Brossoit didn’t help. Start Quick in the next one, and Dorofeyev.
TS
OUCH. That one hurt. NOT the way to start the Playoffs, and the fans were restless, to say the least.
Ok, they had their MULLIGAN…kinda early to claim that, but there are 6 more to make it right vs Jets. HELLYNBUCK( SP..) is a GOLIATH…he is the obstacle. Surely he will rest a few games. We should bounce back, as we did all season…HOPE.
Really feel bad for Stone. He so wants to contribute, to lead the guys…not gonna happen now. A lot of hope he could be a factor. On to thursday…
the hockey God
they played worst than that sh i t show in white house
coaching staff was mia
stone sucked so much air that they had to pipe in oxygen from the bellegio
but but but but
Here’s a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry, you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy
Don’t worry, be happy now
Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry, be happy
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry, be happy
Ain’t got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don’t worry, be happy
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don’t worry, be happy (look at me, I’m happy)
Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Hey I give you my phone number
When you worry, call me, I make you happy
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh)
Ain’t got no cash, ain’t got no style
Ain’t got no gal to make you smile
But don’t worry, be happy
‘Cause when you worry your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
So don’t worry, be happy
Don’t worry, be happy now
Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry, be happy
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry, be happy
Now there is this song I wrote
I hope you learned it note for note, like good little children
Dn’t worry, be happy
Now listen to what I said, in your life expect some trouble
But when you worry, you make it double
But don’t worry, be happy, be happy now
Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry, be happy
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry, be happy
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) don’t worry, don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t do it, be happy
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) Put a smile in your face, don’t bring everybody down like this
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Don’t worry
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) It will soon pass, whatever it is
(Ooh-ooh-ooh) don’t worry, be happy
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) I’m not worried
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) I’m happy
Dylan
How about the previous S Show up in Whitey’s House?
You know, the Fake Christian Poon Hound Grifter. Now facing criminal charges. With more…on the way.
You need head cleaning. Hockey CTE? Free Vegas Drinks?
Both? Lol
Tyler Durden
STFU genital inspector
Vic
Where was Arnold R who forgot to tell us to buy a 4 team money line parlay on the road teams? Pretty rare occurrence which may not happen again for quite some time.
Game 1 – had that sick feeling as soon as the Jets scored the first goal that it was lights out. The team was not mentally there.
Craig
All of these posters political shit has nothing to do with the game of hockey. Do you have a tiny dick? Do you just want to be a big man on line? You are only showing your ignorance.
When is Cassidy going to change the playbook? Fire into the corner get double teamed and turn it over. Don’t we have a 10m man who can advance the puck up the middle? Stone is a shell of his former self. Bring in the youngsters. There is a reason Cassidy is no longer in Boston.
Dylan
It’s always the coach’s fault in Vegas eh?
Maybe they all just don’t have a…
Huuuuge FOLEY D lol
Tim
If you look at our history why would you be surprised. When we face a all star goalie it doesn’t end well. Dallas and the Montreal had lock down goalies and we didn’t have an answer. Winnipeg has an all star goalie and here we go again. Once again let down playing at home and the PP is non-existent. Hard to win when you have that going against you. You don’t want to go to Winnipeg down 2 so to say our next game is big is the understatement of the year.
Emmanuel
Those were terrible lines they iced yesterday.
Stone and someone else out.
Bring Blueger & Doro in.
They should consider lining up Blueger or Barbashev on right wing against their top 2 LW.
Roberto
With all the oppo fan whining about VGK ‘cheating’ with Stone coming back, they didn’t consider the Knights would be putting an out-of-form dude coming off a succession of bad injuries into a lineup that was humming down the stretch. The results were about what I’d feared. Team was disjointed and seemed to be waiting for someone to do something, rather than doing it themselves.
The coaching staff has the clear handle on what’s up with the team and its players, so I’ll remain confident that putting Stone back in was the right move, even if it cost them an ugly game. Playoff hockey is weird as all hell, which makes it the best sport to watch, while also the most frustrating and unexpected losses happen all the time.
Was at the game and the constant fan panic button stomping makes me want to stay home and watch on TV. So many loud, Nervous Nelly Chicken Littles seeming like they want bad shit to happen so they can feel alive. Is yelling/complaining ‘come on Jack, do SOMETHING!!” a minute into the game, and the other 59 mins that fun? It’s not fun listening to it when it’s happening right behind you.
This is a very good team and a very well run franchise. No one is above critique, a but I don’t know why people go to games to want to feel miserable about anything other than an 8-0 win.
TS
Roberto, many Vegas fans (and Vegas folks in general) have little patience–want it now, gotta have it now at any cost attitude. Many expected a CUP by now.
Also, we lack the long history of ANY PRO team, and the time it takes to build a CUP team. That 1st improbable year such a high bar, tough to top it…EXCEPT WINNING THE CUP.
Well, I’ve got time to wait for that CUP!
Pistol Pete
Without a doubt next season will see Cassidy trialing Dorofeyev-Eichel-Stone. For this postseason it’s problematic. Dorofeyev is probably not ready for playoff hockey and Stone is not 100%. Also, Dorofeyev had a better run with Smith and Karlsson than with Eichel and Marchessault. This is a bit complicated but I would not be shocked to see Dorofeyev skating as part of a line in today’s practice.
Maybe Stephenson-Stone-Eichel which was the best line of the season is what Cassidy will go with (which we saw in period 3) but Stone is not 100%. As I noted, it’s complicated especially with Stone rusty.
Hdbiker7851
Pistol Pete – your big on history go back and check l recall you wanted pav with Eichel and l explained he was better with wild Bill and Smity. Reading your post it appears you have come full circle and came to your senses where pav was better suited. That my friend is the difference between a realist and a wishful thinker. Stone would do the team a huge favor and bow out till he’s 100 percent. Unfortunately at the moment he is a liability to the team and more importantly to himself if he intends to play in the future.
Rashaad
I was worried about reading the comments after the loss so I waited until today, and I actually see some reasonable comments. We are critical and should be because it was a terrible game. Getting two shots on net in the third period at home when you have a power-play is a disgrace. The power-play sucks but we all knew that coming in.
The goaltending did not figure in, so I don’t understand any comments in regards to Brossoit or Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck most likely will be a factor in the series, but he didn’t have to do anything spectacular last night. Brossoit kept them in the game in the first period and was fine. Hellebuyck is better than Brossoit and I’m pretty sure we all knew that as well before the series. So let’s not act like we are shocked by being at a disadvantage with goaltending and special teams. Rick Bowness was able to impose his game in a visiting arena which was crucial. It’s a chess game and now Cassidy and the players will have to react.
I didn’t really learn anything from the first game that I didn’t really already know. Obviously was disappointed by the performance and result, but I believe in the end Vegas will win the series as they are the better team.
I posted something about two months ago, saying that this team is very good, but does not scream Stanley Cup contender to me. You can’t win a cup with that power-play and the teams lack of game breaking scoring. Eichel and Stone are expected to make some difference in regards to game breaking plays and it did not happen in game one. I’m fully confident and expect them to win this series and would not be shocked to see them advance next round as well but as usual, the team will be eliminated when their scoring grinds to a halt, and the power-play doesn’t produce. I think that is a bit frustrating because it’s a hurdle that they can’t leap despite making tweaks to the roster.
On to game two.
TS
Rashaad, sorry to imply Hellebyuck kicked our butts last night…just that he WILL be the obstacle to our moving on. How few SOG did we actually have?
Rashaad
No need to apologize
TS
Rashaad, okay, then!!
Rashaad
My opinion is Stone at 60% is better than Dorofeyev, Blueger and Cotter. I don’t have an issue with him being in the lineup. I’m hopeful that he gets better quickly.
Jailbird
For goodness sakes, relax. One friggin game. What a bunch of baby whiners on here.
Vic
Yes JB. Same conversations going on in 5 other NHL cities wondering what happened. Game could have been completely different had the VGK scored on one of the early grade A chances. As Ken reminds us, teams that score first have pretty good odds of winning. Let’s hope for a repeat of the last Jets series when the VGK lost one and ran the table.
Richie-Rich
It didn’t matter who was in goal for the Jets Monday night. We never tested him, period. That shit show was no different than the poor offense performance against Montreal. We cannot even talk about where the shots were coming from because we took so few of them.
Monday’s loss to the Jets had nothing to do with goal tending.
Baracer
If you all think that was Stone at a 50% or higher % you have blinders on. At the very best that was a 25% or less version of our captain, and I don’t know how you can spin it that any one of the healthy scratches wasn’t a much better option to use in this series! My opinion would be to save Stone till the conf final or not at all.
TS
Bracers, that would be a smart move..give Stone a couple extra weeks to get game- ready for the conference finals, if we make it that far.
VGK fan
I was there last night and the place was rocking when they fought back to bring it within a goal then we went on the power play and it just sucked the life out of crowd. I think the power play stinking so bad effects the team and the crowd and I can’t remember so much booing and I attend 35 games a year.