On Tuesday evening, the Vegas Golden Knights start a redemption road trip, looking to erase the effects of two straight overtime losses in Vegas. A 5-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens and 4-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets have the Golden Knights hungry for a win. All losses hurt, but Saturday night's loss to the Winnipeg Jets was a major heart-breaker, for a number of reasons.
Reason One: They Were in the Driver's Seat
Although the Jets scored the first goal of the game, at the 2:19 mark of the opening period, the Golden Knights dominated the opening stanza. Jonathan Marchessault's Power Play Goal, just 1:32 later started the Golden Knights' onslaught. Marchessault's goal not only tied the game, it provided relief for a sniper whose goal-scoring ability has been largely non-existent this season.
Jonathan Marchessault was visibly relieved by the goal horn (USA Today Sports)
Exactly seven minutes in, Max Pacioretty lit the lamp, for his third of the season and a 2-1 lead. Fast forward a minute and a half, Nate Schmidt got his first of the year, giving the Golden Knights a 3-1 lead in the first ten minutes, that they'd take with them into the locker room. By all metrics, the Golden Knights were the better team in the first two periods, despite giving up two in the second.
Natural Stat Trick (all situations, periods one and two) Metrics:
Corsi: 51.52% / 53.85%
Fenwick: 53.85% / 53.57%
Scoring Chances: 57.89% / 55%
Shots: 10-9 / 8-10
High Danger Chances: 57.14% / 71.43%
Lately, the Golden Knights have been too stationary in their own zone, with a lead. Their defense group is simply not good enough in their own end, to sit back and wait for the opposition's attack. The Golden Knights succeed when they skate, quickly move the puck out of their own zone, and activate their puck-movers in the offensive zone.
"We played 30 minutes well....and 30 minutes, not good."
-Nate Schmidt
Simply put, the team squandered two straight games in which they led at the end of the first period. Changes must be made and although Nick Holden has played surprisingly well, he may be the sacrificial lamb, due to Gerard Gallant's unwavering confidence in 37-year-old Deryk Engelland.
Reason Two: Tuch Takes Hit to Head
Tuch sustained an upper-body injury on the play (USA Today Sports)
Many writers, fans, and others are quick to call this specific play "dirty", "head-hunting", or "egregious" but I am not in that camp. Alex Tuch was pursuing a puck, coming out of the corner and was hit by Jets forward Adam Lowry. Lowry stands a towering 6-foot-5 and caught Tuch in the head as he went to squeeze him out of the play, along the wall. Tuch went down and soon skated off the ice and headed right to the locker room. He wouldn't return. Kudos to Lowry for answering the bell (fighting) following the questionable hit, when Ryan Reaves lined up as a center on the ensuing faceoff.
On the hit itself: Lowry had very little momentum going in for the hit, didn't change his body position to "target" the head, and didn't extend or launch into the hit. It was a seemingly harmless play, until slow-mo replays showed contact with Tuch's head.
There has been a mob, quick to incriminate Lowry for a few reasons. First, he was just returning from a suspension for a hit somewhat similar to this one. Second, and probably more accurately, Tuch just returned from an injury and looked to be the savior the sputtering Golden Knights needed. Losing such a good, young player is sure to fire up a fan base and media alike, who may back the team more than they'd willingly admit.
Personally, I am a big Tuch fan, as both an emerging superstar power forward and a person. I hate to see him miss more time - he's currently being considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not make the road trip - but that doesn't make the hit any worse in my eyes. Although the NHL's Department of Player Safety uses injury as punishment criteria, the hit should stand on its own. The hit received no supplemental discipline.
Nicolas Roy has been recalled from the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, in Tuch's expected absence. Roy recorded a goal in his only game with the Golden Knights this season. He will most likely center the fourth line with either Tomas Nosek or William Carrier playing Tuch's wing spot.
Coach Gallant could also choose to put Brandon Pirri back on that line, but it wasn't a great trio prior to Tuch's return. Carrier is the most comparable player to Tuch and should get the chance. He's fast, physical, as he has been very noticeable on the ice, in his limited minutes this season. Tuch can't be effortlessly replaced and that has been evident over the past three seasons, during Tuch-less times.
Reason Three: The Icing That Wasn't
With just under seven minutes left in the game and the Jets down a goal, the Golden Knights got shafted.
Winnipeg iced the puck, clearly from behind the red (center-ice) line. Kyle Connor and Schmidt were in a heated footrace for the icing call and Schmidt clearly won the race to the faceoff dot, the indicator of which team gets the call. For some odd reason, the near-side linesman waived off the far-side official's icing call, right as Schmidt lost his footing, despite winning the race to the hash/faceoff dot. To make matters worse, he didn't waive off the call until after Schmidt crashed and burned, poking bonfire-sized flames of controversy.
Gerard Gallant was NOT happy with the call (USA Today Sports)
This call was god-awful and that linesman should be held accountable. The waived off call directly led to a Mark Schiefele game-tying goal and a huge momentum swing. Yes, teams need to play until the whistle, but this play was a reflex and the goal is on the official, not Malcolm Subban, Schmidt, or any other Golden Knight recovering defensively.
Even though the goal was unwarranted and disappointing, the team still had chances to win the game. They failed to do so and lost at the end of the day.
Did the icing
MAKE them lose? No.
Did it take a crap on their chances? Yes.
With those frustrating games in the books, the team will open it's road trip with a battle in Columbus on Tuesday night. Following their game against the Blue Jackets, the Golden Knights will head to Toronto, Washington, and Detroit in that order. Hopefully Subban gets one or two of those games with Marc-Andre Fleury recovering from a flu. The Blue Jackets and Red Wings games would be ideal for Subban. Trusting their backup is necessary for Vegas' long-term success and they just lost to two backups, so they know it can indeed work out for the best.
With three non-playoff teams (2018-19) atop the Pacific Division (EDM, VAN, ARI), the Vegas Golden Knights need to right the ship and quickly, or else this rough patch could end up being a real difference-maker come May 2020.
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