Mattias Janmark made his highly anticipated debut for the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday evening in Los Angeles. Although the Blackhawks were playing better than expected, he has to be feeling good about Golden Knights hockey and the 6-2 debut victory.
In his morning skate media availability, Janmark mentioned how he was excited to be here (Vegas) and how the city is at the top of many players’ destination lists. Trades are typically a real inconvenience for the player(s) involved, but Janmark has to be elated about his change of scenery.
Better team, better city, and he’s now playoff bound.
“As far as the organization goes, I think it’s on the top of the list of almost every player in the league, so I’m really excited to be here (Vegas).”
- Mattias Janmark
It didn’t take long for the new Golden Knight to find success. Tomas Nosek opened the scoring 7:18 into the first period. Alec Martinez reversed the puck from behind Marc-Andre Fleury. Janmark may have gotten a chip play forward to Nosek, which sprung the 2-on-1 with Alex Tuch. Nosek kept it and beat Jonathan Quick high-glove. A nice short-side snipe for the red-hot depth forward.
Just 3:46 later, the line would strike again, this time with Janmark getting credit for his assist on Tuch’s 15th of the season. Janmark received a chip pass from Nosek and passed off to Tuch at the Kings’ blue line. With Janmark driving the net, Tuch dragged the puck to a good angle and beat Quick. Again from the right wing, again glove side.
Quick was chased from the game following a goal allowed from failed cover of a Max Pacioretty flipped puck from outside the zone. The puck took a strange hop and went through the former Stanley Cup Champion goaltender. It was the final straw, the exclamation point on his night to forget.
Despite his ineffectiveness, the rest of the game would go on to yield the same result. Quick left with a 3-1 deficit and the game ended with a 6-2 final. It was just Vegas’ night and they were getting the bounces.
Alex Pietrangelo, who directly contributed to the first Kings goal of the game (a minus for the Janmark line), redeemed himself with the team’s sixth goal of the night. Nosek and Janmark created a scramble on the offensive zone faceoff that was recovered by Tuch. He found Pietrangelo, whose shot was partially blocked by Brendan Lemieux, before fluttering past Cal Petersen.
The fluke goal, just past the mid-point of the final period, seemed to demoralize the Kings and effectively seal the game. Trevor Moore was the lone goal scorer for the Kings and he even came close to a hat trick multiple times, before ultimately being stifled by Fleury.
From the eye test, the Janmark line played well, even without considering it was their very first game together. Even though the team is still looking for Tuch’s third-line match, Tuch has the ability to make his linemates better and generates so much potential with his speed and size. Janmark seemed to feed off that ability and compliment the American-born winger perfectly.
With a 3-1 goal margin as a line, they can ultimately call their first game together a success. If that third line can produce at 5-on-5, it’s the void the Golden Knights have needed to fill since their inaugural season.
A quick look into the advanced metrics convolute the eye test results. The line shows a terrible Corsi For % at even strength, but had the edge in both Scoring Chances (9-6) and High Danger Chances (5-2). After just 14:01 of ice time together, this game can be chalked up to an efficient effort.
This line is very important to the Golden Knights’ potential playoff success. If the “misfit” line isn’t going, as they have become streaky of late, the onus can’t be placed directly on the Stone line. Janmark’s acquisition combined with Tuch’s top-six talent and Nosek’s hot streak could be the Golden Knights’ winning formula.
The team will be back in action Friday night, for their first of two road games against the Anaheim Ducks. The third line will remain a focus and an interesting x-factor for the remainder of the season. With just 14 games left on the schedule, there is limited time to gear up for a long playoff run. Depth will be critical with a playoff date with the Avalanche seemingly on the horizon.
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