One of the few remaining, Reilly Smith is a Golden Misfit, an inaugural season Golden Knight. Not only has he been with the team since their inception, he’s donned a captain’s letter the entire time, making him the only man in the NHL who can claim that honor.
He’s a 200-foot player who rarely makes a mistake. He plays in all situations, is a team leader, and has been integral to the Golden Knights’ four years of success. There’s rarely, if ever, a time that fingers could be pointed his way after a loss.
In Game Two against the Colorado Avalanche, Smith was dealt a less-than-stellar hand. Watching him skate off the ice following the team’s 3-2 overtime loss, was both heartbreaking and rare, due to the circumstances at hand.
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With their opponents coming off a seven-game series win over the Minnesota Wild two nights before, the Colorado Avalanche imposed their will in Game One of the Second Round. Their 7-1 victory was eye-opening, even after accounting for the difference in schedules. The Avalanche were well-rested, a perk of sweeping the St. Louis Blues.
Robin Lehner started the game and took all seven goals on the chin. He hasn’t skated since and Logan Thompson, the AHL’s 2021 Outstanding Goaltender, served as Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup for Game Two. A big loss and a potentially bigger one in goal, this series didn’t start well for the Golden Knights.
Heading into Game Two without Lehner, Ryan Reaves (suspension), Tomas Nosek (injury), Mattias Janmark (hit by Ryan Graves), and Brayden McNabb (COVID List) may have fired up the Golden Knights. Dylan Coghlan and Keegan Kolesar drew into the lineup. Something clicked because in just three days, they were a completely different team. Maybe they owe it to the Denver Nuggets for giving them that extra day off?
Whatever it was, Game Two went much better for the Golden Knights, but unfortunately they ended up with the same result. They now find themselves in a two game hole after outshooting, outchancing, and outworking the Avalanche in Game Two.
One could look to the old adage, good teams always find a way to win. They would be wrong. Both teams are good teams, as evidenced by their 1-2 finish in the NHL standings after the 56-game shortened season.
William Karlsson (71) battling
USA Today Sports
Wednesday night’s contest turned into a true goalie battle. Two Vezina finalists duking it out, both facing high-powered offenses. They also notably had help from their red metallic friends. Officially, the NHL has the count at two posts for Smith, one for Nathan MacKinnon, and one for Alex Tuch. They’re missing quite a few.
Brandon Saad opened the scoring at 3:39 of the first, when he split the Golden Knights’ top defense pair, and sent a fanned shot through the legs of Fleury. Alex Pietrangelo and Alec Martinez recovered in time to make stick contact, but the change in pace caught Fleury off guard and actually may have helped Saad score.
Martinez recovered once again, this time in the form of an equalizing goal just before the midway point of the opening period. From the low circle, Martinez was able to beat Philip Grubauer with a one-timer, giving Vegas a much-needed Power Play Goal.
Tyson Jost, while filling Nazem Kadri’s (suspended) spot, got the Colorado lead back with a PPG of his own in the closing minutes of the first. He worked himself open in the slot and fired a beautiful short side shot past Fleury and in off the near post.
That must’ve been the last straw for the posts. For the rest of the game, the posts took the goalies’ sides.
Continuing his strong game, Reilly Smith was able to knot the game at 2-2, with 9:32 left in the second. He hit the blue line, fought to stay onside, and caught a pass from Jonathan Marchessault all at the same time before finding himself one-on-one with Grubauer. A quick move to the backhand later and the Ball Arena was showering him in boos.
Reilly Smith (19) scores
USA Today Sports
For the next 30 minutes, the teams fought tooth and nail for the go-ahead goal. The Golden Knights controlled most of the game and did a good job of pressuring the Avalanche without overextending themselves. That structure is needed against a quick-strike offense like the Avalanche.
Vegas’ third pair of Zach Whitecloud and Nic Hague continued to play like a top unit for the Golden Knights. They made very few mistakes and did a great job of quickly getting pucks out of their zone. Hague even had a great look at a go-ahead back door goal, but wasn’t able to corral the pass and hit the open net.
Both goaltenders made huge saves, combined with big stops by their posts and crossbars. The offenses were humming, desperately looking to break a 2-2 tie in the third, but they could avoid overtime.
With the game going into overtime, it felt like it was just a matter of time before one of two things would happen.
1. Vegas would cash in on their sustained pressure and deservedly win the game.
2. The Avalanche’s top line would finally surface and score the GWG.
As we know, option one didn’t come to fruition and option two did, in a big way. Back to the Smith Saga.
With an offensive zone faceoff and smelling blood in the water, Smith may/may not have been too aggressive in his puck pursuit. He slashed the stick from Mikko Rantanen’s hands and picked up the ill-timed penalty for it. Seeing a stick fall to the ice gave the referee an easy call to make.
Was the call correct? Yes.
Was the call a bit soft? Also yes.
Many Golden Knights fans and the team alike were unhappy with the penalty call on their Assistant Captain, who also happens to be one of their best penalty killers. In the fall out, there have been numerous arguments in opposition of the call.
“It happens all the time.”
“He dropped his stick too easily.”
“They were embellishing.”
“You can’t call that in OT!”
Each argument has its pros and cons. Do you really want referees making calls based on game situation? That’s a slippery slope and hard to justify. It is possible that the Avalanche, who were indeed being outplayed, were looking for a Power Play opportunity, but who isn’t.
Mikko Rantanen emphatically capitalized on the man advantage. MacKinnon put William Karlsson through the spin cycle on the far side, then found enough room to fire a pass across to Rantanen.
Martinez gave Rantanen too much time and space and the skilled forward whipped a beautiful wrist shot, top shelf. It even looked to have glanced off Fleury’s mask on its way in. The GWG was Rantenen’s third of the playoffs.
I hoped the Smith penalty wouldn’t decide the game, but giving the Avalanche a PP is always risky with the firepower on that side. The dependable Smith had a long skate off the ice, with the Ball Arena’s roof about to come off in his trail. A tough outcome for a great player and one of the two Vegas goal scorers.
Playoff hockey will be back in Vegas for Games Three and Four on Friday and Sunday. The Golden Knights will attempt to forget about the first two and will be looking to even up the series. “Holding serve” is always important, but it’s now imperative, two games from elimination, without home ice advantage.
The State of Nevada has approved T-Mobile Arena for full capacity and the Fortress will be rocking. Tickets went on sale Wednesday morning and as of this publication, are still available.
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