While the Golden Knights couldn't pull off a win in their home debut, dropping a 3-2 OT pre-season decision to the Kings, plenty of on-the-bubble players continued to impress. Foremost among those was Alex Tuch:
Tuch's ability to cover long distances with huge, quick strides, coupled with his reach, appears to surprise Kevin Gravel here.
Again, Paul LaDue looks unprepared for Tuch to be on him so quickly. With some help from Tomas Hyka, Tuch wins the puck.
Some may point out the squad that Los Angeles fielded resembled the Reign more than the Kings. But LaDue is expected to be an NHL regular this season, while Gravel spent a lot of last year with the big club.
Gravel was actually assigned to Ontario today, and Tuch bears some responsiblity for that.
I also spoke with an NHL scout about Tuch. He offered these thoughts:
Good power forward...hockey sense is a little limited...pretty one track-minded...second/third-line power blend [ceiling]...
Tuch's linemate Hyka also made a decent account for himself. While he didn't score, the Czech import came close with a couple Grade-A chances. Vegas Assistant Coach Ryan McGill had this to say about Hyka to Gary Lawless during intermission:
He always finds places in the offensive zone to get himself...the puck. He's always in the quiet areas. He releases it quick. Obviously, he has a nose for the net.
Once again, William Carrier stood out, leading Golden Knights forwards with five shots on goal in just 10:16. Of course, he notched the game-tying goal which earned Vegas the trip to overtime. But he also showed off another element to his game which I didn't highlight the last time that I wrote about him:
While this is a borderline boarding penalty on Carrier, what caught my eye is how quickly and powerfully the 6'2" forward got up on Gravel. This was just a couple strides to generate the force to send Gravel flying.
The Golden Knights have some tough roster decisions heading into Thursday night's tilt with the San Jose Sharks.
Here were a couple other highlights from last night:
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