"We played a pretty good game," said Gerard Gallant of Tuesday's 3-0 loss to Dallas. "We just couldn’t get Grade-A scoring chances."
Which begs the question, how do you play a good game without getting any Grade-A chances? Especially when the Stars enjoyed their share?
It's the first time this season that I've disagreed with Gallant's general assessment of a game. Of course, he may have other good reasons for his claim.
Winning Play
One good reason? Vegas actually played as strong a first period as they've enjoyed in a while. Recent victories over San Jose and Arizona were incomplete 60-minute efforts, to say the least.
#GoStars seem to dictate early part of period down low, but #VegasBorn dmen started moving puck more crisply. By my count, #VGK 7-4 even strength scoring chances. @NatStatTrick had it tighter, VGK 22-19 5v5 Corsi, 7-6 Scoring chances, 2-0 High-danger
However, in the second period, the Stars began controlling play, especially down low. This, coupled with the Knights' inability to force a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone or on the forecheck, meant trying to break out time after time from 200 feet out. To use football terminology, Vegas suffered from consistently poor field position.
Down 1-0 with about a minute left in the middle frame, the home team just needed the horn to sound for a chance to regroup:
It was a long wait for that horn. Martin Hanzal hampered Shea Theodore in the corner, Brett Ritchie took the boards away from Reilly Smith, then Gemel Smith found an unmarked Radek Faksa, who had jumped on the ice for Hanzal.
It's as if Faksa weaved an invisibility spell on every Golden Knight except for Marchessault so they couldn't see him. Every goal in his natural hat trick was the result of being wide open.
On stopping Shore, Subban admitted, "I kind of bit on the wraparound. I kind of got my weight over my right leg too much, I had to stretch across, and thankfully, I got it. But you know, I need to try to stay a little more controlled there. It could have been a lot easier of a save."
Subban's candor regarding his own play, even when I'm trying to pump his tires, has been refreshing.
In the grand scheme, it was a meaningless play, but Oscar Lindberg absolutely mugged fellow countryman John Klingberg on the forecheck in the first period.
This play generated some chatter on Twitter, so I asked Lindberg about it. He admitted "it was borderline" hooking and that the long-time friends had a laugh about it after the game.
"I played with him for a lot of years back home. I knew kind of what he was going to try to do."
Minuses
Besides the goals allowed, it was not a well-played second period. Keep in the mind that the aforementioned Subban highlights were from this frame too:
One illustration for #GoStars 2nd period domination is I had DAL 9-3 ES scoring chances. Another is @NatStatTrick had DAL 5v5 High-danger chances 6-0. Shot quality makes 13-13 5v5 Corsi in this frame irrelevant, fantastic work by Stars
Alex Tuch was underwhelmed by his team's response to the opposition's physicality.
"They got into a couple guys' heads.
"I think guys sometimes get too worried about the other guy, instead of just playing their own game. You're worrying about where that guy is on the ice. Maybe trying to get a good hit on him. It can cause you to get out of position.
"Sometimes, you just get away from your game a little bit."
Gallant hadn't heard Tuch's comments. When asked about them, the head coach stated, "I don't know why he'd say that."
While Tuch was clear to point out that he wasn't talking about anybody in particular, I couldn't help but think about this first period exchange between Colin Miller and Gemel Smith, which led to coincidental minors:
With some reluctance, Miller called the Smith and Ritchie double-team hit on him "a hockey play." However, he didn't think the Stars' sandpaper got the Knights away from their game.
Undeniably, however, Dallas's brawn up front did help them overpower Vegas down low.
"They reset the puck a lot. The puck was going behind the net every single time. They had a fresh guy waiting for it," Pierre-Édouard Bellemare observed. "We had a hard time stopping that cycle."
Here's an example of a second period Stars cycle, which incorporated both speed and puck protection. The Knights defend it well enough, but it's almost a minute of not creating your own offense.
"They were better than us at getting the puck deep and working it," noted Bellemare. "We had a hard time to create offense. They created that."
Credit to Bellemare too, who seems to be a go-to guy to talk to after losses, for his honest, illuminating answers.
As for Gallant, he doesn't owe the press anything besides courtesy, which he consistently gives, so more power to him. I'm sure he has his reasons. I would just love to see a highlight reel of this alleged "pretty good game," if only for my own edification.
Vegas will try to have a good game in Minnesota this evening.
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