This morning's skate confirmed that David Perron will once again not be available tonight. What was interesting, however, was Gallant's statement about it today.
This is what Gallant said today about Perron's injury.
"David is skating every day, he’s getting close and he’s feeling better. It’s just a matter of him saying, being ready to go when he’s ready. We don’t force players into the lineup. We make sure of that."
"It’s just a matter of him saying, being ready to go when he’s ready."
That's an interesting wrinkle. Did Gallant slip? Or is he sending a message to his star forward?
Meanwhile, Gallant declared William Carrier a game-time decision. Considering that he participated fully in practice and took questions from us, it's a near-certainty that he'll play.
Gallant also reacted to Drew Doughty's suspension, lauded his fourth line's effort in Game 1, and talked about Marc-Andre Fleury's chocolate statue outside the Bellagio:
Gallant, on if he was surprised by Doughty's suspension: "No. I think most of the people that seen the hit thought it was a 1-game suspension. It was a suspendable hit. 1 game is fair. Maybe the other team won't think that, but I thought it was a fair call." #VegasBorn#GoKingsGo
Gallant, on his "so-called" 4th line's Game 1: "I'll put them on the ice against the other team's No. 1 line. So I trust them. I thought they played an exceptional game.
"They controlled play. Anytime you see that, you're going to put those guys over the boards a little more."
After a month of middling play, the Golden Knights might have made a statement to the West with their stifling 1-0 Game One victory over the Kings.
Winning Play
When your fourth line is your best line, it's often a bad sign, as it means your presumed scoring lines aren't doing their jobs. Eight-minute guys shouldn't be the best on your team.
However, for Gerard Gallant, his fourth line can handle more than single-digit minutes, mainly because they can play as fast as a scoring line without sacrificing any defense. Of course, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Tomas Nosek, and William Carrier don't light the lamp like a Jonathan Marchessault, but they're capable of imposing their will on a game, as they did on the Shea Theodore goal:
On a Los Angeles dump-in, Theodore, with Nosek's help, outcompetes Torrey Mitchell for the puck, tapping it to his teammate. Nosek shovels it to Deryk Engelland.
With clear possession of the puck, Engelland hands it off to Bellemare. Engelland, seeing that a couple Kings forwards are behind on the play -- the forechecking forwards -- makes a good read and joins the rush.
Notice the three short passes that the Golden Knights strung together to earn a clean exit: Theodore to Nosek, Nosek to Engelland, Engelland to Bellemare. This is a five-man group, connected.
Bellemare tries to surprise Quick with a shot from outside of the blueline. Here's where this line goes to work.
Quick brushes off Bellemare's shot. Christian Folin goes back to recover.
Folin, however -- and I pointed this out in the pre-season -- is mechanical when he turns with the puck. He turns slowly, giving the hard-charging Carrier some more time to line him up.
Folin feels Carrier and blindly tosses the puck off the boards. Bellemare has predicted this and doesn't allow the puck to pass.
Carrier and Bellemare basically ran a two-on-one defensive scam on Folin.
Nosek pushes the puck forward; Folin has another chance. However, the puck squirts beneath his blade, and Nosek is on it. Alec Martinez chases Nosek, but the winger circles behind the net and finds a low-to-high passing lane between Martinez and Kyle Clifford to Theodore.
Theodore stuttersteps Mitchell, finds a shooting lane, and a deflection off Folin's stick beats Jonathan Quick.
The initial thought was that Bellemare tipped it, but a slow-mo look confirms otherwise:
Anyway, Nosek-Bellemare-Carrier led Vegas with a 78.6 5v5 Corsi For %. Carrier also contributed 10 mostly bone-rattling hits in just 8:49 of icetime, before leaving the game early because of the Doughty hit.
Gallant was pleased -- not with the hit, but with this line's work -- as Bellemare and Nosek earned more icetime than usual. Bellemare averaged 10:03 Even Strength Time on Ice this season; Nosek 9:28. Bellemare was bumped up to 11:43; Nosek 11:59 last night.
"I would love to play the [rest of the playoffs in the] same way that we played Game 1. Definitely," Gallant asserted. "We didn't make a whole lot of mistakes. We played with a lot of energy. Overall, we eliminated their scoring chances. We played good, solid defensive hockey."
It's just one game, but it was truly an impressive effort from the Knights.
For the first 40 or so minutes, Vegas matched Los Angeles step for step defensively. Here's just one example:
It's the fourth line again, this time on Tyler Toffoli, who actually makes a brilliant play -- a hard bounce pass off the boards next to Marc-Andre Fleury for Jeff Carter to skate into in the slot. Theodore, however, is well aware and actually blocks Carter's bid with his stick.
Tomas Nosek heads toward the loose puck, but Tobias Rieder forechecks hard. Eventually, the puck ends up in the corner, where Engelland and Carter tie each other up. An uncovered Rieder claims it behind Fleury and appears to be on his way to a wraparound chance. That is, before Nosek's reach and feet knock the puck off not once, but twice.
The Golden Knights claim the puck for an easy exit.
Credit to the Kings too, no quarter was given from either side. It was a tense, frustrating two periods for both offenses. Every time an inch of space appeared, it was quickly covered. From both teams, the defensive rotations were superior for most of the night.
But at some point, Los Angeles, down a goal, had to gamble to tie the game. Indeed, these risks opened the game up in the final frame...but for Vegas:
Fantenberg keeps the puck in, but to Schmidt. In a tied or leading situation, Tanner Pearson probably should break off instead of chasing clear possession for Vegas; there are essentially three Golden Knights behind Pearson.
Schmidt bounces it off to Marchessault, and it's a 3-on-2 (stopped ably by Fantenberg, I should add, who acquitted himself well in his debut as Doughty's partner).
Here, Paul LaDue pinches low; no problem, Adrian Kempe has him covered up high. But then Kempe pinches, misses, and Nate Schmidt is off. It's hard to get on Kempe here -- LA needs to tie.
Dion Phaneuf reaches for Ryan Carpenter, who is receiving a Schmidt pass, but is too late. Phaneuf reaching puts him out of position to catch up to the open Bellemare; Dustin Brown was a slow getting to Bellemare.
Have you ever read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?
If you haven't, the children's story goes like this: A boy gives a cookie to a mouse. The mouse asks for a glass of milk, then a straw, then a...
You get the point. In the third period, the Kings finally gave the Knights an inch, and the Pacific Division winners took the yard.
The narrative was that LA's size would wear down Vegas; but instead, it appears as if the Golden Knights' speed might have slowed down the Kings.
"I thought our team speed was a big factor in tonight's game. That was the biggest thing which gave them trouble," noted Schmidt. "If you see us getting odd-man rushes at full speed, that's what we want.
"If we continue to play that way, it's going to bode well for us.
"I was impressed with our forwards. I really was. They can take over a game, and I think they did it tonight."
What makes the Vegas victory potentially scary for the West -- and yes, it's just one game -- is that the best teams can win in multiple ways. The Knights haven't put together 60 minutes of sound, defensive hockey for a while. I'd almost forgotten that they could do it, and they pulled it from their arsenal on a pressure-packed stage, against a star-laden Kings.
We know Vegas can play fast. But if they can also play slow, as they did in Game One -- and as they did at times during the regular season -- watch out.
The NHL's explanation and some of my thoughts about the hit are here.
I also wasn't a big fan of the giant Magneto helmet, which was making its debut for the playoffs. However, if it was accompanied by this theme music...
I see this giant Magneto helmet on the ice & all I hear is the X-Men: Animated Series theme pic.twitter.com/r7issv18FW
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