David Backes' shootout game-winner (USA Today)
On Wednesday night, the Boston Bruins presented a challenge for the Vegas Golden Knights, but nothing they weren't ready for. Although they came out on the wrong side of a six-round shootout loss, the Vegas Golden Knights were clearly the aggressors in the tilt with the Bruins. Despite the point left on the table, the Golden Knights could have very well won this game 5-2, as opposed to losing a 3-2 decision.
Boston struck first when David Krejci found Jake DeBrusk at 11:17 of the first period. DeBrusk made a nice move on Shea Theodore, while receiving the pass, and in one quick motion, beat Fleury top-shelf. Theodore got a little overaggressive on the pass, but it was a great play on DeBrusk's part and those things tend to happen in the NHL. Reilly Smith evened it back up with 1:26 left in the first, burying a Cody Eakin rebound into a wide open net.
Throughout the second period, the Golden Knights pressured the Bruins and Jaroslav Halak, but the Bruins' goaltender made big save, after big save, including a very dangerous, shorthanded one-timer from Cody Eakin. Boston's 26% power play was held in check all night by the Golden Knights and Vegas even had a few high-quality chances of their own, while down a man. In the scoreless second period alone, the Golden Knights compiled five High Danger Chances to just one for Boston.
Both teams scored quick goals to start the third. First, Brad Marchand would find some open ice in the high slot and score just 1:09 into the period, after being dominated territorially in the second period. Marchand received a pass from Danton Heinen and blasted a beautiful one-timer past Fleury as Nate Schmidt and Reilly Smith attempted to adjust and get a stick on his shot. Marchand played the rush perfectly, stopping higher than one would expect on a zone entry, which gave him the room for a shot. By stopping up high, as opposed to simply driving the net, Marchand caught Schmidt off guard and got his shot off before Nate could adjust. It was pretty evident that Schmidt held himself accountable for that goal. After the game Schmidt said, "I was mad, that's a big part of my game, keeping those guys (elite players like Marchand) off the scoreboard."
Schmidt came out on his next shift, like a man on a mission and scored an incredible, highlight reel goal, to essentially make up for his perceived mistake. Following the game, Schmidt alluded to the desire to get the Marchand goal back. On the play, Nate jumped on a puck in the neutral zone, weaved around multiple Boston defenders, and fired a quick wrister over Halak. Schmidt's tying-goal erased Boston's lead, in just 27 seconds, a fast response from a determined Nate Schmidt. When asked by Jesse Granger of The Athletic if the goal was coincidence or if it was Nate trying to make up for the Marchand goal, Schmidt said, "It was a little bit of coincidence, I blacked out a little bit."
Following the two quick goals, both goalies locked down their nets, forcing overtime. Boston would put themselves in a tough spot during overtime when Charlie McAvoy was too quick on his line change, playing the puck before his man got off ice, resulting in a too many men on the ice penalty. On the ensuing power play, Vegas would get a few shots on goal, but nothing overly dangerous for Halak, during the four-on-three session. Both teams had decent chances in the five-minute overtime, but couldn't solve the goaltenders.
Shootout Recap (Vegas elects to shoot first):
Round 1:
Brandon Pirri (VGK): miss
Jake DeBrusk (BOS): goal
Round 2:
William Karlsson: goal
Patrice Bergeron: miss
Round 3:
Alex Tuch: miss
Brad Marchand: miss
Round 4:
Jonathan Marchessault: miss
Danton Heinen: miss
Round 5:
Shea Theodore: miss
Torey Krug: miss
Round 6:
Oscar Lindberg: miss
David Backes: goal
Both goalies made high-quality stops during the shootout. Backes' wrist shot was just quick enough to beat Fleury, who was required to make multiple sliding saves on the previous Boston shooters. On the night, Fleury stopped 25 of 27 shots, while Halak turned away 31 of 33 Vegas shots on goal.
As cliché as it sounds, the Golden Knights were simply done in, once again, by a solid goaltending performance. In his post-game press conference, head coach Gerard Gallant was very complimentary of the way his team played, against a solid team in the Bruins. Understanding how often this seems to happen to his team, getting beat essentially on the sole effort of the opposing goaltender, Gallant admitted, "I'm tired of saying the goalie is the first star again". Although it would make sense that the Golden Knights are frustrated by these types of games, Gallant dispelled any feeling of frustration in the locker room. When asked how they can beat a hot goalie like that, Gallant jokingly quipped, "You can't run the goalies over anymore, you get suspended for that", a likely omage back to his playing days. At one point, Gallant briefly mentioned getting more traffic on goalies, but when asked if there's one thing he would change about the game his reply was very simple, "nothing at all".
Sure, there are always things a team can try to do to crack a hot goalie, but sometimes a guy just has your number that night. Halak played a great game, despite Vegas dominating the chances and possession totals throughout the contest.
Vegas will have a chance to get back in the win column on Friday night, when they welcome the Winnipeg Jets to town. Winnipeg will be motivated, coming off of an embarassing 7-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday evening. Vegas simply needs to keep playing their game and the wins will come. They pass the eye test, game-in, game-out and have the speed, drive, and talent to go on another run. The NHL season is full of peaks and valleys and it's only a matter of time before the Golden Knights trend back up and go on one of their patented hot streaks.
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