LAS VEGAS -- Early in the final frame, Vladimir Sobotka was sure he had tied the game. From the short side, he had popped the puck between Malcolm Subban's pads. Subban's momentum had taken the goaltender almost entirely into his own net.
Soft Sobotka shot from side handcuffs Subban, five hole, call on ice is no goal but it looks in based on Subban's position pic.twitter.com/Sp4y6pLh5r
After a long review, however, the NHL couldn't find any concrete visual evidence that the puck had crossed the line, so they were forced to stand with the on-ice call of no goal.
In a typical NHL game, this would easily be the defining moment of the night. But in this tilt, featuring a St. Louis 49-22 shot count, a late Malcolm Subban injury which forced Oscar Dansk into an unexpected NHL debut, and a William Karlsson OT marker that would help Vegas become the first-ever expansion team to win six of their first seven contests, nobody bothered to bug Head Coach Gerard Gallant about such a triviality.
It was that kind of night.
Winning Play
With 33 seconds left in OT, an attacking Sobotka gained the zone. On the half wall, he saw an "open" Alexander Steen:
Smith, however, anticipates the pass. Brad Hunt dives to clear it out -- now Smith and Karlsson are off to the races.
"We were just trying to force them to make a bad play," noted Smith.
Pluses
The Golden Knights' power play, which had started the season 2-26, capitalized on two of their three chances.
And while it was Colin Miller's laser which beat Jake Allen to give Vegas a 2-1 lead in the middle frame, once again, it was Alex Tuch screening the opposing netminder. Since his call-up last week, the man advantage has shown noticeable improvement with the 6'5" behemoth's net-front presence:
Watching Allen trying to look around 6'5" Tuch is my favorite thing about Miller goal pic.twitter.com/x51mkuwn1x
"He's a tough guy to see around," said Miller, who then added, "He's so good at tipping pucks. Even clearing them out to us when we need him too.
"He's a huge part of why our power play is doing so well right now."
Tuch also contributed on Smith's earlier power play marker, hitting Miller in stride with a pass in the neutral zone, which helped the Golden Knights gain the zone with ease before their score. The "second" man advantage unit of Smith-Karlsson-Tuch-Miller-Hunt looked noticeably more comfortable together than the newly constructed David Perron-Vadim Shipachyov-James Neal-Brendan Leipsic-Nate Schmidt grouping.
Of course, both Subban and Dansk put in heroic efforts. Subban stopped 37 of 38, while Dansk closed with 10 of 11 in relief.
This contest too closely resembled the season-opener, when Dallas outshot Vegas 46-30, skating circles around the noticeably less-talented team.
"St. Louis played our game tonight," admitted Gallant. "They were first on the puck in both zones. They won more one-on-one battles than us."
So did the Golden Knights just have a bad night or will deeper teams like the Stars and Blues simply be faster, stronger, and better on most nights?
The answer seems clear, despite the expansion outfit's record-breaking start.
When Marc-Andre Fleury got hurt, his back-up Subban had two career NHL games to his credit. When Subban got hurt, his back-up Dansk had zero career NHL games to his credit.
Malcolm Subban will have an MRI on Sunday after being injured on a save in the 3rd vs St. Louis. Team source says "probably out weeks"
After Dansk, there's Maxime Lagace who, of course, has zero career NHL games to his credit. Lagace stopped 25 of 29 shots for the Chicago Wolves in a 4-3 loss to the Tucson Roadrunners tonight.
What a shame for Subban, who was enjoying a .936 save % this season before his injury.
Schwartz shot & aftermath. Subban had stopped 37 of 38 shots up to this point pic.twitter.com/SGrfzbmrzg
The saving grace for George McPhee is that he has some time to fortify his crease -- Vegas doesn't play until Tuesday night, when the Chicago Blackhawks soar into Sin City.
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