Forget "Team of the Rockies," how about Team of the World?
As the NHL continues to cultivate the Chinese market -- the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames are expected to play exhibition games in China this fall -- I asked Vegas owner Bill Foley if he hopes to send his Golden Knights there at some point.
HockeyBuzz: The NHL has a great desire to capitalize on the Chinese market. What are your thoughts about Vegas going over there and playing exhibition games?
Bill Foley: It'll be fun. It's really up to the Commissioner to decide [who goes].
It's a tough trip. It's a long trip. I kind of like having as many home games as we can have, have people here, and have them watch our team right here in Las Vegas.
HB: But in general, are you interested in exposing the Vegas Golden Knights brand to that market?
BF: Absolutely. We're an international team. I want us to be an international team, to be part of that Chinese experience.
I know China is going to have great hockey teams, eventually. They're starting, they have the people, they have the resources to build the rinks.
I wouldn't be surprised to see some Chinese players here at some time.
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After beating Chicago and Edmonton, Vegas took out another bottom-feeder in Montreal 6-3.
Winning Play
Ryan Carpenter continues to star, scoring his fifth goal in seven games, which also gave his squad a 4-2 lead. But what impresses me are the little plays -- the production will dry up, but plays like these will keep him in the line-up.
Great anticipation/hustle play by Carpenter, intercepting Gallagher's pass, leads to zone entry which results in Hunt goal #VegasBornpic.twitter.com/Qdb1M9VLgO
Two things these Carpenter shifts had in common: Solid work along the boards and soft, well-placed dump-ins by Carpenter, one to himself, the other to Cody Eakin.
Carpenter led the team in Corsi For % (53.33) and Scoring Chances For % (60.0).
Pluses
I thought it was a sloppy overall effort by the Knights, but Gerard Gallant seemed generally pleased with their work, especially in the second period:
I really thought we took care of the defensive zone first. I thought in the first period we were leaving the zone too early and Montreal defense kept the puck in. I thought in the second period, we did a real good job of five guys coming out together, five guys in the neutral zone. We didn’t leave the zone too early.
Here's a good example of not leaving the zone too early:
These are stand-out defensive plays on this shift:
• Marc-Andre Fleury and Colin Miller are unable to make a clean hand-off, but Eakin stays low in the zone and in solid defensive position in front of Logan Shaw (#49). Both Brendan Leipsic and Alex Tuch go low to help out.
• The puck goes back to the point, but both Leipsic and Tuch hustle and close on both blueliners. Daniel Carr (#43) deflects well wide.
• Shaw finds Byron Froese (#42) in the slot, but an alert Leipsic manages to get a stick on Froese's bid. Big-time defensive play by Leipsic.
• Miller and Eakin double-team Carr on the wall and Miller wins the puck to Eakin. With full possession, all the Golden Knights can finally think attack once again.
Minuses
Despite two goals and an assist, Reilly Smith seemed to see the game more like how I did:
I don’t think we played a very tight game.
A little bit too loose, not even just the first period, I think the whole game. We just have some things we need to work on.
Natural Stat Trick had the Canadiens with a decisive 64-44 5v5 Corsi, 29-15 Scoring Chances, and 11-3 High-danger For Corsi edge.
Obviously, the first two Montreal goals were underwhelming. Brad Hunt seemed to underestimate Charles Hudon's speed, then Vegas forgot about Nikita Scherbak -- who's about to fly down the right wing here:
Scherbak dekes Fleury out of his pants, puts it behind Flower. He has an open lane, however, because 3 Knights go toward 1 Hab. We've seen some really bad defense from both sides tonight pic.twitter.com/ftyh8tzQ5b
It wasn't just goals against; it was the little plays too. Here, newly-returned Luca Sbisa puts too much into a bounce pass for Deryk Engelland, leading to trouble:
In the final frame, Hudon had a breakaway because of a bad Golden Knights line change. A few minutes later, the mistakes kept piling up, but Fleury erased them:
Nate Schmidt tries a breakout pass up the middle through two Canadiens; Scherbak turnstiles three Knights; then Schmidt clears it up the middle off Tomas Plekanec.
There are many more examples of the home team's "loose" play peppered throughout this tilt. 6-3 be damned, this was not stellar Vegas hockey. Luckily for them, Montreal was just as sloppy.
Playoff hopefuls Anaheim and Calgary figure to give Vegas much stiffer tests as they come into T-Mobile Arena on Monday, then Wednesday.
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