LAS VEGAS β Practice this morning saw a lot of power play time, which might not be a surprise considering the Golden Knights have missed on their last 16 power play attempts, including seven last night. However, Coach Gerard Gallant said that this special teams work was scheduled well before this current outage on the man advantage.
Vadim Shipachyov surprised on-lookers by wearing a red no-contact sweater. The Golden Knights' number-one center played the whole game last night without any obvious issue. Early in the second period, he did go hard against the boards while hooking Matt Nieto.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
HockeyBuzz: What made you and Reilly Smith so dangerous on the PK last night?
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare: Reilly is a helluva player. He's fast, he's quick on his first three, four strides. He reads the play really well. It was simple for us to read off of each other. We are both quite aggressive on the PK. It's really fun to know exactly what the other guy is going to do. You don't really have to doubt yourself.
HB: In Philadelphia, you were their most-used penalty killer up front. Does Reilly remind you of any of your partners on the PK back then?
PEB: Yeah, he does. But he's faster. I played with VandeVelde, who's a fast forward too. I played with him for so long. I knew exactly what he was doing. So it was really easy for me to focus on my part of the game. Especially when as a unit you have to be really compact together. It's really easy when the forward knows exactly what the other forward is going to do.
Yesterday, I didn't have a doubt about anything.
HB: That's pretty amazing, considering it's the first time you've played together with him on the PK.
PEB: Exactly. He sees the game a little bit more like me.
All credit to him. He's playing a lot of power play and a lot of PK. It's easy for me to have energy when I come on the PK because I rest so long.
HB: You talked about how you guys see the game alike. Can you expand on that?
PEB: It's more like, we agree on the way to forecheck, on the way to see what the other forward has go -- when the timing has to be right. When the D has to go, where the other forward has to pop in the middle. All this kind of detail. We have the same kind of vision of this.
HB: Last year, you were also on Team Europe. Can you talk about the similarities of that team and being on the Golden Knights? They're both kind of start-ups.
PEB: It was pretty much the same. You come into the locker room and you don't know so many of the guys. You're kind of the nervous during the first practice. Everybody's in the same boat.
But like Team Europe, everybody made an effort to right away try to know each other. To get a connection. And we have. I'm pretty impressed by how the group is tight already for two weeks of camp.
HB: What can you bring from that Team Europe experience into the locker room?
PEB: I try to be myself. I try to bring some positivity. Bring my work ethic to the rink. Try to pump up the guys when the team needs it. Sometimes, say the stuff that the team doesn't want to hear. That's what I did on Team Europe. That's what has made me successful. Guys seem to appreciate that, so I'm just trying to do the same thing here.
Gerard Gallant
Reporter: Can you talk about Shipachyov wearing the red no-contact jersey this morning?
Gerard Gallant: No, he went into the boards hard there last night. He's got a bruise. But he's fine. He's 100%. He did the whole practice, same as anything else.
HB: Smith-Bellemare made for a strong penalty killing duo up front last night. Can you talk about what made them pop? And will we see them together on Sunday night?
GG: They've done that a lot both in their careers.
I can't say Sunday for sure because we're not sure of our line-up right now. They'll probably play together Sunday night.
But I liked them. They worked hard together and they read off of each other very well. The PK did a good job last night.
Alex Tuch
HB: I saw you out there in practice and you had a little, pleasant exchange with Reid Duke, who was standing behind the glass. Can you share what happened there? (HockeyBuzz note: Duke just underwent an undisclosed surgical procedure.)
Alex Tuch: Just gave him a little bump. He's going through a rough patch right now. Every guy who's been through an injury knows it. It's a hard time in life. It's a hard time in your career. I'm just trying to keep him in high spirits, try to include him as much as possible. He's probably a little drugged up lately. (laughs) I heard surgery went really well.
You just have to keep him close. It's a tough time. Some guys struggle with it more than others, so I just want to keep up his spirits.
HB: Did you try to aim a shot or two at the glass to wake him up? Since you mentioned he was "drugged up"?
AT: (laughs) No, no, I didn't want to scare him too much.
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Vegas announced the signing of second-round draft pick Nic Hague to an entry-level contract. Gary Lawless had an excellent breakdown of Hague's progress over at VegasGoldenKnights.com:
Hague improved and adjusted to the pace of play during training camp which showed he has the hockey IQ and competitive streak to succeed in the NHL. Now he just needs his body to catch up.At 6-6, 215 pounds, Hague has some physical maturing to do. His core and leg strength must come along.
Also, Stefan Matteau cleared waivers and was assigned to the Chicago Wolves today. Matteau enjoyed a solid camp with the Golden Knights and will likely be one of the first forwards considered for call-up if necessary.
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