It was a game of inches, and it was the Vegas Golden Knights who came up short.
Three Vegas posts and sensational goaltending by Devan Dubnyk pushed the Minnesota Wild ahead 4-2 last night at Xcel Energy Center.
Up 3-2 with about a minute left, Dubnyk kicked a rebound to last week's NHL No. 1 Star of the Week Jonathan Marchessault.
Slow-mo of epic Dubnyk stop on Marchessault to preserve 3-2 #MNWild lead over #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/otXT5G2iCE
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 1, 2017
Devan Dubnyk reaches back with the stick to make a big save on a rebound pic.twitter.com/xZ5zKIujEX
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) December 1, 2017
But unsung, indeed. The pad man would sing tonight.
Pluses
It was a shame that Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Tomas Nosek were directly responsible for Eric Staal's game-winner, because they, along with Stefan Matteau, controlled shots and scoring chances whenever they were on the ice. According to Natural Stat Trick, Bellemare enjoyed a 70.83 5v5 Corsi For %, 81.82 Scoring Chances For %, and 71.43 High-Danger Corsi For %.
In limited time, Nosek-Bellemare-Matteau was the team's best line.
Vegas enjoyed a brief 2-1 lead in the third, courtesy of Marchessault.
Superb work by William Karlsson. I'm not sure if he planned it, but by skating right into Minnesota's defenders, he's creating space for Marchessault to maneuver. This is not unlike a point guard who goes to the hole, then kicks it out.
Considering the Golden Knights' relatively-poor play over the last three tilts, it was refreshing to see their first 40 minutes last night:
Good news is these are best consecutive periods #VegasBorn has strung together in a while. By my count, #VGK enjoyed 7-3 ES scoring chances edge in 2nd period. @NatStatTrick has #MNWild 17-15 5v5 Corsi, but VGK 10-4 scoring chances, 5-0 high-danger
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 1, 2017
Unfortunately, despite the Knights' domination of the middle frame, it was only the Wild who would score.
A couple big things happened here. First, Mike Reilly turns Brendan Leipsic around. Then, Granlund finds a soft spot away from Deryk Engelland.
Speaking of Engelland, he left the game and didn't return after being struck in the hand by a Mat Dumba shot late in the third. To add insult to injury, the puck ricocheted off his glove, onto an unmarked Staal's blade for the easy game-winner.
We'll see if Engelland can shake it off as the Golden Knights fly to Winnipeg for the back-to-back this evening.
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Brayden McNabb was inked to a four-year, $10 million dollar extension by George McPhee on Wednesday. He was set to become a UFA this summer, but instead, Vegas will have him at a $2.5 million AAV. He's making $1.7 million this season.
I joined SinBin.vegas to talk about the McNabb extension, along with a bunch of other topics, including whether or not the possibly playoff-bound Knights should still look to deal James Neal or Marchessault.
McPhee spoke highly of McNabb:
George McPhee- "McNabb has performed very well for us, has been a big part of our success, and is at the right age to lock him up. He's got a lot of room for growth."
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) November 29, 2017
McPhee- "McNabb is a very good defensive defenseman. He's got a long stick, and is good with his stick. He's locked down some top opposing players for us and we hope he's here for the rest of his career."
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) November 29, 2017
McPhee- "We certainly hope McNabb will continue to grow, and be a solid, top-4 defender for us for a long time."
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) November 29, 2017
However, I'm not convinced that McNabb is a top-four blueliner, at least on a contender. Obviously, the Kings didn't think so, and at 26, I'm not sure how much growth he has left in his game.
As it always has been with McNabb, his skating holds him back. I've spoken with a scout who describes his skating technique as fundamentally broken. We see it when the hulking rearguard makes the occasional ill-advised pinch, then gets on the wrong side of the puck -- he can't recover.
Besides that, however, McNabb is a firm, firm defender down low. He's ox-strong, smart, and carries a big stick. Notably, he did outstanding work against Anze Kopitar down low recently.
He's also an underrated puckmover.
People forget that McNabb has some offensive instincts: Scored 21 in Kootenay, averaged 0.64 points/game in AHL. Big shot #VegasBorn
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 1, 2017
In all, he's a throwback who would've flourished 20 years ago.
Ideally, McNabb dominates on your bottom pairing and as a second-choice penalty killer, chipping in big minutes here and there. I think he can be a championship-caliber third-pairing defenseman, which is no small feat.
It's a quality signing by McPhee, so long as he tempers his expectations.
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