That's the way it goes.
A couple nights ago, Gerard Gallant bemoaned his team's 40-minute effort in a 6-4 loss to the New York Rangers. Tonight, the Vegas Golden Knights gave a good 60, but the result was no different, as the Boston Bruins edged them 2-1.
"I thought the guys really battled," said Gallant. "Evenly played game."
Tied at one apiece with ten minutes left in the final frame, Deryk Engelland made a seemingly inexplicable pass through the neutral zone to nobody:
Reviewing the replay, however, Engelland had the right intentions:
We see Engelland approaching the puck with all the Knights on the strong side. William Carrier, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Tomas Nosek are his forwards. They've been on the ice for almost a minute, so they're at the end of their shift.
Here's another view. Nosek might be available for the outlet, but he's drifting toward the bench. The visitors looks ready for a change. Boston is changing too.
For Engelland, a diagonal dump-in to the weakside is sensible with everybody supposedly getting off. To avoid icing, he finesses the puck.
McAvoy's presence -- the blueliner appeared as if he might forecheck Engelland, before peeling off for the change -- might have had an effect.
"It may have thrown off the read by Engelland," suggested NESN's color commentator Andy Brickley.
Regardless, full credit to Schaller, who was spying on Engelland the whole time. Clearly, the Vegas vet missed him.
Pluses
In a much slower-paced game than Tuesday's, the Knights defended the home plate area with purpose, especially in the opening and closing frames. By my count, they held the Bruins to just seven even strength scoring chances combined in that time.
The Carrier-Bellemare-Nosek line stood out. In limited playing time, they enjoyed four of the Golden Knights' 13 even strength scoring chances. Carrier also drew a late penalty with his speed, which gave Vegas its best chance to tie, while Nosek just missed the visitors' best opportunity to grab a second goal.
Per Natural Stat Trick, in just 8:45, Carrier led all Knights with a 66.7 5v5 Corsi For % and a 100.0 High-danger Corsi For %.
Carrier forces turnover to Bellemare pic.twitter.com/OhunrelSX6
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 2, 2017
In his return to Boston, Colin Miller showed the highs and lows of his game. For example, his turnover behind Maxime Lagace allowed for a point-blank Jordan Szwarz chance. But this was impressive:
Miller is obv inconsistent, but a lot of talent. Tracks Bergeron with legs, establishes position for takeaway pic.twitter.com/1kkQPlQuUf
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 3, 2017
Lagace more than gave his squad a chance to win, stopping 26 of 28 shots.
Minuses
The flipside of the fourth line eating so much from the scoring chance pie was a general lack of offense from everybody else. The Bruins had a lot to do with that too, of course.
Despite the return of Brad Hunt into the line-up, the Golden Knights power play was mostly uneffective. In a tight-checking affair like this, the man advantage could have made all the difference, especially considering their three PPs to Boston's one.
Once again, however, Hunt-Miller did fuel the more effective power play grouping. According to Natural Stat Trick, Hunt-Miller totaled eight shot attempts and four scoring chances on the man advantage, while Nate Schmidt, who quarterbacks the other unit, was on the ice for just one of each.
Gallant gets this, as Hunt led all 5v4 skaters with 3:58 TOI; this unit also started two of the Knights' three PPs tonight. In comparison, Schmidt logged 2:01.
Right now, you can call Reilly Smith-William Karlsson-Alex Tuch-Hunt-Miller as the team's top power play unit. To optimize the special teams, however, I'd be curious to see how Hunt would work with James Neal and David Perron -- Shea Theodore should also have a permanent role.
The Golden Knights will try to snap their three-game losing streak in Ottawa this Saturday morning.
Theodore, on the other hand, struggled. But relative to his team, he should never sit
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 2, 2017
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Stats as of 11/2/17, courtesy of Corsica, Hockey Reference, Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, and Sporting Charts. ++++I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR ADVERTISERS! If you, or anyone you know would be interested in placing an ad here at HockeyBuzz, then send me a PM!++++