On the last leg of a 1-3-1 road trip, the Vegas Golden Knights tried to salvage things with a victory in Montreal.
11 minutes in, however, the Knights were already down two goals, in route to a 3-2 loss.
The Canadiens authored a masterful 200-foot shift on the Max Pacioretty game-winner.
Here, Pacioretty is about to beat Luca Sbisa to the loose puck with a long stick. The Montreal captain drives it deep.
Behind the net, Shaw and Pacioretty hammer Nate Schmidt. Remarkably, the blueliner is able to get the puck up to Marchessault.
Jeff Petry pinches, forcing Marchessault into a risky reverse rim, which is kept in by a hustling Karl Alzner at the blueline.
Alzner sends the puck back into the corner, where Schmidt earns the first shot at sticking away the 50-50. But right on top of the Golden Knight is Phillip Danault, who prevents a clean exit. The puck squirts to William Karlsson, but Danault gets a stick on the attempted clear.
After 30 seconds of chasing the puck, Montreal's persistence has finally paid off with clear-cut possession.
There's no question that the Knights worked their tails off on this shift too -- the Canadiens simply beat them at their own game. Then Lady Luck smiles on Montreal, as an ambitious Shaw backhand pass from the corner to the high slot glances off Karlsson and Sbisa, right onto Petry's blade.
You know the rest. But there's no puck luck without hard work and better reads.
Pluses
It wasn't enough, but Maxime Lagace played his best game as a Golden Knight, stopping 25 of 28 shots.
Charlie Lindgren will get his second straight start in net for Montreal. Maxine Lagace, the Knights' all-time goaltending leader in games played, starts for Vegas. This will be his sixth game in net for VGK and fifth straight start.
— Steve Carp (@stevecarprj) November 8, 2017
After the Canadiens raced out to the 3-1 lead, the Knights fought back, outshooting and outchancing the home team by a significant margin.
"We made some minor tweaks," noted Gerard Gallant. "We got more aggressive with our forecheck."
This helped, but there were some score effects involved. Score-adjusted Expected Goals For suggest that Vegas was never very close:
(Montreal is blue and Vegas is red on chart)
Nonetheless, the visitors once again burnished their rep as the "hardest-working team" in hockey.
There is absolutely no quit in these Golden Knights. It's really impressive. Work ethic through the roof.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 8, 2017
Minuses
However, up to the Pacioretty game winner, the Golden Knights were being worked. They were outshot 16-2, and by my count, outchanced 11-3 (all situations).
Pierre Edouard-Bellemare conceded, "We know we didn't play the right way."
The Knights return home this Friday to do battle with the Winnipeg Jets.
***
Look who's back on the ice at City National Arena... (Hint: It's Fleury. Click through for the full update) https://t.co/Usc4H3Fblv (s/t to Michael Mevorah for the pics) pic.twitter.com/peDf6ZDY9r
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 8, 2017
There's no team practice today; we'll find out more tomorrow. Kamloops is expecting Dylan Ferguson back this weekend. Previously, Gallant had stated that Fleury would need 4-5 good days on the ice before returning to game action; this might fit roughly with Friday's game against Winnipeg.
***
++++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!++++