Two weeks ago, Malcolm Subban was waived by Boston. Two weeks ago, Vegas general manager George McPhee indicated that Subban wasn't ready for the NHL.
Last night, the 2012 first-round pick, starting in place of the concussed Marc-Andre Fleury, was 30 seconds away from shutting out the Bruins, as the Golden Knights banged out a convincing 3-1 victory at T-Mobile Arena.
Winning Play
A forward who did not deserve to be in the AHL made his Vegas debut on Sunday. I'm not talking about Vadim Shipachyov:
There's a loose puck, and McQuaid is hanging onto Tuch for dear life. Anders Bjork drops down to aid the fallen McQuaid. The rest of the Bruins are so engrossed by Tuch, they neglect Shipachyov.
The Shipachyov goal would prove to be the game winner.
Pluses
Tuch forechecked and backchecked with purpose all night, culminating in his first-ever NHL goal:
Tuch caused chaos on forecheck all pre-season, good to see it continue pic.twitter.com/IOKCC2UgPm
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 16, 2017
Tuch is a One Man Army on his 1st NHL goal, swipes puck from Kuraly, then explodes past Kevan Miller pic.twitter.com/3n1xdu5KRf
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 16, 2017
Reilly Smith and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare continue to spearhead the NHL's third-best penalty kill:
Speaking of pressure, the Golden Knights applied 60 minutes of it, as they bounced back from an incomplete effort against Detroit. They limited chances in front of their rookie starter, and especially in the middle frame, dialed up the offense:
Wow #VGK absolutely punked Bruins in 2nd: 26-16 5v5 Corsi (36-29 so far), 12-3 scoring chances (18-8), 5-0 high-danger (5-0)
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 16, 2017
You can chalk DAL win to MAF, ARI wins to ARI being ARI, but tonight, #VGK outplayed Bruins for 60 minutes, esp 2nd pd on
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 16, 2017
"It wasn’t a game like the other night where it was a lot faster paced," observed Gerard Gallant. "Tonight was more of a checkers' match; there wasn’t a whole lot of scoring chances either way."
After a turnover-filled third period against the Red Wings, the Golden Knights protected their 2-0 lead with safer play. In fact, Vegas had the final frame's only 5v5 high-danger scoring chance.
Gallant saw things in the same way, "We talked about getting pucks in deep and playing in their zone deeper [in the third period]."
Minuses
Seven other forwards were used more on the power play than Shipachyov, who logged just 00:38 on the man advantage. This was over four fruitless, not particularly dangerous attempts, and on a power play group which happens to be third-worst in the league.
Using Shipachyov as much as possible on the power play is putting him in a position to succeed. There were no qualms about throwing Tuch into the fire on the man advantage (3:51), and there shouldn't have been with the KHL star.
Doubters will note that Boston was on the second leg of a back-to-back last night.
This Tuesday night, the Golden Knights will draw a Sabres squad fresh off their first win and a day off.
Special thanks to Jason Pothier from Sinbin.Vegas for his assistance.
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