This wasn't a market correction, this was a crash.
Up 2-1 late into the second period, the Vegas Golden Knights surrendered five unanswered goals to the New York Islanders, falling 6-3 in Brooklyn.
To add injury to injury, the Golden Knights lost another netminder, as Oscar Dansk left the game in the middle frame:
4th #VGK goalie in 7 games..."If a head is cut off, two more shall take its place" pic.twitter.com/jOp5SZMI52
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 31, 2017
While three goals allowed in 7:54 in third period sunk Vegas, perhaps surprisingly, it was the usually-stalwart PK which gave up the 2-1 lead.
Not surprisingly, it was the league's hottest goal scorer, John Tavares, who tied the game on the man advantage with about five minutes left in the middle frame:
Up to this particular power play, the Golden Knights' PK had held Tavares to just one shot through three PPs. But a little change in Tavares's positioning made him a lot more dangerous:
But New York showed off a subtle wrinkle on its next man advantage. Off an OZ faceoff win, instead of heading toward the half wall, Tavares "settled" for the slot.
This is where Tavares was at when he tipped in the game-tying goal. While it's not unusual for a player to move from his accustomed position on the man advantage, especially off the draw, the slot is usually considered a more dangerous scoring area than the half wall -- in short, it was a good place for Tavares to be.
It also happened to be where he was located when Matthew Barzal rang up a power play goal less than three minutes later:
Back to the Tavares goal, Nick Leddy should be given a ton of credit. His crafty shot-pass through a fronting Cody Eakin set up the Isles captain's tip.
Pluses
Halfway through this affair, the Golden Knights were enjoying a solid effort. By my count, they had an 11-9 all situations scoring chances edge. Through two periods, they owned a 37-29 5v5 Corsi edge.
Once again, the Brad Hunt-quarterbacked "second unit" power play kept on ticking, as Alex Tuch and Colin Miller scored on the man advantage. Hunt added two assists; he's on a five-game point-scoring streak. This is worth further examination, but here's a tease -- this is Hunt-Miller's work on the PP compared to Nate Schmidt's before tonight:
For the most part, Schmidt has been the sole blueliner on a four-forward first power play unit this season, while Hunt and Miller have teamed up on the second unit. I'm not blaming Schmidt for the top unit's struggles -- but these figures illustrate the stark difference between the two units so far this year.
Minuses
In a striking resemblance to the Detroit loss, once Vegas got down, they started making unforced errors which put the game out of reach.
Cal Clutterbuck's goal followed an ill-advised Luca Sbisa stand-up in the neutral zone. Nikolai Kulemin's breakaway marker was the result of four Knights getting caught deep:
Finally, Tavares split Schmidt and Sbisa from the NZ in for the runaway touchdown.
Going back to the Islanders captain's game-tying power play goal, Dansk didn't look right. This happened seconds earlier:
This might be where Dansk gets hurt, no contact from Lee pic.twitter.com/wbhKDvQya8
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 31, 2017
Perhaps a healthy Dansk would've outperformed Maxime Lagace, who let in four goals on 11 shots in relief. Regardless, the big Swede is out tomorrow, so Lagace will get a chance to cement his...legacy.
.@blazerhockey Dylan Ferguson called up by NHL Vegas..flies out tonight to meet them in NYC.
— Earl J. Seitz (@EarlCFJCsports) October 31, 2017
If you can believe it, Vegas has recalled 2017 seventh-round draft pick Dylan Ferguson from the WHL's Kamloops Blazers on an emergency basis. The 19-year-old currently owns a 4.05 GAA and a .878 Save %.
More on the fifth-stringer in a second. Vegas visits Madison Square Garden for a challenging back-to-back on Tuesday .
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Vadim Shipachyov has decided he’s going back to Russia. Contract termination will follow after unconditional waiver process #Sportsnet
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) October 30, 2017
Lawless just pretty much denied the Shipachyov contract termination report. Didn't outright say it but did say "McPhee holds all the cards."
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) October 31, 2017
"Where's Vadim?" goes on!
Also, Shea Theodore was officially recalled. After being scratched in the Isles rout, the 22-year-old is sure to make his Knights debut against the Blueshirts.
Expectations are high, as they should be. Chicago Wolves GM Wendell Young recently asserted that Theodore is an NHL top-four defender right now:
HB: I'm going to put you a bit on the spot here: Do you think Shea Theodore is a top-four NHL defenseman right now?WY: Yep. Because of his skating, because of his shot, because of his offensive ability. He sees the puck, he moves the puck. That's why he's a top-four right now. He's here because of the CBA.
Let's hope. One scout told me that Theodore is unequivocally #VGK's best defenseman right now https://t.co/OBl2w3LPnl
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 30, 2017
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Dallas draft pick Ferguson came to Vegas along with a 2020 second-rounder for Marc Methot.
Greg Balloch of In Goal Magazine is a fan:
HB: What can you tell us about Dylan Ferguson?GB: Ferguson is a great steal for the Golden Knights. They weren't able to get a huge package for Marc Methot, but they did get a really low-risk, high-reward kind of goaltending prospect.
He will be given a much larger role on the Kamloops Blazers this year after being stuck behind Tampa Bay's Connor Ingram this past year. That shielded Ferguson from being seen by some scouts of other teams.
He performed extremely well in a backup role, and now he gets to take the next step. His reads are a little over-aggressive at times, and Kamloops is a decent team, so he was bailed out at times.
If he is able to settle things down, and learn how to not always rely on his athleticism, he could end up being comparable to a guy like Edmonton's Dylan Wells.
This, of course, is from July. I don't think anybody is a fan of calling up a 19-year-old netminder to the NHL.
Sean Shapiro of Wrong Side of the Red Line shared some of Ferguson's pre-draft background here:
“He’s a guy that I don’t think a lot of teams saw play,… [Stars director of amateur scouting Joe] MacDonnell said. “Back-up basically to Connor Ingram. And the only time he played a string of games was over the World Junior time when Ingram was away with Team Canada. But he had good numbers, he’s a 6-foot-1 guy — not the smallest in the world — and he’s going to be their No. 1 goalie next year.…
As for Ferguson's struggles this season, I'll get to the bottom of that soon enough.
*** Stats as of 10/29/17, 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!++++