Mark Stone showed off his wide range of skills in his first game with the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday evening. In front of his new home crowd, Stone displayed his instincts, nose around the net, and good transition game, recording his first point for Vegas (an assist on the Max Pacioretty power play goal). Following the 4-1 win, Head Coach Gerard Gallant was pleased with his new player. "I liked his game a lot. He got a lot of deflections tonight. The power play was unbelievable. Our guys kept it simple, which I was really happy about. Like I said, I think he makes players better around him and that line was really good. He played an excellent game. It’s probably tough because he hasn’t skated in three days, but I think he played great".
Dallas opened the scoring in this one when Roope Hintz buried a rebound past a crowded Marc-Andre Fleury, 11:13 into the game. Alexander Radulov was in deep behind the Vegas goaltender, from a Jon Merrill shove. As Radulov attempted to get back out front, he contacted Fleury, at the same time Hintz sent the rebound toward the Vegas goal. Merrill left very little room for Radulov to avoid Fleury, causing Radulov to impede Fleury’s attempt at a blocker save. After an anticipated Gerard Gallant challenge for interference, the officials upheld the goal.
Vegas tied the game up with a rare power play goal, courtesy of a solid Pacioretty wrister and a great screen from Alex Tuch. Ben Bishop had no eyes on the shot. Pacioretty absolutely ripped it to the high corner and Tuch’s screen was just the icing on the cake, a perfect storm for solving the hot Bishop. Pacioretty’s goal came with 9:12 left in the second period. The rest of the period would go back-and-forth, a seemingly even game, although Vegas dominated the Corsi battle, generating far more shots than their opponent. Natural Stat Tricks’s Gameflow chart displays the disparity in shot generation through the first two periods.
In the third period, the Golden Knights stayed aggressive, peppering Ben Bishop on an early 5-on-3 advantage. During the 1:37 of 5-on-3 play, the Golden Knights attempted numerous high danger chances, but Bishop either made a huge save sliding post-to-post or Vegas would miss the open net. Their best chance came to William Karlsson at the net front, but he hit the side of the net, on the first one-timer that Bishop failed to immediately react to. Despite a strong, characteristic push, the Golden Knights were unable to capitalize on the man-advantage.
Max Pacioretty (USA Today Sports)
Later in the third period, Pacioretty would strike again, with his 20th of the season. Vegas got a puck in deep, that Bishop attempted to play from behind his net. Bishop is a notoriously good puck handler, but Pacioretty got the puck and sent it back out front. The puck ended up bouncing off of the skate of Tyler Seguin and into the Dallas net. A lucky bounce was certainly in the cards for the Golden Knights, a team that consistently controls games, but can’t find the finish. Vegas would go on to add two empty-net goals from their own defensive zone from Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb, in that order.
In an attempt to start converting on their abundance of chances, the Golden Knights acquired Mark Stone from the Ottawa Senators, at the trade deadline. Stone has a track record of a proven goal-scorer, similar to that of Pacioretty, who was brought in during the offseason for that exact skillset. Overall, Pacioretty has had a decent season, with his sixth career 20-goal campaign. When looking deeper into the game log, Pacioretty has scored in bunches this season, often enduring long, goalless stretches. Pacioretty, among others, has had trouble finding the net for prolonged periods of time, but has shown that goal-scoring potential Vegas longed for.
Heading into the game against the Stars, Vegas ranked 26th in the NHL when it comes to shooting percentage on high danger chances. It’s no secret that the Golden Knights generate a ton of shot attempts and create a high number of high danger chances. The kryptonite of the Vegas Golden Knights has been their lack of finish. The acquisition and subsequent 8 year, $9.5 million per extension of Mark Stone, is a step in the right direction, to fix that problem. In his first game with the club, Stone was all over the score sheet with six shots on goal, two hits, two blocked shots, and three takeaways at 5-on-5 play. The acquisition seemed to wake Pacioretty up, as he responded with his fifth two-goal game of the season. For his first game, Stone was paired with Pacioretty and Paul Stastny. Moving forward, a better distribution of talent may be attained separating the two “snipers… on the team, in Stone and Pacioretty. For now, the two seem to have decent chemistry with one another, with Stone commenting, "As a professional athlete, you never know where you are going to end up and it's exciting to be able to play with him (Pacioretty)". As previous division rivals (Montreal/Ottawa) Pacioretty admitted that his new linemate will take some getting used to. "Different to see him coming into the (goal celebration) pile with me. I almost put my hands up to defend myself. It was fun though and I'm looking forward to doing that many more times".
In a back-and-forth game against the Dallas Stars, the Vegas Golden Knights were able to pick up two points off of a great performance by Pacioretty. Whether it was the Stone trade that woke him up, or just another hot streak on the horizon, Pacioretty was clearly the first star of the game. Vegas needs more nights like this from their top-level talent, if they want to hang onto their third-place position in the Pacific Division. Just a few hundred miles south, the Arizona Coyotes are catching fire and find themselves a mere six points behind the Golden Knights, with one head-to-head matchup left, the second-to-last game of the Golden Knights’ season. What once seemed like a secure playoff spot has now become more of a question mark. With all of the upper-echelon teams in the Western Conference making trade deadline moves (sans Calgary/St. Louis), the Golden Knights will need to fend off teams like the Coyotes and Canucks, who will be looking to catch up and steal their spot in the playoffs. Will the new lineup spark a prolonged winning streak, or will the Golden Knights continue their pattern of inconsistency? A Thursday night meeting with the Florida Panthers will answer that question, as Florida has some talent of their own, despite their mediocre record in the grand scheme of things.
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