About the only thing that could stop the red-hot Vegas Golden Knights was their bye week.
Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Rangers was the Knights' 14th in 16 games. They're the first Western Conference team with 60 points. They've opened up a seven-point Pacific Division lead over the second-place Kings with a game in hand. At the exact halfway point of their season, they're on pace for 120 points.
It was just another masterful performance by the Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith line, punctuated by this almost-telepathic game-winner:
Three straight perfectly-placed passes make this play.
Deryk Engelland's blueline-to-blueline pass was so good, I thought Shea Theodore made it. He places it on a plate for an almost-stationery Marchessault to one-touch it to the man with speed, Smith, who can skate right into the pass without breaking his stride.
Here's where Smith looks over and sees Karlsson:
Smith then puts it in Karlsson's wheelhouse with nothing but net to shoot at.
Of course, what's perfect execution by the Knights was awful coverage by the Rangers.
So who knows how this happens with a 20-goal scorer, but Karlsson hides behind a #NYR line change. Nobody picks him up pic.twitter.com/cVJ0HPj9ie
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 8, 2018
"I just read off the play. I saw Smitty coming," said Karlsson, matter of factly. "I just went in the middle and to the other side and I was all alone."
"We had a little breakdown there on their winning goal," Alain Vigneault acknowledged. "A bad change where we didn’t pick up the wide lane."
Pluses
That was a transition goal. Here's the Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith line also dominating on the forecheck.
Marchessault/Karlsson/Smith aren't just about transition. Check out this ferocious forecheck (after a missed transition opportunity, no less) #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/doQO3UOEXq
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 8, 2018
Speaking of the forecheck, while the Marchessault line has been getting all the pub recently, the James Neal-Erik Haula-David Perron trio are no slouches in this department either.
Paul Carey thinks he has the time to assess his options -- that is, before Neal pickpockets him.
This would lead to Neal's game-tying strike.
The high-scoring winger noted, "I think on our forecheck, just having good sticks. Being ready to jump on guys. Have your stick in the middle, trying to turn pucks over, is something we work on."
Something else that the Golden Knights say they have worked on over the year is defensive coverage. They do a good job here of covering each other after the initial breakdown.
"Huntsy had a good gap, that's why I was a little more aggressive on [Lettieri]," Miller observed. "I knew if I got beat, Huntsy would be right there."
On one hand, while the Knights were chasing the play here, which isn't a good thing, they did a good job of not losing complete control of the Rangers.
Hunt has Lettieri, so Miller looks for somebody else to cover. He finds Michael Grabner, who he blocks in the slot.
There's a loose puck, which New York wins, but Cody Eakin blocks Lettieri.
Lettieri recovers the puck, but Alex Tuch and Miller keep him to the wall. Eventually, this is the best that the Rags can do with this shift, a long shot from Boo Nieves which Marc-Andre Fleury eats up.
"There's going to be breakdowns in a game, that's going to happen, but if we stick to our system, then we're able to overcome them," said Miller.
Minuses
Neal checks his right hand/wrist after being struck by McNabb dump-in. However, he's back on ice for 2nd #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/KIQVnw8Wcu
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 8, 2018
Neal says, of his right wrist/hand, "It's all good." #VegasBorn
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 8, 2018
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