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Slow Starts Continue to Haunt the Vegas Golden Knights

January 19, 2020, 3:08 PM ET [0 Comments]
Jeff Paul
Vegas Golden Knights Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT

Slow starts have been killing the Vegas Golden Knights lately and two games was all it took for newly-hired Head Coach Peter DeBoer to experience one. His new club took on the Montreal Canadiens and found themselves down three goals at the end of the first period. Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, this is familiar territory.

Once they settled into the game and the hole they dug themselves, the Golden Knights mounted their nightly comeback effort. Vegas forced overtime and eventually a shootout, scoring four goals in the final two periods. While the shootout didn't pan out, they were able to secure an important point in the loss. Their comeback effort did not go unrewarded.

A coaching change was made, due to the team underachieving for the amount of talent on the roster. Slow starts have crippled the team and have become an ugly trend. The St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, and now the Canadiens have all had their way the Golden Knights in the opening period.

Why is this happening to a team with so much talent? They are certainly good enough to win and show that talent in their comeback efforts. In order to paint a picture, let's take a dive into the three opening goals scored by the Canadiens, with a focus on what went wrong for the Golden Knights.

Goal No. 1: Nick Cousins at 5:51 of the first period.


Players on ice: William Carrier, Nicolas Roy, Ryan Reaves, Nic Hague, Deryk Engelland

Cousins opens the scoring

Nick Cousins makes a nifty move to his forehand in front and scores to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead in the 1st period


The Golden Knights had a failed zone entry, following a line change, and turned it over at the Canadiens' blue line. Reaves weaved into Carrier trying to enter the zone and lost the puck in the process. Montreal took it the other way and sent it around the end boards behind Marc-Andre Fleury.

Hague chipped the puck back behind the net, away from the forechecking Nick Suzuki. Dale Weise beat both Engelland and Roy to the puck and sent a pass out front to Cousins. With both the center and defenseman caught behind the net, Cousins was all alone and made a slick move, beating Fleury for the first goal of the game.

Verdict: Roy got overaggressive in helping Engelland and left his man open in a high danger area. Engelland failed to get to the puck before Weise, allowing the pass to Cousins. Hague was tied up on the half wall and couldn't double back to catch Cousins in time. Failed o-zone entry, sloppy d-zone coverage, and a lost battle led to the Canadiens' fourth line opening the scoring.

Goal No. 2: Ilya Kovalchuk at 12:33 of the first period.


Players on ice: Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny, Mark Stone, Nate Schmidt, Brayden McNabb

Kovalchuk nets rebound in front

Ilya Kovalchuk gets position in front and puts home his own rebound to increase the Canadiens' lead to 2-0 in the 1st period


Montreal advanced the puck down the left wing. Former Golden Knight, Tomas Tatar, found himself with a breakaway chance. With both McNabb and Schmidt caught in the offensive zone, Stone hustled back to turn the breakaway into a 2-on-1. Tatar was joined by defenseman Ben Chiarot, but he attempted to toe drag around the sliding Stone.

Stastny and Schmidt made it back to break up the Tatar shot attempt and the loose puck ended up on Phillip Danault's stick. As he shot, Kovalchuk made it behind Schmidt and McNabb and buried the Danault rebound.

Verdict: Stone did a good job hustling back to cover for the pinned defensemen. His slide disrupted Tatar enough, but the recovery efforts created a mad scramble. In the scramble, Schmidt and McNabb allowed Kovalchuk prime positioning out front and it directly led to the Canadiens' second goal.

Goal No. 3: Joel Armia at 18:05 of the first period.


Players on ice: Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny, Mark Stone, Nick Holden, Shea Theodore

Armia tips puck home

Brett Kulak fires a shot into traffic that deflects off Joel Armia and past Marc-Andre Fleury, giving the Canadiens a 3-0 lead in the 1st


Montreal threw a backhand at Fleury that the goaltender sent to the corner. Textbook rebound control. Pacioretty and Stone were both there, along with one Canadiens in Suzuki. Pacioretty played the body and as Suzuki fell, the puck made its way to the blue line. Brett Kulak sent a shot on net that found its way in.

Both Armia and Theodore were in the vicinity of the shot and it redirected twice before going past Fleury. What seemed like a harmless play, ended up giving the Habs a 3-0 lead just before the end of the first period.

Verdict: On the wall, Pacioretty was determined to make a physical play, as he's been quite fiesty all season. Stone was also there to corral the puck, but it made its way to Kulak. Overaggressive play and allowing good body position out front, seemed to be the culprit of another Canadiens goal.

Once that horrific first period ended, the Golden Knights began their climb back into the game. Second period goals by Jonathan Marchessault and Stastny, separated by just 5:39, cut the Canadien lead to one goal.

Cousins struck again, just before the halfway point of the third period, on a 2-on-1 with Dale Weise. McNabb and Tomas Nosek were beat at the Montreal blue line and Schmidt was unable to break up the Weise pass.

Two late goals came, tying the game, with Fleury pulled in favor of the extra attacker. Theodore made a nice play at the blue line, keeping the puck in and sending a pass across to Pacioretty. His shot had eyes, beating Carey Price for the first of two desperation time goals.

Assistant captain Reilly Smith played hero with :08 left on the clock, tying the game on a redirection of Stastny's point shot. Another crucial keep-in at the blue line by Theodore led to the scoring chance. The 24-year-old is an impact player for the Golden Knights and showed his worth at the biggest moments, while playing the more natural left side.

Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, their biggest moments in extra time weren't all that great. Stastny had the biggest highlight when a puck caught him in the face and he ended up bloody, on all fours, picking teeth up off the ice.

Montreal won the shootout (2-1) in four rounds, with Tatar scoring the deciding goal. In his first shootout attempt of the season, Tatar undressed his former teammate Fleury, undoubtedly vindicating the formerly-beleaguered winger. He never fit into Vegas' plans, but he's been producing for the Habs.

Tatar scores in shootout

Tomas Tatar skates in and fires a wrist shot past Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Canadiens the lead in the fourth round of the shootout


With more time with the team DeBoer will begin implementing changes to the roster he's used to strategizing against. He knows the personnel, he knows where they're strong, and he has seen what can expose them. It's a unique move, but a smart one for the club. By the time DeBoer gets really comfortable with the VGK, he will have a full 360-degree perspective of the roster.

With the loss to the Canadiens, the Golden Knights find themselves in a four-way tie for second in the Pacific. The team is struggling, but remain in the mix despite stting in fourth, due to tie-breakers.

The OT-loss was just game three of the Golden Knights' eight-game road trip. They will be back in action on Tuesday night, in Boston, for a battle with the hot-and-cold Bruins. Big talent up front, a solid defense, and great goaltending await the boys in grey and gold.

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