Last night, the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary was the site of a massacre of epic proportions. The Vegas Golden Knights lost 7-2 at the hands of the Calgary Flames, tying a franchise record for goals allowed in a single game. Even in the losses, there are positives to take away from the mess. Last night, the Golden Knights were hard pressed to find those, in a game full of defensive miscues, turnovers, and Flames goals.
Making the start on the second game of their back-to-back was goaltender Malcolm Subban, whose last action was a loss in Boston, the second game of a back-to-back, on November 11th. In the Boston game, Subban was the victim of leaky defense and last night’s game was much of the same. Vegas seems to have issues this season in back-to-backs, dropping all three games ending back-to-backs. Two of those three games followed losses, the exception being Sunday night’s 6-3 win in Edmonton. It is too easy and far too common to automatically place blame on the backup goalie, so let’s dive into the seven goals allowed last night.
Calgary 1, Vegas 0 – Matthew Tkachuk Power Play Goal (10) assisted by Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano (2:36 of the first period):
With top-line penalty killer Tomas Nosek in the box, Vegas was forced to the penalty kill early down one of their best killers (with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare). Ryan Carpenter and Cody Eakin saw the first shift, joined by Deryk Engelland and Brayden McNabb on defense. Just 33 seconds into the power play, Calgary would strike. Tkachuk would start the sequence, sending a pass across the blue line to the defenseman Giordano. Giordano continued the puck to the low corner to “Johnny Hockey”. Once Gaudreau had the puck, all attention turned to him. Both forwards, Eakin and Carpenter crept too low into the slot, to help the defense, respecting the skill of Gaudreau. With all attention on Gaudreau, Tkachuk remained wide open on the far side of the blue line. Gaudreau made a great pass through all four Vegas penalty killers, collapsed in the slot, to Tkachuk. Tkachuk walked down toward the faceoff circle and fired a wrist shot past Subban, for his 10th of the season. Tkachuk is too talented of a player to be left alone. As you can see in the photo below, Tkachuk was left way too much space on the play.
Calgary 2, Vegas 0 – Gaudreau (7) assisted by Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm (6:49 of the first):
Gaudreau collected his second point of the night and his seventh goal of the season, four short minutes after his ridiculously impressive power play helper. This play started in the Calgary zone when defenseman Deryk Engelland lost the puck, going low into the Flames’ zone. Lindholm picked up the loose puck and broke down the ice. Nick Holden was unable to cut off Lindholm until they entered the Vegas zone. With Engelland caught deep in the Calgary zone, Bellemare covered the opposite wing. Lindholm spun in the high slot and sent a pass left to Monahan. Monahan then hit a streaking Gaudreau, back in the high slot, and Gaudreau buried a wrist shot past the glove of Subban. Bellemare could have been more aggressive on Monahan, but I suspect he saw Gaudreau streaking and decided to play in between the two. Vegas forward Ryan Reaves was attempting to backcheck and stop Gaudreau, but he simply couldn’t keep up as Calgary stretched their lead to two.
Calgary 3, Vegas 0 – Monahan (10) assisted by Gaudreau (10:59 of the first period)
Gaudreau pounced on a loose puck, following a failed clear attempt by defenseman Shea Theodore and a subsequent swipe by Eakin. Gaudreau’s speed beat Eakin to the puck and he advanced it to the high slot. Gaudreau then found Monahan at the bottom of the faceoff circle, to the left of Subban, for a one-time goal. Subban had absolutely no chance on the play, as Monahan ended up behind Theodore in a high danger position. Gaudreau’s pass was perfect and Monahan did not miss the shot.
Calgary 4, Vegas 0 – TJ Brodie (1) assisted by Tkachuk and Giordano (13:52 of the first period):
On this goal, Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault ended up way out of position, playing defense low in the zone, to the right of Subban. The Flames worked the puck low to Tkachuk who became the attention of all five Vegas players, low in the defensive zone. Similar to the goal he scored, Tkachuk noticed Brodie unmarked and worked the puck around the net and up the boards to him at the blue line. Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt noticed Brodie all alone and started yelling to center William Karlsson to cover, but he was too low in the zone to get out on Brodie. Brodie wound up a huge slap shot and beat Subban. Ironically, the goal was Brodie’s first since scoring on the Golden Knights last season. Schmidt could have gotten to Brodie to challenge the shot, but would have left a man alone near Subban’s net. This goal was the result of another forward getting caught too low in defense, leaving a point man open, as you can see in the screen grab below.
Calgary 5, Vegas 0 – Monahan PP goal (12), assisted by Gaudreau and Tkachuk (16:57 of the first period):
All four Vegas penalty killers (Bellemare, Nosek, McNabb, and Engelland) were in on a board battle with three Flames. The Flames came away with the puck, sending it cross-ice to Gaudreau, who hit a streaking Tkachuk in the high slot. Tkachuk’s shot, with the Golden Knights scrambling back, rang off the post, and bounced right onto the stick of Monahan to the left of Subban. Monahan buried the rebound for his second goal of the night. Bellemare attempted to control the stick of Monahan as he got behind the defenseman McNabb, but Bellemare was unable to prevent the goal. This was yet another goal Subban had very little chance on.
The first period would end at that score of 5-0. Vegas seemed to be out of the game, both on the scoreboard, and morally. Heading into the locker room down five goals was not ideal. Subban made numerous big saves, including stopping a 2-on-0 shorthanded opportunity for the Flames. Vegas needed a strong start to the second to chip away at that lead, but they got the complete opposite right out of the tunnel.
Calgary 6, Vegas 0 – Tkachuk (11) assisted by Mikael Backlund (:24 into the second period):
Calgary extended their lead to six goals courtesy of Tkachuk. The young forward ripped a wrist shot through the legs of McNabb and past the glove of Subban. McNabb could have taken the body to disrupt the play more, but he had good position and was beat by a great shot. Not much Vegas could have changed on that one.
Calgary 7, Vegas 0 – Sam Bennett PPG (3) assisted by Derek Ryan and Noah Hanifin (4:22 of the second period):
Calgary’s 2nd PP unit notched their last goal of the evening, 24 minutes into the game. Calgary won a board battle in the corner and Hanifin ended up with the puck at the blue line. Hanifin skated toward the top of the zone, middle of the blue line, being pursued by Eakin. Eakin followed Hanifin too far, allowing a pass to Ryan and giving Ryan space to move lower for a shot. Ryan took a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle, that was deflected in by Bennett. There was a lot of traffic around Subban and the Flames ended up with their third power play goal of the night, three-for-three to start the game. Vegas’ penalty kill has been good, by the numbers, yet Calgary was scoring at will on the power play.
Vegas headed into the third period down seven goals. Most fans probably switched over to Monday night football to watch the shoot-out between the Chiefs and Rams. To their credit, the Golden Knights did not give up in the third. They worked hard out of the gate and scored quickly, 47 seconds into the period. While juggling line combinations, Karlsson knocked a puck to Reaves, who passed the puck back up high to the defenseman Holden, whose quick shot beat a screened David Rittich for their first goal of the game. The goal was Holden’s third of the season. If the Golden Knights could keep that pace, a goal per minute, they could win 20-7! There was still hope!
Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, they would only add one more goal, a power play marker from Max Pacioretty (4), set up by a Reilly Smith rebound in tight. By the end of the game, Vegas found themselves in unfamiliar territory, outshot 32-22. The Golden Knights took too many penalties and couldn’t recover from defensive mistakes in their own zone. All-in-all it was a rough night all-around for the Golden Knights. Subban may have been the best player on the ice for Vegas while being victimized for seven goals against. With the loss, Vegas drops to 9-12-1 (7th Pacific) and Calgary jumps into first place in the Pacific Division at 12-8-1. Calgary is one of the few teams in the
Vegas’ next chance to right the ship will be Wednesday night in Arizona. Their hosts, the Coyotes, are currently fifth place in the Pacific at 9-9-1. They are currently tied with Vegas at 19 points, but in three fewer games. Arizona will be coming off two 2-1 decisions at home, a win versus the Nashville Predators on Thursday and a loss against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
It is no question that the Coyotes will be well rested with three full days off before the Golden Knights come to town. Vegas will have their work cut out for them, amidst trying to recover from the Flames beat down. Following the stop in Arizona, the Golden Knights head home for another back-to-back. A Black Friday grudge match with the Flames and a Saturday evening tilt with the Sharks are on the horizon for a Vegas team looking to regain their 2017-18 form. Adjustments need to be made, but only time will tell if Vegas can tighten up defensively or start scoring enough goals to cover for their mistakes.
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