Game Recap: Vegas Golden Knights vs Boston Bruins

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Tuesday night The Golden Knights took on the struggling Boston Bruins, both teams coming off heartbreaking down to the wire losses that have aching to stabilize their season.

 

The Knights, trying to get back to a winning brand of hockey after their coaching change, and the Bruins trying to fight through devastating injuries that took three of their best players. Fortune smiled down on the Bruins, with the game-time decision to play David Krejci who had been suffering through a severe shoulder injury that recently sidelined him. The decision would ultimately make or break the game for the Bruins.

Vegas in their previous game saw themselves down 3-0 quickly within the first period, but this time around the Golden Knights went up quickly with a goal from #61 Mark Stone 1:24 into the opening period.  From there the Knights continued to spread the floor passing the puck around and making calculated shots-on-goal. However, the Bruins are one of the best scoring teams in the NHL for a reason. With 9:20 left in the first period, #79 Jeremy Lauzon for the Bruins tied the score 1-1 with an assist from David Krajci.

Going into the second period Vegas doubled down on its defensive play, slapping at the puck and disrupting the flow of the Bruins’ offensive attack. But season-long issues for the Golden Knights showed themselves heavily in the second period. Both teams have an excessive amount of penalty minutes, both well over 450. However, in Tuesday night’s contest, the Golden Knights had over ten penalty minutes in the game. Six of those minutes came in the second period alone.

 Even though the Knights spent most of the second period in the penalty box, Vegas managed to keep Boston at bay killing all five power plays the Bruins had. On the other hand, the Golden Knights extended their lead 2-1 on a power-play (one of two for the Bruins) with a goal by rookie defenseman Nicholas Hague. The Knights for a majority of the game kept the puck out of the Bruins’ hands, and their physical play made it difficult for the Bruins to really get their rhythm in the game. They constantly squandered open goals and allowed the Knights to physically outplay them for a majority of the game.

 

Entering the third period it seemed that the Bruins had had enough of the Golden Knights physical play and decided to match it.

 

The Bruins who had been out hit all game by Vegas reversed the trend in the final period, finishing the game tied at 27 hits, tying the Knights’ number. The Bruins managed to use this tactic to back off Vegas for a while and regain some open shot opportunities, tying the game at 2-2 with 15:34 left in the final period.

Eventually, the ramped-up aggressive style played into the game when a hard-hitting possession for the Bruins drew goalie Mark-Andre Fleury out of the goalie net for a short period. Long enough to allow David Krajci, who was a game-time decision to play for the Bruins, took advantage of the commotion and slapped the puck into the Golden Knights’ goal to take a 3-2 lead with 8:42 left in the game.

There was still hope for the resilient Vegas team, who last Saturday tied their game with Montreal by a heroic last-minute goal by Reilly Smith. Sending the game into overtime, a situation which would favor the Knights, due to the Bruins being the worst team in OT or shootout periods this season. But as fortune would have it no such miracle would happen Tuesday night. 

Boston controlled the puck for the final seven minutes of the game to keep the Golden Knights from any late-game heroics. The Bruins handed the Golden Knights another heartbreaking defeat in the final moments of the game, but there is a silver lining in the dark clouds that have gathered over the team recently. They now have reached the center point of their eight road game stretch and have a much needed bye week to prepare to travel to Carolina to play the Hurricanes Friday Jan 31. Now Vegas has over a week to rest, practice and prepare to finish off their road game stint in winning fashion and return home to prepare for a playoff run.

 

What will coach DeBore’s team look like when we next see them in Carolina, only time will tell. 

 

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Las Vegas! If you want another great place to watch the game, head to Al’s Garage in Summerlin. There are multiple televisions to watch all the games. Al’s has “Happy Hour” starting at 9 AM and ending at 9 PM. Al’s Garage is located at 11760 W. Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas, Nevada 89135. Tell them, “The Franchise sent you!!”

 

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