Game Preview: Golden Knights vs Blues – Round Robin – Game 2
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The Vegas Golden Knights take on the St. Louis Blues in what will be both teams’ second round-robin game. Vegas is 1-0 coming off a come from behind victory against the Dallas Stars on Monday. St. Louis suffered a devastating defeat by giving up the game winner with 0:00.1 on the clock on Sunday.
For VGK, from this point forward, I officially announce that Coach Pete DeBoer should also be known as the “Mad Scientist.” Coach DeBoer and his assistants had months to prepare for Monday’s game against Dallas…MONTHS! One would think the team would have a solid game plan that they would stick to for this matchup.
Nope, the “Mad Scientist” did not like what he saw and juggled the lines after falling behind two goals in the second period. Coach got the spark he wanted, and VGK scored four straight goals in the third period for the regulation victory. Expect Marc Andre Fleury to get the start with the line combinations being what they were to start the game against Dallas.
A win in any fashion for VGK will set up a winner-take-all game against the Avalanche on Saturday to determine which team will have the top seed in the Western Conference. An overtime or shootout loss would mean Vegas would have to win in regulation over the Avalanche on Saturday to earn the top seed.
With the Dallas Stars second defeat in the round-robin game, VGK has achieved no less than the third seed. Seeding just became much more important as the 11th seed, Arizona Coyotes, and the 12th seed, Chicago Blackhawks, are both up 2-1 in their play-in series’.
There is still no word on when Max Pacioretty will be back. Coach DeBoer has said things like “you’ll get an appearance soon” and “on the horizon” when asked about him. If I had to assume, the hope is he plays Saturday versus the Avalanche. The worst-case scenario he is back for the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs next week.
The St. Louis Blues have found the back of the net just one time since the season has resumed.
The Blues were shutout by the Blackhawks in their exhibition match and scored one goal in their loss against the Avalanche in their first round-robin game. Look for the Blues coach, Craig Berube, to do some mixing and matching of his own to find a spark.
VGK was third place in the conference behind Colorado and St. Louis, and ahead of the Dallas Stars when the NHL paused the season. After the round-robin games and Stanley Cup Qualifiers conclude, the top remaining seed will play the lowest remaining seed, the next highest seed will play the second-lowest remaining seed, and so on throughout conference play.
The next three games won’t be too stressful compared to when the Stanley Cup Playoffs start next week. Going 3-0 in the round-robin games does not mean Vegas is going to win the Stanley Cup. Going 0-3 does not mean the season is soon to be over.
The puck drops between the Golden Knights and the Blues at 3:30 pm pacific. You can catch the game on AT&T Sports Net or on the NHL Network.
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-Chris Gawlik – Franchise Sports Media
