FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Blues- Game 38

St. Louis came out looking sharp as Vladimir Tarasenko scored just forty-eight seconds after the puck drop to put his team up 1-0 early on. He almost got another goal just three minutes later, but Marc Andre Fleury came up big, stopping the Russian forward on a breakaway opportunity. The Blues widened their lead to two goals with 12:39 remaining as Sammy Blais sent a blistering shot towards Fleury and beat him glove side. VGK played very soft in the neutral zone on both goals against and seemed unready to handle the Blues intensity in the first ten minutes.

About halfway through the period, Ryan Reeves decided it was time to shake things up and get his team going dropping the gloves with Kyle Clifford in what was a pretty one-sided fight. Fleury made another great save on a breakaway chance shortly after stopping Jayden Schwartz from a dangerous area. Captain Mark Stone took a slashing penalty almost immediately after, sending the Knights penalty kill unit out on the ice for the first time in the game. Vegas’ shorthanded unit held strong, though, as they did not allow a goal. The shots finished in the Blues favor by a margin of 14-10, with VGK lucky to be only down by two goals, thanks to some timely saves by their netminder.

Vegas looked much better in the second frame as they controlled the puck the majority of the time and were able to frustrate the Blues, causing them to take three penalties.

Jaden Schwartz took a hooking penalty against Braden McNabb forty-seven seconds into the period giving VGK their first powerplay opportunity of the night. They were unable to convert but were given a second chance with 14:38 remaining after Justin Faulk took a high sticking penalty against Reilly Smith as he drove to the net. The Knights could not convert again and were held goalless for the sixteenth powerplay in a row.

Binnington was forced to make a few great saves in the final five minutes, with the first one coming from Mark Stone in the slot. Just seconds later, Keegan Kolesar registered another great chance from in close, but the Blues netminder fought him off as well. With 1:46 remaining Robert Thomas took a delay of game penalty as he tossed the puck over the glass, giving the Knights their third powerplay of the night. The period ended with Vegas having fourteen seconds left with the man advantage and saw them dominate the shot total 11-4 in the middle frame.

Wednesday’s matchup was the sixth time this season where VGK have entered the third period without a goal going 0-2-3 in those games.

Vegas could not take advantage of the remaining time on the powerplay, making it 17 opportunities in a row without scoring, the longest streak of the season. Shea Theodore had a great chance a few minutes into the period being the trailer on the third man rush but was stonewalled by the Blues goalie. Fleury did his best to keep his team in the game, stopping Kyle Clifford on two great shot attempts in the first ten minutes, with the first one coming from a one-timer and the second coming from right in close. However, he eventually faltered as Jake Walman buried a Jordan Kyrou rebound with 6:29 left in the game to score St. Louis’s third goal.

Nic Roy potted the lone Knights goal with just over four minutes left, firing the puck past Binnington ending his twenty-four-game goalless drought. VGK received one last shot at the man advantage in the closing minutes, but as was the theme the whole game, they just couldn’t solve Jordan Binnington as he made 44 saves en route to a 3-1 win for the Blues.

Looking Forward: 

The Knights did not play badly per se tonight but ran into a stellar performance from an opponent’s goaltender, and their powerplay did not perform as well as they liked. Jordan Binnington made the most saves any goaltender has made against VGK so far this year, so you have to give credit where it’s due. The Knights have had a lot of struggles on the powerplay recently and will look to break that streak when taking on the Arizona Coyotes in their next game. The Coyotes have been playing great as of late, claiming the fourth playoff spot in the Pacific and have a three-point lead on the Blues. If the Knights can figure out how to get some goals on special teams and produce the same kind of shot volume as they did tonight, they are more than capable of getting back in the win column.

The Vegas Golden Knights will resume play Friday evening against The Arizona Coyotes at T-Mobile Arena. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be on AT&T Sportsnet and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.

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-D.J. Wood– Franchise Sports Media

Follow D.J. on Twitter @DJwoody97

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