FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Blues- Game 7

The St. Louis Blues wasted no time putting pressure on the Knights early, forcing Robin Lehner to make a save on a partial breakaway in the opening minute of the game. As solid as he looked on that save, the rest of the period did not fare so well for him.

Things looked promising for the Vegas Golden Knights as the period started due to Alex Tuch scoring the opening goal just a little over three minutes into the game. He screamed up the right side along the boards and wristed a shot top shelf to beat Jordan Bennington’s glove side. Less than a minute later, the Blues answered back with a goal by familiar face David Perron. Martinez turned the puck over behind the net, and Ryan O’Reilly found the former Knight around the right circle, who wasted no time beating Lehner short side to tie the game up.

Lehner did not have much time to think about it as the Knights took a costly penalty at the 11:55 mark. David Perron made his presence felt yet again, scoring the Blues second goal just five seconds into the penalty off of a slapshot. VGK had a great opportunity shortly after to tie it up due to a dangerous shot by Max Pachioretty but he rang it off the post, a theme that would haunt the Knights the rest of the game. With 9:50 remaining, Jaden Schwartz widened the Blues lead to 3-1 with a wrist shot that beat Lehner glove side. The Knights hit two more posts in the remaining time and drew a penalty towards the end of the period, but just couldn’t put the puck in the net.

The second period looked pretty similar to the first one as the Knights scored a quick goal from Max Pachioretty in the opening minutes. But unfortunately, they also continued to hit posts and take penalties, making the road to victory difficult.

William Karlsson followed up Pachioretty’s goal with a great chance of his own shortly after but was unable to convert yet again. VGK dominated the shot total and scoring chances in the second frame but could not find a way to beat Jordan Binnington. Thanks to more shots off the post and some stellar play by the Blues netminder. A little over ten minutes into the period, young forward Jordan Kyrou stole the puck from Alex Pietrangelo and beat Robin Lehner to put the Blues up by two goals for the second time in the game.

As time wound down, Mark Stone got in a fight for the first time as a Golden Knight, clearly in an attempt to send a message to his teammates that they weren’t out of it yet. VGK came close to responding with a great play set up by Alex Tuch passing the puck over to Chandler Stevenson, forcing Bennington to make yet another outstanding glove save. However, the score remained the same as the Knights went into the intermission trailing by two.

Persistence was the word of the night for the Knights as they didn’t let shots off the post or an outstanding performance by Jordan Binnington deter their efforts.

The final frame began with both teams taking multiple penalties. It was clear that the interim Knights coaches who stepped in due to covid protocols had some trouble managing line changes as the Knights took two separate too many men on the ice penalties. But VGK eventually pushed through their powerplay woes when Pachioretty scored on a 5 on 3 opportunity to bring the Knights within one goal of the Blues. Alex Tuch nearly tied the game shortly after on a breakaway chance, but as was constant throughout the night, he hit the post.

It would have been easy for VGK to pack it up at that point, but as I said, persistence by the Knights was key tonight. Lehner made a great save on a breakaway from Jordan Kyrou, and Pachioretty followed it up by scoring a hat trick to tie the game at 4. The game went to overtime and led to one of the most exciting segments of 3 on 3 hockey that I’ve seen. Both teams traded dangerous scoring chances for the entire five minutes, and it seemed like either team could win on any given shot. Yet the time expired, and the game was decided by a shootout.

The Blues received shootout goals from Perron and O’Reilly, while Shea Theodore was the only Knight to register a point in the shootout. Alex Tuch came close to tying the shootout period, but to the surprise of no one, he hit the post yet again. Last night’s game should not be viewed as a negative though, hitting the post seven times and dominating the shot total is a great marker that VGK was playing their game and doing it well. They forced Binnington to practically stand on his head just to barely squeak out a win for the Blues. Fans should feel confident heading into Thursday’s game as the Blues goalie unit should not be able to withstand another onslaught like they did tonight.

The Vegas Golden Knights will resume play Thursday Night as they take on the St. Louis Blues for the second time at T-Mobile Arena. The puck drop is set for 6 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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