The Vegas Golden Knights managed to pick up a huge two points after a late response from the St. Louis Blues, winning 2-1 in overtime in the first half of a back-to-back road trip.
This was a critical matchup with huge playoff implications, with the Golden Knights entering this game with a four-point lead on the Blues with one game in hand for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
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Both of these teams met at some of the strongest points in their respective seasons, with the Golden Knights (39-25-7) winning five of their last seven games and the Blues (38-30-4) winning six of their last seven. After the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Monday, the Golden Knights were unable to make up any ground in the Pacific Division standings, but they built a bigger lead on the Blues and now sit five points ahead of them.
Jack Eichel has been the Golden Knights’ X-factor since returning from injury, picking up 11 points in their last seven games. While he didn’t have any points in this game, his impact has been felt throughout the season as the Golden Knights are 4-12-4 when he finishes without a point, and are 26-5-4 when he has one or more points.
Robert Thomas is leading the way offensively for the Blues with 73 points in 71 games, but Jordan Kyrou has been just as impactful in this recent stretch, picking up a hat trick on Saturday against the Minnesota Wild to give him six points in his last two games. Kyrou picked up an assist on the only goal for the Blues in this game.
After Adin Hill left in the third period of their 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (March 23), the Golden Knights recalled Jiri Patera from the Henderson Silver Knights, and placed Tomas Hertl on the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) to create cap space for the move to happen.
Jonathan Marchessault Comes Up Clutch
Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring for the Golden Knights just 5:59 into the game after picking up the puck below the goal line and making a strong move to the net to sneak the puck past Jordan Binnington. The 23-year-old has scored goals in back-to-back games and now has six in his last ten.
Things dried up offensively for the Golden Knights for the rest of regulation time, but it wasn’t from a lack of opportunities. They established a strong forecheck and were able to pump 34 shots onto Binnington, who played incredibly well for the Blues in this game. The Golden Knights are now 7-1 when allowing 30 or fewer shots, and are 0-6-1 when allowing over 30.
After Brandon Saad tied the game 1-1 with 5:07 left in the game, the Golden Knights looked visibly shaken up. Their puck management and defensive play deteriorated throughout the third period, and they looked lost in their own zone toward the end of regulation.
When the Golden Knights needed a hero in overtime, Jonathan Marchessault stepped up, just like he has all season. The overtime winner was his 39th goal of the season, giving him seven in his last eight games. It was a relatively quiet night for Marchessault, who played just 15:42, but he continues to prove that he is the most important offensive player on this team with moments like this.
It’s times like this when it’s most frustrating to see Marchessault without a contract extension. The Golden Knights have shown no issue with signing older players to extensions like Alex Pietrangelo, and Alec Martinez, and even with the acquisition of Tomas Hertl, who is signed until he’s 37. If both parties can’t find a way to let him retire as a Golden Knight, it will be a massive failure for this franchise.
Logan Thompson Stands Tall
Logan Thompson was undoubtedly the Golden Knights’ MVP in this game. He finished with 30 saves, including a penalty shot in overtime, and has now allowed just one goal in three consecutive starts.
With Hill still being injured and every game becoming more important, Thompson is likely going to start the majority of the games in this final stretch, and this was an encouraging showing. If there isn’t any clarity on Hill’s timeline within the next few days, it’s even more likely that he’ll be the Game 1 starter for the playoffs.
While they didn’t look their best toward the end of the third period, the Golden Knights’ defense also deserves a ton of credit. The Blues were going to give them everything they had to get two points, and they shut them down completely for nearly 55 minutes. They stood out the most in the neutral zone, shutting down a ton of rush chances and causing turnovers on zone entries.
They played the type of defense that won them the Stanley Cup last season. If the Golden Knights can clean things up and play that way for a full 60 minutes consistently, things will be a lot easier on Thompson over the final 11 games of the regular season and in the playoffs.
Thompson has shown throughout his tenure with the Golden Knights that he isn’t the type of goaltender who will single-handedly steal games. That isn’t a knock on his play, as there are only a few elite goaltenders that can be put in that category. If the Golden Knights play a strong defensive game in front of him, he’s capable of making the timely saves whenever there is a breakdown in coverage, and this game was a perfect example of that.
Final Thoughts
Things seem to be coming together for the Golden Knights at the perfect time. They’ve now won six of their last eight games and are averaging 2.00 goals against in that stretch.
Offense, defense, and goaltending all seem to trending in the right direction, and the new acquisitions are looking more comfortable with each game. If the Golden Knights can string together multiple performances like this as the regular season closes out, they’ll be a dangerous opponent for any team they face in the first round of the playoffs.
The Golden Knights will head to Nashville Tuesday night where they’ll take on the Predators to close out their first back-to-back in over a month.