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The Golden Knights knew the St. Louis Blues would be a challenge Thursday night. Things looked good for a while but quickly fell apart at Enterprise Center as a lackluster second period spelled doom for Vegas against the defending Stanley Cup champions in a 4-2 defeat.
The Golden Knights actually played well in the first, outscoring, outshooting and outplaying St. Louis. The Blues scored first thanks to Mackenzie MacEachern, but the Golden Knights answered right away with Max Pacioretty's second goal in two games, then later in the period William Carrier put them ahead 2-1.
The second period is where it all went poorly. A Vegas power play came and went without a goal and the Blues took that as their cue to open the flood gates. First it was Oskar Sundqvist on a gorgeous deflection, then it was Jaden Schwartz finishing a rebound, then it was Robert Thomas on a wrister shot from the circle. Three unanswered goals put St. Louis up and it never came back down.
The third period was better for Vegas, but it was too late to matter. Alex Tuch had a breakaway chance off the opening faceoff in the frame and Nick Holden drilled the post about halfway through. Vegas had a power play with 5:38 left, but finished the night 0-for-3 with the extra man.
Vegas pulled goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to go with the six-forward set with two minutes left in the game, but managed only one shot on goal, ending the game in a 29-29 draw in shots.
Golden Knights fall apart in 2nd, trail Blues
The first period wasn't bad for the Golden Knights, and they led by a goal after it. The second period was quite bad.
The St. Louis Blues scored all three of the period's goals and put Vegas in a 4-2 hole heading to the third at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
Oskar Sundqvist missed the last six games with a lower-body injury for St. Louis, and the Golden Knights probably wish he would have missed a seventh. He had a strong first period, then evened up the game early in the second.
St. Louis had a flurry of shots early in the frame and when the Golden Knights tried to clear the puck, Alex Pietrangelo kept it in and Sundqvist redirected his point shot to make it 2-2 at the 1:34 mark of the second.
The Blues dominated the first half of the period, pinning Vegas deep in its own zone and peppering the net. They had eight shots in the first period and 10 in the first 10 minutes of the second.
The Golden Knights had a power play thanks to a Pietrangelo delay of game, but did not score. And as soon as Pietrangelo left the box it felt like the Blues were playing with an extra man. First Pietrangelo had a breakaway attempt, then St. Louis brought the heavy pressure and Jaden Schwartz cleaned up a rebound to make it 3-2 at 14:53.
Then 39 seconds later St. Louis struck again. This time it was Robert Thomas who lined up in the left circle and fired of a laser of a shot that somehow snuck by Marc-Andre Fleury inside the near post and after coming into the period with a 2-1 lead, Vegas trailed 4-2.
The Blues led in shots on goal 17-8 for the period to take a 25-21 lead for the game.
Golden Knights allow first-period goal, but get 2 back
The Golden Knights conceded the first goal of the game, but came back with two of their own and led the St. Louis Blues 2-1 after a period at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
The Golden Knights had the first good look of the game when Paul Stastny sprung Alex Tuch for a breakaway, though the shot was batted away by Jordan Binnington.
St. Louis had its first look of the game after that and capitalized. Jacob de la Rose found Mackenzie MacEachern alone in the slot, and MacEachern didn't miss at 4:52 to put the Blues up 1-0.
The lead didn't last long. Just 25 seconds after MacEachern's goal, Max Pacioretty walked in alone and shot it off Binnington, who made the initial save, but Pacioretty put home his own rebound to tie the game.
Then the Golden Knights scored to take the lead. It was a terrific shift from Vegas' fourth line that made it happen, holding some extended zone time before striking. Tomas Nosek floated a back-door pass to a pinching Nate Schmidt, and Schmidt's shot led to an easy tap-in for William Carrier, who put home the loose puck for his fourth of the year at 12:28.
Outside of two defensive breakdowns, it was a strong period from the Golden Knights. They allowed the scoring play, then gave Jordan Kyrou an open lane to the net on a poorly timed line change. It led to two shots on goal, and Vegas allowed eight for the period while taking 13 of its own.
Golden Knights ready for 'heavy hockey' from Blues
It was said maybe a million times during their run to the Stanley Cup last season, but that doesn't make it any less true. The St. Louis Blues are a big team that plays "heavy hockey," meaning a style reliant on physical play and wearing down the opponent.
The Golden Knights will get their first look at the plus-sized defending champions today when they take on the Blues at 5 p.m. at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Maybe it's not quite a throwback to the days when players were bruised and beaten leaving the ice every game, but it might be as close as today's game has.
"We've got to be prepared, ready to get bumped and banged, and that's what it's going to be theses next two games," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said.
It's a stark difference to the Golden Knights' last opponent. The Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday relied more on players like Patrick Kane (5-foot-10, 177 pounds) and Alex DeBrincat (5-7, 165), where as in their forward group alone the Blues have players like Ryan O'Reilly (6-1, 216) and Brayden Schenn (6-1, 200).
The forwards are all decently sized, but the St. Louis defense in monstrous. Of the seven defensemen on the roster, all are at least 6 feet tall and four of them clear 6-4.
"It's definitely an adjustment to go from playing a smaller, shifty team to a team that's really going to drive the net and go to the net hard," Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore said. "We just have to make sure we're committed defensively. When our forwards are coming back, it helps us as defensemen kill those plays early and allow the puck to not even get there."
But what makes the Blues so dangerous is that while they play a heavy style, they are not just a team of bruisers. No one would mistake original Golden Knight David Perron as a heavy hitter, and he leads the Blues with 30 points. O'Reiily is skilled enough to have won last year's Selke and Conn Smythe, and he has a team-high 21 assists.
The Blues can win games all kinds of ways. It's why they lifted the Cup in June and why they're one of the favorites to come out of the Western Conference this season. Today's game is a matchup of the last two Western Conference champions, and it should be a fun one.
"It's always fun to play the champions," Gallant said. "You've got to come in here and play real well. They're a good, good hockey team, so we've got to make sure we're doing the right things."
TV: AT&T Sports Net (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)
Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM
Betting line: Golden Knights minus-105, Blues minus-115; over/under: 5.5 (minus-115, minus-105)
Golden Knights (16-12-5, 37 points) (8-6-2 road), fourth place, Pacific Division; second place, Wild Card
Coach: Gerard Gallant (third season)
Points leader: Max Pacioretty (27)
Goals leaders: Reilly Smith (13)
Assists leaders: William Karlsson (17)
Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.46 GAA, .921 save percentage)
Blues (18-8-6, 42 points) (8-4-3 road), second place, Central Division
Coach: Craig Berube (second season)
Points leaders: David Perron (30)
Goals leaders: Brayden Schenn (14)
Assists leaders: Ryan O'Reilly (21)
Expected goalie: Jordan Binnington (2.45 GAA, .921 save percentage)
Golden Knights projected lineup
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone
William Carrier—Paul Stastny—Alex Tuch
Valentin Zykov—Tomas Nosek—Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Brayden McNabb—Nate Schmidt
Nicolas Hague—Shea Theodore
Nick Holden—Deryk Engelland
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban
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