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A lot of people are looking towards the playoffs as the Vegas Golden Knights’ time to shine. For the start of the postseason they might be at 100% with Mark Stone (back) joining Jack Eichel, Chandler Stephenson, Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, and Max Pacioretty to form two star-studded scoring lines. The way Vegas has been playing lately though, their postseason spot is far from secure.
The Golden Knights suffered a 5-2 loss to Boston, suffering their sixth loss in the span of eight contests (albeit with one overtime defeat during that period). Looking back to the start of the year, Vegas has gone 8-9-4 in 2022. The Golden Knights are consequently 30-21-4 this season and sitting in the final Wild Card spot. They have just a one-point edge over Dallas despite having played in two more games.
A big part of Vegas’ problem over that span has actually been their offense. While Mark Stone going on the long-term injured reserve list did solve Vegas’ salary cap problems for now, his presence has obviously been missed on the ice. It hasn’t helped that Max Pacioretty has been sidelined recently too with a lower-body injury. Through 21 games since the start of 2022, Jonathan Marchessault is the team’s scoring leader with six goals and 15 points in 20 contests. He’s one of just three players on the team with at least five goals in 2022. To put that into context, Toronto has three players with over 10 goals in 2022 while the Bruins have eight players with at least five goals.
Vegas needs its forwards to get going if the squad is going to make the playoffs. Getting Jack Eichel going would go a long way towards fulfilling that need. He hasn’t been bad since his return with two goals and five points in seven contests, but not producing up to his potential either. That’s understandable though given how much hockey he missed this season combined with the fact that he’s adapting to a new team on the fly. Vegas has to hope that he’ll get better as he gets more settled in because they need all the help they can get right now.
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PITTSBURGH 5 TAMPA BAY 1
Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning goal and registered an assist. He’s up to 17 goals and 52 points in 44 contests.
Evgeni Malkin contributed a goal and two assists for the Penguins. That gives him 10 goals and 24 points in 20 games.
Tristan Jarry stopped 20 of 21 shots last night. He has a 27-11-6 record, 2.30 GAA, and .921 save percentage in 44 games.
Tampa Bay’s lone goal was scored by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. It was his seventh goal and 16th point in 52 contests.
Andrei Vasilevskiy kicked out 35 of 39 Penguins shots. He’s 29-9-4 with a 2.32 GAA and .921 save percentage in 42 starts.
FLORIDA 3 OTTAWA 0
Sergei Bobrovsky earned the shutout, but it wasn’t a busy night for him. He needed to make only 18 saves, but regardless he stood tall when he needed to, and he picked up his second shutout of the season.
Part of the reason why Bobrovsky had so little to do was because the Senators took a ton of penalties. Florida had nine power-plays and even if they just converted on two of them, that was still a lot of time that the Senators had to dedicate to just trying to hang on. It’s not like Ottawa only got into penalty trouble towards the end of the game either. They took four minor penalties in the first period alone.
With that in mind, it likely won’t surprise you to hear that Anton Forsberg faced a ton of shots. The Senators goaltender held his own, stopping 45 of 48 shots. He still got the loss, but this one really wasn’t on him.
Mason Marchment netted the game-winning goal and registered an assist. He has 12 goals and 30 points in 29 contests.
Patric Hornqvist also had a goal and an assist for Florida. He’s up to eight goals and 21 points in 44 games.
MINNESOTA 5 PHILADELPHIA 4
This was a back-and-forth game, but the Flyers did hold a 4-3 lead going into the third period. That’s thanks in part to James van Riemsdyk, who scored with just 46 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Flyers the edge.
The Flyers held that lead for the first half of the final frame before they gave up goals to Matt Boldy and Jonas Brodin in the span of 25 seconds. Brodin’s game-winning goal was his fourth marker and 21st point in 43 games.
Ryan Hartman netted a pair of goals for Minnesota. He has 21 goals and 39 points in 52 games.
Cam Talbot stopped 26 of 30 Flyers shots. Even if he won the game, it was still his fifth straight start where he allowed at least four goals.
At the other end of the ice, Carter Hart turned aside 33 of 38 shots. He has a 10-18-6 record, 2.94 GAA, and .910 save percentage in 35 contests.
WASHINGTON 4 CAROLINA 0
Vitek Vanecek saved 36 Hurricanes shots to earn the shutout. That’s pushed him up to an 11-7-5 record, 2.26 GAA, and .920 save percentage in 26 games.
Jaccob Slavin fired a team-high four shots against Vanecek. Slavin has three goals and 29 points in 52 contests.
Frederik Andersen turned aside 29 of 33 shots on Thursday. He has a 29-8-2 record, 2.08 GAA, and .928 save percentage in 39 games.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the game-winning goal. He has 16 goals and 51 points in 53 contests.
Conor Sheary assisted on two of the Capitals’ four goals. That gives him 12 goals and 26 points in 46 games.
VANCOUVER 4 NY ISLANDERS 3
Vasily Podkolzin scored the deciding goal in this contest. It was his 10th goal and 15th point in 53 games.
J.T. Miller, Nils Hoglander, and Brad Hunt accounted for Vancouver’s other three goals. Quinn Hughes assisted in two of Vancouver’s four goals.
Thatcher Demko turned aside 24 of 27 Islanders shots. He has a 24-16-2 record, 2.60 GAA, and .918 save percentage in 44 contests.
Anthony Beauvillier netted a goal for New York. He’s up to nine goals and 20 points in 48 contests.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 34 of 38 shots last night. He’s lost his last five starts and has surrendered four goals in each of his last two games.
CHICAGO 4 EDMONTON 3 (OT)
Evander Kane scored a pair of goals for Edmonton, including a marker with just 50 seconds left in the third period to push the game into overtime and make sure Edmonton walked away with at least a point. He has seven goals and 13 points in 16 contests this season.
Mikko Koskinen stopped 28 of 32 Blackhawks shots. He has a 19-8-3 record, 3.05 GAA, and .904 save percentage in 31 games.
At the other end of the ice, Marc-Andre Fleury saved 29 of 32 shots. It his third straight where he’s surrendered three or more goals.
Alex DeBrincat scored the overtime winner. It was his 30th goal and 46th point in 55 games.
Patrick Kane contributed a goal and an assist for Chicago. That gives him 17 goals and 55 points in 51 games.
BOSTON 5 VEGAS 2
Craig Smith led the Bruins to victory with a hat trick. Although he’s not a huge goal scorer, that was still the third hat trick of his career. He’s up to nine goals and 22 points in 48 games this season.
David Pastrnak accounted for the Bruins’ other two goals. That gives him 31 goals and 56 points in 55 contests.
Jeremy Swayman stopped 34 of 36 Golden Knight shots. He’s won his last five starts while allowing a combined six goals over that span.
Jack Eichel found the back of the net for Vegas. Since making his season debut on Feb. 16, Eichel has scored two goals and five points in seven games.
Robin Lehner kicked out 31 of 35 shots on Thursday. He dropped to 20-14-1 with a 2.84 GAA and .907 save percentage in 36 starts.
MONTREAL 5 CALGARY 4 (OT)
Ben Chiarot had a huge night with two goals, including the overtime winner, and an assist. The blueliner is up to seven goals and 15 points in 50 games.
Mike Hoffman contributed a goal and three assists for Montreal. The Canadiens also got a goal and two assists from Nick Suzuki.
Andrew Mangiapane netted a goal and registered two assists for the Flames. He has 29 goals and 41 points in 53 contests.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 of 35 Canadiens shots. He surrendered at least a goal in each period of last night’s game.
Andrew Hammond only narrowly bested him, saving 30 of 34 shots. He’s 3-0-0 with a 2.40 GAA and .920 save percentage in four games.
ARIZONA 2 COLORADO 1
Karel Vejmelka held off the Avalanche’s onslaught, saving 42 of 43 shots. He improved to 8-21-1 with a 3.42 GAA and .903 save percentage in 32 games.
Nick Schmaltz scored the game-winning goal. He’s up to 12 goals and 26 points in 35 games.
The Coyotes’ other goal was scored by Loui Eriksson. It was his second goal and 13th point in 45 contests.
Devon Toews found the back of the net for the Avalanche. He has 11 goals and 43 points in 44 games.
Pavel Francouz kicked out 27 of 29 Coyotes shots. He’s 9-3-0 with a 2.38 GAA and .922 save percentage in 12 contests.
