Lawless: Winning With The 'B' Game

A few summers ago, the Lawless family picked up a rental car and through some weird quirk of availability the attendant handed us the keys to a Maserati. We never had it so good. Or since. The next vacation, the ride was a very nice pickup truck, and as our daughter caught a look at the big beast, she couldn’t control her mischief. “What, no Maz?” she smirked.

It’s tough to go from driving a luxury car to something less sophisticated. The seats don’t feel as supportive, the turns aren’t as smooth, and the engine is less responsive. But one can still get to where they need to be.

The Vegas Golden Knights don’t quite have their A game right now. But that’s going to be a reality from time to time over an 84-game NHL regular season schedule. The trick is to be able to get points when the best a team can summon is its B game.

Five-on-five scoring has recently dried up for the Golden Knights. But the team’s goaltending and special teams have picked them up and allowed them to earn points in four of their last five games, and collect three of a possible four points so far on this four-game road trip.

Vegas came back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a shootout point in Boston against the Bruins on Monday, and on Tuesday in Pittsburgh they came back from being down 2-1 and scored a power-play goal in the last minute of regulation to defeat the Penguins 3-2.

Carter Hart was stellar in Boston, stopping 25 of 27 shots, while Adin Hill bailed out Vegas against the Penguins, turning aside 23 of 25 shots.

Three of the five goals Vegas has scored on this trip have come on the power play, and the Golden Knights were 6-for-6 on the penalty kill against Pittsburgh.

While everything isn’t clicking at once right now, top-notch goaltending and elite special teams are helping to make sure the mail gets delivered.

Vegas has allowed two or less goals in 11 of 17 games. Last year it took until December 7 to hit that mark. They rank sixth in the NHL in goals against per game at 2.82. Team save percentage over the last five games is .908 (7th).

The penalty kill for the Golden Knights is 11-for-12 in the last three games (91.7%), with one goal against on a five-minute major the only blemish. Hill was outstanding over one minute and 22 seconds of a high-stakes, two-man disadvantage late in a tie game against Pittsburgh. After the penalty kill came through, Mark Stone fed Tomas Hertl with a perfect pass through the slot which the big center lifted home for the PPG and the win. One hand washing the other on special teams has been crucial.

The Vegas power play is 5-for-10 (50.0%) over the last four games and up to 29.4% on the season (6th).

If a team can’t score at five-on-five for a stretch, it better have strong special teams and better goaltending. That’s exactly what Vegas is getting right now, and the results have allowed them to continue to bank points with a 10-5-2 mark for 22 points and second place in the Pacific Division.

Vegas has too many excellent players for the five-on-five scoring drought to perpetuate. In an odd occurrence, the team just happens to have too many players at the top of the lineup not getting the bounces.

The preparation, effort and desire are all there. None of that has waned. Cold snaps occur. Usually, it’s not everyone at once, but that happens as well.

Vegas will break out. But until they do, having the luxury of being able to lean on their goaltenders and specialty teams separates them from a lot of teams in the NHL.

It’s a tough way to play and nerve wracking for everyone involved, from management to coaches to players and fans.

So, the Golden Knights are hanging around and scraping by at times. That’s better than the alternative, which is getting blown out when the Maserati is in the shop and a flatbed Ford is the only thing available.