The Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Chicago Blackhawks in five games on Aug. 19. The Golden Knights won Games 1, 2, 3 and 5 while the Blackhawks won Game 4. Here now is the recap of Game 5 between the Golden Knights and Blackhawks.
Scratches
Chicago: Lucas Carlsson, Dylan Sikura, Kevin Lankinen, Nick Seeler, Nicolas Beaudin, Brandon Hagel, Collin Delia, Philipp Kurashev, Alec Regula, Alex Nylander, MacKenzie Entwistle
Vegas: Jon Merrill, Deryk Engelland, Peyton Krebs, Tomas Nosek, Keegan Kolesar, Gage Quinney, Dylan Coghlan, Nicolas Hague, Oscar Dansk, Reid Duke, Patrick Brown
1st Period
The Golden Knights were looking to eliminate the Blackhawks heading into this game. But, it would be the Blackhawks that scored two goals from captain Jonathan Toews and forward Alex DeBrincat. This is the second game in a row that the Blackhawks scored two goals in the first period. However, Golden Knights struck back quickly as forward Max Pacioretty scored his first goal of the postseason 1:10 after DeBrincat’s goal to cut the lead to one.
Chicago went into the second period with a 2-1 lead.
2nd Period
Game 4 featured the spectacular performance from goaltender Corey Crawford as he made 48 saves in that game. However, the story was different in this period. Golden Knights forward Mark Stone scored 57 seconds into the period to tie the game at two. But, the Blackhawks would respond back as forward Patrick Kane regained his team’s one goal lead from a turnover by Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt. Yet, the Golden Knights seemed to have wanted this game more outshooting the Blackhawks 15-9 during this period. Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez scored on the team’s only power play to tie the game once again at three.
The game was tied at three heading into the third period.
3rd Period
Again, the Golden Knights scored an early goal this time from forward Alex Tuch 1:34 into the period to regain the team’s one goal lead. Tuch also scored another goal but was overturned due to incidental contact with the goalie. The Blackhawks put out everything they had in the final minutes of the period. But, the Golden Knights prevailed and secured the series win.
Vegas won the game 4-3 and the series 4-1.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHHhxd1d0f4]
Three Stars of the Game
Third Star: Alec Martinez
Second Star: Alex Tuch
First Star: Max Pacioretty
Overview
Vegas Golden Knights
This will be Vegas’ second time in the second round in just their three year history. Vegas also continues to show dominance on the offensive end practically outshooting Chicago throughout this entire series. However, their biggest problem is turnovers especially turning the puck over in their own zone. This is something that they have to fix going into the second round against the Vancouver Canucks.Â
But, the biggest question is who would start in the net for Vegas. This comes after goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s agent Allen Walsh tweeted a photo of Fleury with a sword stabbing him in the back with head coach Pete DeBoer’s name on it. At the time of this article, the tweet has been deleted per Fleury’s request.
Nonetheless, Vegas is still considered a dangerous team heading into the second round. And, if they can fix their defensive mistakes from this series then they should have no worries about anything else. Including the now deleted controversial post from Walsh.
Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago were just outplayed by who many considered to be a better team in Vegas. One of the reasons why Chicago may have lost this series is defense. The don’t have the best defense and they rely too much on their defenseman, specifically Duncan Keith. Also, Chicago wasn’t able to capitalize on their chances even in their Game 4 win. Kane had many chances to either tie the game or take the lead but he hit at least three posts during this series.
Their core players like Kane, Toews and young forward Dominik Kubalik really didn’t get going until Game 4 and Game 5 for that matter. However, this is a team that could definitely make noise in the next few seasons at best if they continue to build up this team and their play style.
Vegas will face Vancouver in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That series will start on Aug. 23 at 10:30 p.m. EST.