The Vegas Golden Knights made another comeback and defeated the St. Louis Blues in a round-robin game of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers with a score of 6-4. Vegas are currently in second place of the four Western Conference round-robin teams with four points (2-0-0 record). Here’s a recap of the Golden Knights-Blues round-robin game.
Like many games both in the round robin and qualifiers, there was an early goal in this game. Blues forward David Perron scored the game’s first goal off a Golden Knights turnover. From there, it was all Golden Knights. They outshot the Blues 13-5 during this period. However, Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped all 13 Vegas goals in this period including making huge saves to retain the Blues’ lead.
St. Louis went into the second period with a 1-0 lead.
This was by far the wildest periods both teams have played in thus far. Both teams combined for six goals during this period with the Blues scoring two of their goals 21 seconds apart. The Blues also had an early goal this period from defenseman Colton Parayko. The Golden Knights then came back with three unanswered goals from defenseman Shea Theodore and forward Alex Tuch. Theodore and Tuch both scored on a power play and Tuch also scored an even-strength goal to give the Golden Knights their first lead of the game. But then, the Blues came back and scored two goals in 21 seconds regaining their one goal lead. The goals came from Parayko and forward Troy Brouwer.
St. Louis went into the third period with a 4-3 lead.
Let’s stick to the theme of early goals shall we. This time, it’s the Golden Knights with an early goal from defenseman Zach Whitecloud. Whitecloud’s goal tied the game and was his first NHL goal. After Whitecloud’s goal, Vegas never looked back. They practically dominated the Blues on both ends of the ice especially in this period. The Golden Knights added in two more goals from Theodore and forward Mark Stone to get a two goal lead. Stone got the game winning goal and Theodore followed suit 2:18 later. The Blues had no answer for the Golden Knights as they were outshot 11-4 in the period. In fact, the Blues were outshot the entire game 38-17. Binnington was the Blue’s saving grace of not allowing the Golden Knights to run up the scoreboard.
Vegas won the game 6-4.
Let’s give credit where credit is due. Binnington was outstanding in this game despite giving up six goals. His performance in the first period is something that the Blues hope to see come the first round of the playoffs. But, let’s also give credit to the Golden Knights aka the “Comeback Kings”. They knew they had control of this game and the score shouldn’t have been close as it looks but they kept their composure and played their game.
Third Star: Colton Parayko (2 goals)
Second Star: Shea Theodore (2 goals)
First Star: Alex Tuch (2 goals)
Vegas will play the Colorado Avalanche on Aug. 8 for the top seed in the Western Conference and Stanley Cup Playoffs. The game will be on at 3 pm EST on NBC.
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