Vegas Golden Knights vs. New York Rangers Pick & Prediction JANUARY 27th 2023
The Vegas Golden Knights spent most of the first half of the season leading the Pacific Division. Now their slump is creating a logjam at the top of the division.
Tied for first in the Pacific with 61 points, the Golden Knights hope two days of practice can help them avoid a third straight loss Friday night when they visit the New York Rangers.
Vegas is 2-5-1 in its past eight games and 0-1-1 on its six-game road trip. After opening the trip with a 4-1 loss to the lottery-bound Arizona Coyotes on Sunday, the Golden Knights suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Robert Jones
Coupled with the Seattle Kraken's 6-1 rout of the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, Vegas is tied at the top of the Pacific with the second-year team, and the Kraken have played two fewer games (47). Vegas is one point ahead of the third-place Los Angeles Kings, who have played one more game and are visiting Florida on Friday night.
The Golden Knights were 66 seconds away from a regulation victory over the Devils when Dougie Hamilton's tying goal caromed in off defenseman Brayden McNabb.
Hamilton's power-play goal 3:54 into overtime won the game for New Jersey, and capped a loss in which the Golden Knights allowed two regulation goals off their own defensemen.
"We played a responsible hockey game," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Guys were trying to play the right way, but unfortunately two went off our guys into the net. We weren't able to overcome that."
Tuesday's loss is part of a wider slump for the Golden Knights. Buoyed by a nine-game winning streak Oct. 24-Nov. 10, they raced to a 13-2-0 start to the season but are 16-15-3 since then.
Goaltender Logan Thompson hasn't been sharp during the slump -- 8-10-1 with a .901 save percentage since mid-November.
New York is playing with a revamped lineup featuring stars Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin on the top line with Chris Kreider and a reunion of "Kid Line" of youngsters Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko.
The Rangers have split their two games with the revamped lines, although in Wednesday's 3-2 overtime loss at Toronto, Kreider switched at times with Jimmy Vesey to the line with Barclay Goodrow and Vincent Trocheck. In the four games before changing the lines, the Rangers scored just seven goals.
After Zibanejad scored twice and Panarin collected three assists in Monday's 6-2 home win over the Florida Panthers, the Rangers could not protect a one-goal lead going into the third period against the Maple Leafs.
"I liked our game (against the Maple Leafs)," Gallant said. "I thought we played real well in a tough building against a real good team. I want the two points, but we'll take the one and run."
The Rangers are 15-4-3 in their past 22 games, including 8-3-0 at home since a 5-2 home loss to the league-worst Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 3.
-- Field Level Media
Vegas Golden Knights vs. New York Rangers
Alex Tuch scored two first-period goals and Malcolm Subban finished with 29 saves to lead the visiting Vegas Golden Knights to their third consecutive win, 4-1, over the New York Rangers on Monday night.
It was Tuch's third career two-goal game. Reilly Smith and Max Pacioretty also scored goals for the Golden Knights, who improved to 4-1-0 in franchise history against the Rangers. It marked the first time this season that Vegas has won three games in a row, all with Subban in net.
Brendan Lemieux scored for New York, which had a five-game points streak snapped (4-0-1). Henrik Lundqvist finished with 28 saves in defeat.
Tuch scored two goals just 2:16 apart to give Vegas an early 2-0 lead. The first came at the 1:34 mark of the first period when he came streaking in on the left wing and ripped a shot that trickled past Lundqvist and on to the blue ice behind him where the Rangers' goaltender inadvertently knocked the puck in with his left pad.
Vegas, which was just 1-for-14 on the power play over its previous five games, then made it 2-0 with a power-play goal when Tuch tapped in a feed from Nate Schmidt while cutting in front of the net for his fourth goal of the season and third in two games.
Shortly after Rangers forward Chris Kreider rang a shot off the crossbar, Smith made it 3-0 early in the second period with his team-leading 12th goal of the season when he broke loose on a breakaway and beat Lundqvist with a backhand.
Pacioretty increased the lead to 4-0 just 96 seconds later with another power-play goal when he one-timed a pass through the crease by Cody Glass from the bottom of the right circle for his 10th goal of the season.
Lemieux cut it to 4-1 near the end of the second period when, while cutting in front of the net, he deflected Jacob Trouba's shot from the top of the right circle into the top left corner for his fourth goal of the season.
--Field Level Media
- NHL
