The VGK had a big hill to climb in order to sweep the Arizona Coyotes in the 2nd game of their 2-game series Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile, with a very determined Adin Hill back in the net. Hill was left out to dry by his teammates on Friday night when the VGK peppered him with 22 first-period shots and 5 unanswered goals. Hill was ready and it showed in today’s game.

Arizona coach Rick Tocchet publicly called out his team after Friday’s game for their lackluster performance and his words did not fall on deaf ears; Arizona played with a different mindset than they displayed on Friday night. They even responded with some bad blood, which caused both teams to refuse to leave the ice as the final horn sounded for the 1-0 win.

Before I go into the details that caused the bad blood, let’s first talk about a defensive gem of a game that the VGK played in front of 3,950 fans.

The VGK have now won 3 of their last 4 games after having a setback recently, losing 3 of 4. It also was a bounce-back game for Marc-Andre Fleury, who had lost his last 3 starts and was tagged for 9 goals in those losses. The 1-0 win was Fleury’s 5th shutout of the season in his 28th start. It may have been the easiest of his 66 career shutouts, facing only 14 shots for the entire game. Arizona had 4 shots on Fleury in the first 2½ minutes of the game, which included an Arizona power play; after that, the Coyotes managed 10 shots for the remaining 117 minutes and 30 seconds.

Post-game Fleury said, “The past few games had been hard. Couldn’t get a win. Took awhile. Maybe we weren’t scoring as much as we used to, but I didn’t make the key saves to keep us in and get us those wins. Tonight was a different-style game, a little harder mentally, but it was nice to get the win in the end.”

Fleury’s win had some career significance. It tied him for 4th place overall with Ed Belfour for wins at 484, while his 66th shutout tied him with Patrick Roy for 15th place overall.

In Fleury’s last 4 starts, Vegas scored just 5 goals, so in his last 3 losses, the blame cannot be put squarely on just his shoulders. The Knights’ lack of scoring has been a problem recently. Today, Tomas Nosek, who has been a scoring machine of late, scored the only goal of the game. DeBoer’s moving Nosek up to the 3rd line between Tuch and Kolesar, while putting Roy between Carrier and Reaves, has work for all involved. In Nosek’s last 6 games, he’s scored 3 goals and has 1 assist. He has 7 goals in 32 games; his career high is 8 goals in 67 games in the 2019-20 season and 8 goals in 68 games in the 2018-2019 season. It was also Nosek’s 2nd GWG of the season out of 7 goals, a very respectable percentage of winning goals.

Okay, now to the bad blood that saw both teams looking like 2 gangs meeting up on neutral turf to settle a score. It started to percolate when Ryan Reaves (6’2” and 225) had a big-bone crunching hit on Arizona’s defenseman Jordan Gross (5’10”, 190) — a significant height and weight difference. Even though no penalty was called on the play, I’m sure that the Department of Player Safety will be having a look at the hit; because of the height difference, it appeared that there may have been contact with Gross’ head.

The VGK just got over a 3-game suspension that caused them to have to play with a roster missing a player or two. If Reaves gets suspended, that may happen for Monday’s game in L.A. It should be noted that both Reaves and Kolesar left the game with injuries.

The Arizona bench was livid about the hit and the no call and things became chippy from that point on. But with a scoreless game and both teams needing these valuable points, it didn’t explode.

Max Pacioretty was hit from behind and went head first into the boards. Fortunately for Max, he wasn’t injured. Then Alec Martinez took a questionable hit and the bad blood was about to start to boil. The cover of the boiling pot blew off when Conor Garland low-bridged Mark Stone along the boards, sending Stone airborne and head over heels.

When the game ended, the VGK were still unhappy about the Garland hit on Stone and the hits on Pacioretty and Martinez. They wanted a piece of a few of the Arizona players and the Arizona players didn’t seem to mind the standoff. The 4 officials did all they could to keep the teams separated and cooler heads eventually prevailed.

Hits are part of the game, but the kinds of hits on Pacioretty and Martinez, and especially the one on Stone, can cause serious injury. For a team like Vegas, with hopes of competing for the Stanley Cup, a major injury to one of their top players could have a resounding effect on those hopes.

These 2 teams will meet twice more in back-to-back games April 30 and May 1, where the pot may really boil over especially if the playoff picture is not a mystery at that time. Some players believe the heated rivalry with the San Jose Sharks has cooled off, but the Knights could now have a new dance partner in the Arizona Coyotes.

Growing up as a NY Ranger fan, I know about bad blood. It was there with the NY Islanders and the NJ Devils. Those games always had the fans pumped up, along with the players. When I tweeted during the game about the bad blood between these 2 teams, a VGK fan, Andrew Lunsford, quickly responded, “It’s good for the game.” You may know Andrew as that big guy dressed up as Sasquatch at T-Mobile. I have to admit, I totally agree with Sasquatch — he’s too big to disagree with.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Tomas Nosek (1g, the GWG), Marc-Andre Fleury (his 66th shutout, and he needed it to win, as Vegas scored only 1 goal; shortly after Nosek’s goal, Fleury’s right post saved the shutout), and Adin Hill (28 saves on 29 shots and we’re not counting the 5 crossbars and posts; they do say the post and crossbar is part of the goaltender’s equipment)

Next game is Monday vs. the L.A. Kings at 7 p.m. Pacific Time.

If you want to hear and see more VGK content please check out the podcast I do with Eddie Rivkin on YouTube. It’s called “Hockey Nights in Vegas.” Here is a link to our previous podcast.

Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you may contact me directly at [email protected] or on my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy or on Twitter @TheRealJoePane

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Nosek’s game-winning goal

A few of Fleury’s saves