No matter how much you believe in this team, and how little you believe that the VGK feed off the emotion and energy of the crowd at T-Mobile, it was clear that — believe it or no —something special happens when 17,504 (“seventh man”) fans and 19 skaters get together at T-Mobile. It’s actually magical.

I’ve attended every VGK home game. I’m hard pressed to recall a crowd as loud or energized as last night. It was a must-win and win they did by a score of 3-2, scoring two 3rd period goals.

But before you get too pumped, last night was just the first step up the mountain that would have be next to impossible to climb —if 2 members of the original misfit team, William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, hadn’t found a way to get pucks behind Philipp Grubauer, who’s been spectacular in this series, stopping 103 of 109 shots.

When William Karlsson kicked the loose puck onto his stick and away from the mass of bodies in front of Grubauer to score, it gave the VGK their only lead in the first 3 games of this series. It was the first goal and came a full 4:38 into the second period. Vegas dominated the first, allowing Colorado just 3 shots on goal. Colorado didn’t even register a SOG until the 6:02 mark.

But the lead that Karlsson provided didn’t last long. Carl Soderberg, an unlikely source, scored just 1:29 later. The VGK killer Mikko Rantanen scored a power play goal 5:04 into the 3rd period and things were looking bleak as the clock was winding down to just 5 minutes in the game and the VGK trailing.

The seventh man never gave up; it kept on pushing with one voice. And then the smallest guy on the team, who has the heart of a lion, was not about to disappoint the VGK secret weapon. Marchessault took a pass from Reilly Smith and broke in alone on Grubauer. Marchessault’s initial shot never made it to Grubauer. The puck rolled to the end boards. As far as he could possibly be from the front of the net, Marchessault still saw that Grubauer had lost his position and wasn’t on the left post; if he tried to bring the puck back out in front, Grubauer would have time to regain his position. So he played a little bank shot off the back of Grubauer’s leg — like a perfectly placed pool shot by Willie Mosconi.

From that point on, the seventh man would not be silenced, in fact never sat down again.

Just 45 seconds after the Marchessault goal, Max Pacioretty tipped in a point shot by Nick Holden and the crowd went wild.

But things weren’t over just yet. Colorado pulled their goaltender for the extra skater and we know how potent the Av’s are with a man advantage: They’ve scored 5 power play goals in the first 3 games against Vegas, who had the #1 PK in the entire league.

Mikko Rantanen found the puck on his stick in the waning moments of the game. Rantanen has 4 goals in the Av’s 7 playoff games, along with 2 GWG and 1 overtime goal. He tried to pitch Fleury a curve ball, as his winning OT goal in Game 2 was high over Fleury’s shoulder and he assumed Fleury would be looking for a high shot. So Rantanen went for the 5 hole between the pads, but Fleury was one step ahead and stoned him. The entire building erupted into a chant — “Fleury! Fleury! Fleury!”— that post game he said gave him the goose bumps that hadn’t subsided even then.

To think that last year in the playoffs, he pretty much sat on the bench amid persistent rumors that he’d played his last game in a VGK uniform. Fleury is a proud man and in my opinion, he was embarrassed by his benching. He worked hard in the off season and proved that even at the age of 36 and playing in his 17th year, he’s far from done. Some still hate Pete DeBoer for his treatment of Fleury last year. Sometimes things happen for a reason and right now, Fleury is the goaltender of the VGK and this is in no way, shape, or form a knock on Robin Lehner.

Some will say the players are the ones who score the goals or Marc-Andre Fleury is the one making spectacular saves and I will give you that. But when you hear the players talk about the energy that is created in T-Mobile and how they use that in crucial moments, it makes you understand how important the seventh man is at T-Mobile.

Other game notes. To hear Colorado’s Jared Bednar speak, it sounds like a coach whose team is down 2 to 1 instead of up 2-1. “For five periods straight, they’ve been more competitive than we’ve been. To dissect it further than that is a waste of time.”
Bednar added, “We need to beat the team that tied us for first in the league.”

Marchessault has just 2 goals in the 10 playoff games, but right now they’re the most significant 2 goals so far: the first in Game 2 vs. Minnesota and last night’s goal that tied the game. Marchessault is the smallest guy on the team with the biggest heart and determination. He also led the team in a game-high 6 hits last night.

My 3 Stars of the Game
1) Max Pacioretty (1G, the GWG)
2) Jonathan Marchessault (Yes, size does not matter)
3) William Karlsson (1G off of great hand-eye coordination)

Next game is tomorrow at T-Mobile at 5:30 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, Hockey Knights in Vegas.

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

One other note: If you’re reading this blog from Facebook or Twitter and would like to access it earlier in the morning before I share it on social media, it’s usually published by 8 a.m. the morning after a game on LasVegasAdvisor.com. What better way is there to enjoy your morning coffee than reading my take on last night’s VGK game.

Karlsson’s skate-to-stick goal

Marchessault’s bank-shot goal

Pacioretty’s game-winning Goal