On June 23, 2017, Nick Suzuki, a 17-year-old boy from London, Ontario, was drafted in the first round by the VGK; he was the 13th overall pick and considered the future of the VGK.

On June 22, 2021, the same Suzuki returned to Las Vegas as a 21-year-old man wearing the red and white sweater of the Montreal Canadiens.

It appears his return might have ruined the immediate future of the VGK in a year where the VGK seemed destined to have a return date and a second chance to win the Stanley Cup in their brief 4-year history. Last night, Suzuki had 1 goal and 2 assists in the 4-1 victory in a pivotal game 5 victory at T-Mobile.

With the series tied at 2 games apiece, a win by the VGK last night would have given them a stranglehold on the series. But for the 2nd time in 3 games at T-Mobile, Montreal beat the VGK to everyone’s surprise.

The franchise has changed its course since achieving early success with deep playoff runs in 2 of their first 3 years. The stockpiling of draft picks was aborted and the large amount of cap space was relinquished. They are, in poker terms, all in now to win and their original plan of a Stanley Cup in 6 years is no longer the plan. It’s win now and spend spend spend right up to the maximum allowed under the salary cap of $81.5 million

They brought in Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty, whose combined salaries add up to $16.5 million per year, a full 20% of the cap. Stone and Pacioretty have combined for 1 goal and 2 assists in the Round 3’s five playoff games. Nick Suzuki makes $863,333 a year (5% what Pacioretty and Stone make and around 1% of the salary cap) and has 1 goal and 4 assists.

Nick Suzuki is quickly becoming a nightmare to George McPhee, the GM behind the trade that sent Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, and a 2nd round draft pick in the 2019 draft to Montreal, along with retaining a portion of Tatar’s salary, in exchange for Max Pacioretty. In acquiring Mark Stone, the VGK gave up another high draft pick by sending Erik Brannstrom, (first round, 15th overall, 2017) and Oscar Lindberg to Ottawa. Brannnstrom hasn’t come back to haunt McPhee like Suzuki has, but valuable assets have been sacrificed in the VGK’s quest for the Stanley Cup over their first 4 years.

By no means am I laying the entire blame for the VGK being on the brink of elimination on the shoulders of Stone and Pacioretty; the blame runs a hell of a lot deeper than just these 2 players. In Rounds 1 and 2, 6 forwards — Marchessault, Stone, Pacioretty, Tuch, Karlsson, and Smith — combined for 25 goals. In Round 3 against Montreal, they’ve accounted for 1 goal and that was in last night’s game when Pacioretty finally scored to make the score 3-1 with 15:51 left to play in the game. Suzuki closed the scoring with an empty-net goal with just 1:06 left in a game that was decided long before that.

Vegas was never in this game. They had nothing going. They were beaten to every loose puck, lost every puck battle, never had any forecheck, and allowed Montreal all of the space they needed. Let me just be frank with you: The Golden Knights stunk up T-Mobile last night and it wasn’t a secret among the fans. For the first time since Oct. 2017, the VGK were actually booed by their loyal crowd during their 2nd power play of the game.

Yes, their power play sucks. Look, I’m trying to be nice, but this is the best I can do when describing it. Montreal has a good PK unit, but the ineptness of the VGK power play is making the Montreal PK unit appear world-class.

Usually on a Tuesday, night there’s almost no traffic in my Las Vegas neighborhood, but last night, even that was more than there was in front of Carey Price. The consensus coming into the series was that Montreal needed Price steal at least 2 games for them to have a chance to beat the VGK. Just the opposite is true. Now, Robin Lehner or Marc-Andre Fleury will need to steal Game 6 tomorrow in Montreal to get this series to a Game 7 on Saturday night.

I’m not sure this is possible, as the desire and passion of the VGK are MIA. Then again, so are the 12 forwards who are being outworked and Pete DeBoer who is being out coached by the assistant coach of Montreal. DeBoer has made zero adjustments.

Other game notes.

The Canadiens haven’t allowed a power-play goal in the past 12 games, the longest postseason streak since the NHL began tracking goals by strength in 1933-34. They’re 28-for-28 on the penalty kill in that span. The 1936-37 Detroit Red Wings, 1939-40 New York Rangers, and 1999-2000 New Jersey Devils each had a 10-game streak, tied for the second-longest. The Golden Knights are 0-for-13 on the power play in the series.

Pacioretty’s goal was the first by a top-six VGK forward in the series.

Teams that take a 3-2 lead are 47-15 (.758) in winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff semifinals series.

My 3 stars of the Game

1) Nick Suzuki (1G, 2 A)
2) Corey Price (26 saves on 27 shots)
3) The coaching staff of Montreal (despite losing their head coach to a positive COVID test, their system and defensive scheme remain intact)

Next game is tomorrow at Bell Centre at 5 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.

Suzuki’s assist on Staal’s goal
Tough save by Price
Pacioretty’s goal