Every young hockey player has dreams about playing in the NHL and in their dreams, they see themselves scoring a big goal in the 7th game in a playoff series. Last night, Mattias Janmark’s dream not only came through, he also scored a hat trick in the VGK’s Game 7 victory over the Minnesota Wild by a score of 6-2. Vegas now moves on to the much-anticipated matchup vs. the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2.

Both of these teams ended their 56-game season with the same exact points. Vegas actually had more wins, but Colorado was awarded the Presidents Trophy based on more wins in regulation.

Janmark became the 8th player in the history of the NHL to score a hat trick in a Game 7. He may have been the last player you would have thought was going to score at all last night; in his 15 games with the VGK since arriving at the trade deadline, he’d scored 1 goal, an empty-netter goal on April 21 vs. San Jose.

Janmark opened the scoring for the VGK at 5:09 of the first period when he picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and chipped it up and over Minnesota defenseman Ian Cole. In his attempt to knock the puck down as it was chipped over his head, Cole lost his stick, allowing Janmark just enough time and space to skate around him and head toward Cam Talbot unimpeded. Janmark moved the puck from his forehand to his backhand and back to his forehand, which left Talbot twisted up like a soft pretzel without the mustard. When the puck slid past Talbot in what seemed like slow motion, the crowd of 12,156 went into a state of frenzy.

The first goal in playoff games is important and in game 7s they are significantly important. Teams that score first in Game 7s go on to win 135 out of 181 games. This was the first Game 7 of the 2021 playoffs. In the 2020 playoffs, the team scoring the first goal in Game 7 were 3-0.

Max Pacioretty, who missed the first 6 games of this playoff series and the last 6 games of the season, returned to the lineup and it could not have come at a more important time. The VGK were struggling to score goals and in a Game 7 after taking what seemed like a commanding 3-1 series lead. His addition to the lineup allowed Alex Tuch to return to the 3rd line with Janmark and Roy and you know what happened with Janmark last night. Max’s return balanced the 4 lines that Pete DeBoer rolled out shift after shift. It also gave the Minnesota Wild more to worry about, as just trying to shut down Mark Stone on the first line was no longer a winning game plan. Max is the sniper that they didn’t have to contend with in the first 6 games.

The Wild countered the VGK’s first 2 goals with goals of their own. Then Pacioretty buried his game-winning goal on a pass from the left-wing boards from Chandler Stephenson. In what seems to be the Pacioretty trademark goal from one knee, he blistered a shot that Talbot never had a chance on. That made the score 3-2 and Vegas never had to look back from that point on.

There is one point I feel I must make. Some claim over and over that faceoffs aren’t important at all. If you watched last night’s game, you clearly saw that they’re very important. On Nicolas Hague’s goal at the 2:03 mark of the 2nd period, the game was tied at 1-1. William Karlsson clearly beat Ryan Hartman on the faceoff to the right of Talbot. Karlsson sent the puck back to Hague on the point, whose snapshot beat Talbot to the stick side. Talbot appeared to be screened, which was a point I made in my last post about taking his eyes away, especially on shots from 60 feet away. The Wild’s 2nd goal that tied the game at 2-2 came off another faceoff that Minnesota won to the right of Fleury. They controlled the possession of the puck, Zuccarello took it behind Fleury, and passed it to Kirill Kaprizov, who was headed toward Fleury from the right-side faceoff circle. Fleury never had a chance and once again the importance of winning faceoffs was apparent.

If you’re looking for keys to how Vegas beat Minnesota, one stands out: the 2nd period of all 7 games. The VGK outshot the Wild 96-51 in the 2nd periods of this series and outscored the Wild 11-2. In last night’s game, Vegas outshot Minnesota 17-6 and outscored them 3-1 The speed of the VGK played a key factor in this stat. The 2nd period is the one that burdens the team with the long change for the defensemen and when you combine that with the VGK’s speed, especially in their first 9 forwards, this gave the Minnesota Wild more than they could handle.

Zach Whitecloud scored to put the VGK up by 2 goals. He was asked post game what Mark Stone said to him in the celebration as Stone was the first to him. This will tell you how loud it was in T-Mobile last night.

“When you score in this building, you can’t hear what anyone is saying. He was three inches away and I couldn’t hear anything he said.”

Other game notes. Vegas is only the 3rd team to win a playoff series in 3 of the first 4 years; the other 2 teams to accomplish this were the NY Rangers and the St. Louis Blues.

Pacioretty’s goal was his 3rd series-clinching goal and his 2nd GWG in a Game 7.

Coach DeBoer was the only coach in the history of the NHL coming into last night’s game to win his first 5 game 7s. Now you can make that his 6th Game 7 win without a loss.

Nicolas Hague’s goal was his first in a playoff game. Zach Whitecloud’s goal was his first in 48 games. Janmark’s hat trick was the VGK’s 2nd in the playoffs. Mark Stone was the first in 2019 vs. the Sharks.

Minnesota played most of the game with only 5 defensemen, as Jonas Brodin injured his left shoulder on a check from Nicolas Roy. Brodin only had 1:56 of ice time.

It was a very physical game with more hits in the first period than there were in all 3 periods of Game 6. There were a total of 102 hits for Game 7. There were only 42 hits in Game 6.

You just have to admire the tenacity of Jonathan Marchessault. The smallest guy on the team, he was ready to drop the gloves with Jordan Greenway, who’s 6’ 6” and weighs 241. Marchessault is listed as 5’ 9” and 180. And I can assure you that Marchy’s numbers are embellished. Jonathan wound up with a team-high 7 hits last night.

My 3 Stars of the Game
1) Mattias Janmark (the hat trick)
2) Max Pacioretty (1G, +2, and 4 SOG — not bad for a guy who hadn’t played in almost a month)
3) Nicolas Roy (2A on 3 of Janmark’s goal and a complete 200- foot game)

Next game is tomorrow 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. It’s called 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

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Whitecloud’s goal

Pacorietty’s GWG

Janmark’s hat trick