I didn’t come up with the title to this post. It’s from the man who is smack dab in the middle of this 4-game losing streak. Here’s the exact quote from Robin Lehner, following last night’s 2-0 loss to the NY Islanders at T-Mobile.

“We’re NHL players, a very good team organization,” Lehner said. “Obviously, it stinks losing. No one likes it. But you know what, it’s a bit of adversity that this team hasn’t gone through yet. Good teams can dig themselves out.”

Before you throw the baby out with the bathwater, keep in mind that coming off their trip to the Stanley Cup Final, the VGK opened the 2018-19 season with the same exact record of 1-4 and made the playoffs. The big difference is that 4 of those first 5 games were on the road. This season, 4 of the first 5 games have been at home and the only victory was against the newest expansion team in the NHL, the Seattle Kraken. They hung on to win that game after rushing out to a 3-0 lead. Seattle tied it in the 3rd period and Chandler Stephenson scored the game-winner on a goal that had to be reviewed by Toronto as it went in off his skate.

Other than that game, Vegas has been unproductive in the scoring department, coupled with an extraordinary number of defensive lapses. As Lehner said, this unchartered territory for a team that has prided itself on their play on the defensive side of the puck.

There’s more. The Knights played their last 2 games against teams playing the second of back-to-backers on the road, which should be to their advantage. Only problem is, the net seems like a brick wall to them, scoring just 6 goals during this 4-game losing streak.

The power play is 0-11 in 5 games and the VGK are the only team that has yet to score a PPG. Going back to last season’s playoffs, they’re 0-28. The last power -play goal was scored in Game 4 vs. Colorado on June 6 at the 11:28 mark of the second period by Jonathan Marchessault.

Post-game, I asked Coach DeBoer if he still had confidence in their power-play system or was he considering making adjustments. His response, in so many words, was that a number of normal power-play unit are out for injuries. That’s true for this season, but those same injured players were on the ice for the 1-21 in last season’s final 9 playoff games —one of the main reasons they didn’t return to the Stanley Cup Final.

The old saying is, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. In my opinion, it was broken long before these players weren’t available.

As much as a portion of the fan base is reluctant to fully accept Robin Lehner as their goaltender, the current problems this team faces do not reside in the blue paint, but from the crease out to the rest of the ice.

The goal that pretty much sealed last night’s Islander victory came off a giveaway just inside of the blue line from Nic Hague, just like it did on Friday night against Edmonton off an ill-advised pass from Pietrangelo. Friday night’s turnover was in the neutral zone.

Like I said in my last post, the Islanders are a defense-first team and when Sorokin is in the net, New York might need only 1 goal for the win; getting 2, like in last night’s game, is icing on the cake. Sorokin has stopped 68 of the last 68 shots he has faced, coming off a shutout win on Saturday night in Arizona where he stopped all 26 shots he faced. Last night, Vegas sent 42 shots his way, though most were from the perimeter and not grade-A chances.

Robin Lehner stopped 24 of the 26 shots and many were high- danger shots directed at him. Robin has played well in all 5 games, in my opinion. He did surrender 4 goals against the Kings, but if you watch that game again, you’ll see that he was hung out to dry on numerous occasions.

The situation with this team doesn’t look like it will get better anytime soon. The next 2 games are on the road against Colorado and Dallas, neither a walk in the park. Maybe getting away from all the noise about their slow start and being together as a team might be a dose of good medicine. We’ll see.

The only silver lining to this is that it’s early in the season. Remember, even though Vegas is in last place in the Pacific, 8 points behind Edmonton, in December 2018, the St. Louis Blues were in last place and had to fire their coach. The Blues came roaring back to win the Stanley Cup on the road against the Boston Bruins. So, close your window and hang on to the baby and the bathwater.

Other game notes.

Ilya Sorokin has five shutouts in 27 NHL starts. It’s the 22nd time in NHL history a goalie has had a shutout in back-to-back games on the road and the first since Ondrej Pavelec’s streak for the Winnipeg Jets on April 6-7, 2015.

The Knights have lost four straight games for the first time under coach Peter DeBoer, who was hired Jan. 15, 2020.

“It is what it is,” DeBoer said. “It’s not easy, but you have to look at the bright side, and the bright side is it’s an opportunity for guys to jump into roles maybe they haven’t had, opportunities for young guys to step in, opportunities for us to really test the depth of the organization.”

You can add Zach Whitecloud and Nolan Patrick to the ever growing infirmary list. There are currently 6 players unable to go that is 1/3 of the 18 skaters that dress for every game.

This is what I wrote after the Edmonton game on Friday. “Things will not be any easier, as their next game is against the NY Islanders, a defensive- minded team. With Vegas having scoring problems, it’s not looking promising to snap their 3-game losing streak.” I hate that I called this spot-on.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Ilya Sorokin (42 saves and back-to-back shutouts on 2 consecutive nights), Josh Bailey (GWG and stole the puck from Nic Hague to set up the insurance goal by Mathew Barzal), Robin Lehner who stopped 24 of 26 shots, many high-danger shots.

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.

Josh Bailey opening goal

Barzal’s goal off of the Nic Hague giveaway