Smith Strike in OT to Give Vegas 2-0 Series Lead

Chicago looks to tie up the series at 1-1 after their 4-1 loss Tuesday night to the Vegas Golden Knights.

 

Vegas will be without the services of Max Pacioretty who is unfit to play.  Other line changes are as follows.

 

With Vegas missing F Max Pacioretty, there are a couple of changes made to the lines for the Golden Knights.  Chandler Stephenson is moved up the first line with Nicolas playing as the third line centre.

 

 

Chicago has lines on the defencive side being changed.  The Blackhawks are without the services of D Adam Boqvist, who is scratched, Lucas Carlsson is on the second defencive pairing.  Calvin de Haan is on the first line with Duncan Keith.

 

All other line changes for both teams remain the same as Game 1.

 

 

 

 

Chicago Blackhawks Lines and Defencive Pairings:

 

Dominik Kubalik		Jonathan Toews		Brandon Saad
Alex DeBrincat		Kirby Dach		Patrick Kane
Alex Nylander		Dylan Strome		Drake Caggiula
Matthew Highmore		David Kampf		Ryan Carpenter
	Duncan Keith		Calvin de Haan
	Lucas Carlsson		Connor Murphy
	Olli Maatta		Slater Koekkoek
		Corey Crawford
		Malcolm Subban

Unfit to Play:  None

 

Scratched:

 

Adam Boqvist	Brandon Hagel	John Quenneville	Nick Seeler	MacKenzie Entwistle
Phillip Kurashev	Nicolas Beaudin	Kevin Lankinen	Alec Regula	Nick Seeler
		Collin Delia

 

Vegas Golden Knights Lines and Defencive Pairings:

 

Chandler Stephenson		William Karlsson		Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault		Paul Stastny		Reilly Smith
Nick Cousins		Nicolas Roy		Alex Tuch
William Carrier		Tomas Nosek		Ryan Reaves
	Brayden McNabb		Nate Schmidt
	Alec Martinez		Shea Theodore
	Nick Holden		Zach Whitecloud
		Robin Lehner
		Marc-Andre Fleury

Unfit to Play:  Max Pacioretty

 

Scratched:

 

Patrick Brown	Dylan Coghlan	Oscar Dansk	Reid Duke	Deryk Engelland
Nicolas Hague	Keegan Kolesar	Peyton Krebs	Jon Merrill
		Gage Quinney

 

 

 

1st Period Summary and Analysis:

 
Within the first seven minutes of Game 2 of the series, there is a nice battle for overall puck possession.  The shots on goal are just about even with the hits being about as even.  Vegas, however, has turned the puck over a bit more than they do.  Vegas needs to control the puck early on if they want to win.

 

 

Vegas would get on the board at the 10:44 mark with a goal that went right under the leg of Corey Crawford.  The goal would be credited to Paul Stastny, his first of the postseason.  Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith are credited with the assists on the goal, their third and fourth assists, respectively, in the postseason.

 

Mark Stone is called for slashing on Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat at the 18:22 mark.  Mark Stone, would head into the locker room to end the first period and William Carrier would serve the Stone penalty.   When the second period starts, there will be 38 seconds remaining in the Blackhawks power play.

 

VGK Goal	Paul Stastny (1)	Assisted by	Jonathan Marchessault (3)	Reilly Smith (4)	10:44
VGK Goal	Tomas Nosek (1)	Assisted by	William Carrier (1)		15:35
VGK Pen	Mark Stone	for Slashing	served by William Carrier	2 min minor	18:38

 

1st Period Stats:

 

	Chicago	Vegas
Faceoffs	9/18	9/18
Power Play	0/1*	0/0	*0:38 left on Power Play
Shots	7	7
Hits	12	9

 

 

2nd Period Summary and Analysis:
Mark Stone would serve the rest of the penalty to begin the period, which resulted in a successful penalty kill of Vegas.   Chicago has great chances to get the puck in the net but Vegas is able to prevent the Blackhawks from getting on the scoreboard.

 

Kirby Dach would net his first career NHL postseason goal after a great rebound at the 3:17 mark in the period.  Vegas would have several chances to get the puck in the back of the net to make it a 3-1 lead but the Blackhawks would stop every shot that came in front of the net.

 

 

Carrier would lay out a great hit to Chicago’s Connor Murphy that would bring the latter to his knees but is able to continue playing in the game.  Vegas goes back on the penalty kill after an interference call is made on Nick Holden at the 10:53 mark.   Chicago F Dominik Kubalik would tie the game at 2-2 with a Power Play goal at the 12:07 mark, his fourth of the postseason, assisted by Kane, 5th assist, and Jonathan Toews, 4th assist.

 

 

Chicago is called for holding at the 12:39 mark with David Kampf going to the penalty box.  Vegas is unable to score on the man advantage, despite getting a couple of good looks.   Vegas reclaims the lead with a goal by Mark Stone with at 17:20.  The goal would be Stone’s third of the postseason.  Assists on the Stone goal went to Martinez, 2nd assist of the postseason, and Jonathan Marchessault with his 2nd of the game, 4th of the postseason.

 

Chicago would tie up the game again, with Dylan Strome scoring his second goal of the postseason at the 19:46 mark.  The second period ends with the score being 3-3.

 

 

CHI Goal	Kirby Dach (1)	Assisted by	Calvin de Haan (1)	Patrick Kane (4)	3:17
VGK Pen	Nick Holden	for	Interference	2 min minor	10:53
CHI PPG	Dominik Kubalik (4)	Assisted by	Patrick Kane (5)	Jonathan Toews (4)	12:07
CHI Pen	David Kampf	for	Holding	2 min minor	12:39
VGK Goal	Mark Stone (3)	Assisted by	Alec Martinez (2)	Jonathan Marchessault (4)	17:20
CHI Goal	Dylan Strome (2)	Assisted by	Patrick Kane (6)	Alex DeBrincat (4)	19:46

 

 

 

2nd Period Stats:

 

	Chicago	Vegas
Faceoffs	22/39	17/39
Power Play	1/2	0/1
Shots	18	17
Hits	19	25

 

3rd Period Summary and Analysis:

 

Shots and hits are heavy in the period as both teams are trying to take and hold the lead on top of this being a hard fought period thus far.

 

Chicago hasn’t been getting many shots off but they are doing their best to make sure that the Golden Knights can’t get the lead for the duration of the period.
Brandon Saad would go down with a high body hit, but Saad would head to the bench without any other incidents.

 

The contest will be decided in overtime now, after no goals and no penalties occur in the period.

 

 

 

 

No Goals
No Penalties

 

3rd Period Stats:

 

	Chicago	Vegas
Faceoffs	29/54	25/54
Power Play	1/2	0/1
Shots	24	32
Hits	30	37

 

Overtime Summary and Analysis:

 

 

Reilly Smith would net the game winner at the 7:13 mark in the overtime period to give the Golden Knights the 4-3 win and the 2-0 series lead.

 

 

VGK Goal

Reilly Smith (3)

Assisted by

Paul Stastny (1)

Nick Cousins (4)

7:13

 

 

Overtime Stats:

 

	Chicago	Vegas
Faceoffs	31/60	29/60
Power Play	1/2	0/1
Shots	25	39
Hits	32	38

 

 

 

 

 

Game 3 takes place Saturday evening at 8pm.