In a game that the Vegas Golden Knights couldn’t afford to lose, they did so in the most heartbreaking way.
Every point is important for Vegas as it tries to sneak into the playoffs. But a late collapse to the San Jose Sharks, allowing two goals in the final 2:06 minutes of the game before losing in the shootout, may be the nail in the coffin of the Golden Knights season.
Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked about Vegas’ current situation on the Daily Faceoff Show on Monday.
Seravalli: “Look, there’s no excuse, the game should’ve been won way before that. For the Vegas Golden Knights, for whom every point means so much, you think back to the two goal lead that they had with a little more than three minutes of play, you got to close that out, on home ice, given where you’re at in the standings, given how much you’ve fought through injury this season, and everything else to get to that point. And to not be able to close it out against a San Jose Sharks team that has been out of the playoff picture really for quite some time, I can’t fathom a reason why the Golden Knights couldn’t hang on to win that game against the Sharks. You got to have the points.”
Yaremchuk: “And so you drop the one point and one hand [sic] you could say to them ‘Hey, at least they got a point’. But if we flash up the Wild Card standings here, it’s very easy to see just how valuable this lost point is. If they would’ve gotten one more, they would have been at 91, just two back of Dallas, and in that scenario, if you’re Vegas and you find a way to win out, you go 3-0, you’re going to get to that 97 point mark, and you would’ve in all likelihood held the tiebreaker over the Dallas Stars in that scenario. You would’ve only needed Dallas to win two of their last three. In a way, it would’ve felt a little bit more like you control your own destiny.
And now you look at things, the max Vegas can get to is 96. Again, they do hold that tiebreaker, so Dallas would have to get to 97 if Vegas did win out with three regulation wins, but still, that one point, it’s one point, and how many times throughout a season do you hear people talk about an OT loss as ‘at least you grinded and you got the one point’.
But in this scenario, dropping the one, it’s just so so massive for this team. Because now I sit there, I’d give them 10 percent, less than 10 percent chance of making the playoffs at this point.”
Seravalli: “Get your popcorn ready, Tuesday night, it’s all that matters, Vegas-Dallas. Basically, if the Dallas Stars win in regulation, the Vegas Golden Knights’ season is over. They can basically set the eight playoff teams in the West, a little bit of seeding will come into play between Nashville and Dallas, L.A. will likely be locked in the third spot at that point.
And if not, well all of a sudden that opens up the door for Vegas, a critical four point swing potentially on the line if that game is decided in regulation. So, can’t wait to set that up on Tuesday night, it’s all going to come down to that for the Dallas Stars, and the Vegas Golden Knights.”
You can watch the full episode here…
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