Golden Knights-Canadiens series as lopsided as advertised in Game 1

By Case Keefer (contact)

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 | 2 a.m.

A Canadiens’ fan crashed the T-Mobile Arena video board shortly after his team scored a power-play goal Monday evening, tugging on and pointing at the classic “CH” logo at the center of his white sweater. 

Credit to that gentleman for maximizing what must have been the only minute he felt good about his team’s chances all night. The Golden Knights put an end to any Canadiens’ positivity 53 seconds later, restoring a two-goal lead when Mattias Janmark tipped in an Alex Tuch shot from inside the crease.

The timing of Janmark’s goal was appropriate because it almost seemed like the Golden Knights were toying with the Canadiens throughout their 4-1 victory in Game 1 victory. Hockey fans holding out hope for a competitive Stanley Cup semifinal series took a hit on Monday.

Vegas was noticeably quicker, stronger, sharper and all-around better than Montreal through the first hour of hockey between the teams. At this rate, there might only be the minimum three total hours left — especially considering Vegas didn’t even really play that well.

“I think they came out really hard in the first period and took it to us there,” defenseman Nick Holden said. “We were on our heels. They were getting inside our net … They kind of outplayed us a little bit.”

The win was one of Vegas’ lesser performances out of the 14 postseason games it’s played so far this year, certainly far removed from the last five contests against the Avalanche — including a Game 2 loss. Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer suggested his team might have been struggling with getting back up after the emotional series win over the Avalanche and came out flat.

Something didn’t feel right in the opening 15 minutes as Montreal pieced together more scoring chances but neither Vegas’ players nor its 17,884 fans in attendance showed any signs of nervous energy. The Canadiens may have caught the Golden Knights off guard with their physicality — the leveling unsung, undersized defenseman Alexander Romanov issued on the Golden Knights’ Alex Pietrangelo is sure to wind up on Bell Centre pre-game highlight packages — but it didn’t take the Golden Knights long to adjust to the style.  

The Canadiens’ early success felt like it was all for naught when Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore scored late in the first period off faceoff for the game’s first goal.

“Once we settled in and scored our goal, I think the pace settled down and was more in our favor,” forward Reilly Smith said.

That’s a polite way of saying, “We skated circles around them after we woke up a little bit.” Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury kept the puck out of the net just long enough for the Golden Knights’ massive talent advantage over the Canadiens to start to show.

The disparity was no surprise, of course. Vegas tied for the best record in the league this regular season while Montreal was eight games below .500 when including overtime losses, making the former one of the biggest semifinal favorites in NHL history.

But no one could be totally sure the teams’ qualities were that far apart. There was a strong suspicion that the Canadiens’ North division was the weakest of the four sets of teams this season but no empirical data to prove it with the lack of inter-division play.

One game isn’t enough to prove it either, but it was impossible to miss how outmatched Montreal looked over the final two periods.

“I think you can prepare on video and analytics but until you see a team live (it’s not the same),” DeBoer said. “They were impressive early the way they were getting pucks and bodies to the net. Their physicality is as advertised. (Goalie Carey) Price is as advertised. They’re a good hockey team. I liked how we built our game tonight and I thought controlled it over the last 40 minutes. We’ve got to show up for Game 2 and do the first thing when they drop the puck in the first period.”

The Golden Knights are intimately aware that Game 1 isn’t necessarily a forecast for what’s to come in a series. They took the Game 1 beating themselves last round against the Avalanche, a beating that didn’t really matter in the long run when Vegas eventually advanced.

On the flip side, Vegas’ Game 1 struggles might not be random and could have been part of Monday’s slow start. This is a team that thrives off slight DeBoer adjustments, some of which are surely coming for the Canadiens at 6 p.m. Wednesday when the teams reconvene for Game 2.

But this might be one situation where they don’t really need any. They played pretty poorly and still won with ease.

Barring a dramatic turnaround, the Canadiens are in a lot of trouble. They Golden Knights are likely only going to get better.

“We didn’t play very well for the first 10-15 minutes,” forward Mark Stone said.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.