VGK handles business, Connelly scores in debut

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, go find Lockdown Fantasy Hockey. Steal Rodin and Flip Living Stone provide daily fantasy tips to give you the edge over your leaguemates all while making you a smarter hockey fan. Find Lockdown Fantasy Hockey on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. The Golden Knights set the tone early, responded when needed, and officially kicked off the Ryan Craig era with a connected 5-2 opening night win at the Fortress, the kind of performance Craig has been preaching since camp.

1:01Your Lockdown Golden Knights. Your daily podcast on the Vegas Golden Knights. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hi again from Las Vegas, Tony Cardasco and Chris Golic coming up ahead on today's episode of Recap of Last Night's Golden Knights victory as season 10 gets underway. Chris analyzes the VGK Power Play and the VGK Bottom 6 Youth Movement. We'll talk about all of that. Daily at 1pm you can catch our show on the Silver State Sports and Entertainment Network. SSS he end could be found on Cox Cable Channel 77 and on YouTube TV. The Chris Rookie Trevor Connolly was among 5 VGK players that scored goals last night in the 5-2 win on opening night at the Fortress, Connolly scoring his first NHL goal, knocking down a Brady Mcnav shot, corralling the puck and then he puts it into the net and other

2:05goals were scored by Victor Olivesin, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanuffin and Mark Stone on the empty net or the Golden Knights were in perfect. There is a lot to clean up but nonetheless they handled business to not to the first win for a new head coach Ryan Craig. Yeah, handled business works. Definitely the right game and you can't put too much stock into the preseason as we obviously learned the lights went on last night and we saw a different version of the Golden Knights and including the goal tending as well a little bit better than the preseason. Don't put too much stock into the preseason. Also don't put too much stock into a game of victory against the Chicago Blackhawks. That team is very, very young. They got a lot of work to do and the Golden Knights were able to expose them in multiple areas. The game never really felt like it was in doubt, never really felt like it was that close and it was fun watching Patrick Kane get that goal. I'm not going to lie.

3:06That gave me chills seeing 88 scoring in a Chicago Blackhawks sweater again. Really outside of that moment of the game, which the Golden Knights had a great response for. It was really pretty one sided most of the game, which is good. Yeah, VGK went up to to nothing after one. They pretty much tilted the ice from the get go going out to a 15 to two shots on goal advantage, but this time they were finishing place. Yeah, I mean, you can't ask for a better start to that game. That was absolutely magnificent, right? They just smaller the Blackhawks and pretty much every chance they could. Golden Knights had seven to four high danger chances in the first. So the Blackhawks had opportunities that looked like, but the Golden Knights were able to finish and just kind of like we said, tilt the ice as the game went on. I mean, it's definitely the better team. There's no doubt about the result of that game. There was no way the Golden Knights were losing that one last night. The most positive sign I felt that I saw was the response for VGK during the game.

4:08I just put a couple of bullet points down. I feel this is a really positive sign, a good sign for VGK. The second period, I think, Denato almost scores a goal. Patrick Kane hits the crossbar. Jordan Greenway scores the goal. And then two-forty-eight later, the response, Jack Eichel scores after what was a lengthy offensive zone possession from Barberchef, with a nice dime feeding Eichel right in front of the net. And then in the third period, 39 seconds after your Patrick Kane goal there, which cut the Golden Knights lead to three to two at the time, Noah Hanuffins scored off the rush. Could have buted there by Nick Dowd between the legs with the dish and Hanuffins with the finish. And to me, the response really did stand out. And I know that Craig had talked about it a little bit after the game. But that was something during the course of the game that I really liked because we didn't

5:11see a ton of response, especially early last season. Yeah, it's funny. The Hanuffin goal. I look at Chris and they got a four-on-two-four-on-one here. And Chris, like now, he literally says there's nothing there. And then two passes later, Hanuffins got in the back of the net from Dowd and Gackum. So yeah, I mean, you liked the response, like you said, less than 40 seconds on the between the Kane and Hanuffin goal, which pretty much iced it. And then you said two, four-y-whatever it was between three-eight. Yeah. Yeah, between Greenway and Eichel's goal. And it's not just the Eichel goal. It's the zone time, like you said. It's the push. Craig used a good terminology in the post game. It was a reset shift. I don't know about that one specifically, but reset shift. That just basically it's terminology for, I mean, obviously you go and get a goal, you get the response fine. But it's more about just getting the ice tilted back, getting the pressure off of your defense and resetting using that same terminology. So yeah, I mean, a lot to like, and I'm sure we'll probably hit on some point, but like

6:15the balance, like the balance, a lot of discussions about how the defensive pairings were used, time of ice, minutes and everything. You were pointing that out. You were pointing that out on yesterday's show. We talked about that. I talked about that with Stone. Barbershev. Barbershev. Yeah, we talked about Barbershev. Yeah. So Barbershev number one though I talked about with a time on ice in the preseason, but I don't think there was much to look into that because it was a lot of power playtime. It's up all over Barbershev only to get 14, 27 of ice time last night. So that is kind of curious with only a couple of power plays for the Golden Knights. So something to watch with Barbershev's time on ice, but the point being is there's an emphasis on balance right now. And what I did say in the off season was that's why I was preaching for like Mark Stone to be on that third line potentially. So that way would limit his minutes. So obviously less opportunity for injuries and then you get to the playoffs, hopefully with a healthy Mark Stone from the regular season, which would be nice.

7:15Speaking of the captain, a 17 11 of ice time Jack, I call 18 minutes, no one in that 21, 22 minute range as far as the forwards are Mara had 21, 21 on the defensive side. I mean, McNabb 18, 45 Anderson 18, 46 second more. LaZon 17, 20, theater, 21, 22, but that's the two power plays, which we're going to talk about that in a second here. So early indications are you're going to want us, you're going to see a lot of balance from Ryan Craig and a lot of trust up and down the lineup where BGK's last two coaches would not do that. It was a torre de rello. I mean, not grand. This is playoff torre de rello. So not put too much stock and now he managed the team with respect to minutes, but Cassidy, I mean, how often are you seeing your fourth line getting 10 minutes a game? How many, how often those calls are getting 10 minutes a game? And now this fourth line, a Bowman was 10, 58, Dowd was 12, 37 and Gatcom was 10, 31.

8:16Hey, have you heard Hanuffin move to the off side? And he scores a stinking goal. And you know, they gave Connolly the puck after he scored the goal. I think Hanuffin was asking for the puck. It's been so long since he scored his stinking goal. I thought Carter Hart did play okay. I thought we asked Anderson one of the puck. Perhaps potentially 24 saves on 26 shots for Carter Hart. I thought he had some good puck luck, if you will, himself, not the best positioning. Yes, last night. And then during the course of the game, I'm saying, well, they did not use a lot of Carter Hart. Do they come back with him against Anheim? I know they want to start using a rotation of sorts, but I still think Carter Hart in a bigger game, Anheim, will get the start. Thoughts? Um, it's a fair question. Is that your goalie calendar? Do you have that?

9:16It's my, you have my good, the goalie calendar. That's actually pretty good right there. Skiddle is pretty flat, right? Two days off and then basically it's every other day until I back to back in a couple of weeks. I think it's probably going to be a heart and then Hill. If I had the guest, then maybe they go every other game after that for a little bit. But I think I think we see Hart back to back. I think so. Like you said, Hart pretty good in the game. Not, not great, not bad. I mean, two goals and to 13 high danger chances. Um, the greenway goal. I mean, okay, there's a little bit of distance there, but it's good transition. It's a good shot right underneath his glove, not over his glove, but under his glove. Um, and then Patrick Kane, I mean, geez, um, that, that was, uh, that goal is, I'm Connolly and Wilder Spoon, unfortunately. Connolly, uh, that's just, uh, kind of a rookie mistake right there trying to pass that puck back when you got a player blaring down on you. And Wilder Spoon was pretty flat footed in that. So, and, uh, Wilder Spoon didn't, um, there's one, there's one thing I didn't like about the game. I don't think wilder Spoon was very strong. I'm not. And I was at the bottom from a long term, but I didn't really like Wilder Spoon the

10:19game last night. Bottom of the player's stat card, Jack Eichel three points in the game, something I noticed they need to clean up 22 giveaways in the contest. Not a sellout last night, 17,000 in change. He was not considered a sellout last night. 17,000 don't they usually get like 18 something? No, 18 something is like the SRO and all that. But I don't know if it was a opening that I could look that up. I'm curious. There was a lot of empty seats, but I don't put much stock into that because that's kind of the norm in Vegas. People walking around in no shows and stuff. I'm not talking about the Golic Flex. I'm talking about VGK's power play and Chris will break it down next right here on Lockdown Golden Knights. The easiness dinner isn't always the one that comes through a drive through. Sometimes it's knowing you've already got incredible protein sitting in your freezer. That's exactly why Butcherbox has become part of my routine. Butcherbox delivers 100% grass-fed beef, organic chicken, wild-cats, seafood, and more.

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12:22One weeks gives a shout out to Bold in Gold last night. And so it was great. It was absolutely terrific. This team is good. They're bold in gold. How about that, man? We are the trendsetters right here. Thank you for joining us. Of course, as always, and please subscribe to our lockdown, Gold tonight, YouTube channel. Before I get into talking about the power play, Tomas hurdle. We're going to get the best Braden Bowman, the worst on the hockey stat card last night as far as forwards go and Noah Hanuffin. No, I'd be asking for the puck too. When was the last time Noah Hanuffin graded the best on the hockey stat card? And you were talking about Parker, Watherspoon amongst the worst defenseman. Yeah, I mean, real fast on the forward side. So if you look at the hockey stat card, yes, Bowman and Dowder on the bottom. But if you look at basically how much it's shaded to the left, it's not bad at all.

13:25You'll see games where that number gets in the minus two and a half, three range for a couple of forwards. So Bowman, it's not that he was the worst of a good, good group of forwards. That's all. So yeah. The gold tonight scored their first goal of the season on a power play opportunity. Ryan Craig said VGK made the change on the fly. So how did Victor Olivson, who scores that goal, wind up on the unit as Jack Eichel and Shay Theodore got the assists? It was just a line chain, happening. That's all it was basically about what 55, 60, 65 seconds into the power play. Chicago got it clear. So Olivson jumped on the ice and it wasn't like a traditional power play where the team gets set up and moves the puck around and finds a seam. It was a great breakouts and Olivson just had a ton of speed coming on his off wing. I guess we're going to start talking about positioning here, coming on his off wing and just just bar down but right?

14:26I mean, Spencer Nights drawn pretty dead on that one, less the puck hits him and Olivson he's got a great shot. No doubt. So you like the transition in that moment, but my again, Dave game one of 84 concern was I feel when the puck is on the right side of the ice when you have a righty in that right circle, the concern is you're not getting a lot of scoring chances coming directly from that area of the ice. So the puck needs to get back on Jack stick or get below the goal line and it's almost an opportunity for the other team to reset and not relax, but to reset and get their breath back, get their get the air back and reset defensively. So I do wonder how long this is going to last with Marner on that right elbow and the opportunity of switching him and Theodore or putting Marner back up top and putting Olivson on that right side. Yeah, we didn't see a lot of, we didn't see a ton of juggling last night for a day.

15:31No, the lines were removed at all outside of. Yeah, it was stable right. Power play and PK resets. Otherwise my juggling was nonexistent, I believe. Yeah, no, I don't know. There's no need for a major move. Last, a tough game on Craig. The game came to Craig last night, which is good. Yeah, it'll, the temperature will go up against Anaheim, Ted. And then again, so you're saying there's a weak spot on the right flank. And is it not working out with Marner? Well, number one, it's game one of 84. So I'm not going to say it's not working out. Okay. I'm not going to go as far and saying, which Marner's a weak spot either. But this is the type of thing where coming into training camp, there's a plan and going through training camp, there's a plan here. So there's something that Craig and the coaching staff and all the up to Kelly McCrimman do see that they believe is going to make this power play successful. And the goal lights have had very good power plays for the last few seasons. So this is where you, you trust the organization.

16:34There you go. You trust the organization for a little bit here. But at some point, you know, going back to John Tartarelli, you got the stats, you got the eye test, you got what your stomach is telling you. And we'll see what Ryan Craig's stomach tells him if the goal lights don't get a power play goal on that top unit, specifically with the puck going through, which Marner on that right hand side, we'll see if changes do get made. So again, it's very early in the season, small sample size. They did score one, they scored a goal on the power play, which is positive, right? Are there any issues with QB1 delivering the puck? Is there a timing issue? I think that what was Craig, he was a little bit critical of was it the third power play that they had the goal of the night? Yeah. So what are some of the issues there? Are there some timing early season issues? General perspective, not just the power play, but I thought the past, I thought the players

17:35were not doing a good job of accepting passes last night. Did either of the broadcasts match anything about the ice out of curiosity? You got some rain in the area. So you had some humidity. I thought a lot of players were having a hard time. That ice. Oh no. It wasn't good ice last night. It wasn't good team old. I did not listen to the radio broadcast, but I am almost 100%. I was not certain that they said something that there was bad ice. It went on surprise because it was a great one. It's a point. Listen, that's what happens in Vegas. It's a little soggy. A little soggy. You don't get it for that. You humidity, right? Puddles. Yeah. It was in the puddles, but just a little pond hockey. No pond hockey. A little bit of pond hockey, but no, I did notice a lot of the players, both teams, not just the Vegas, accepting some of those just real hard, you know, 40, 50 mile an hour. Chris taped the tape passes. I thought they were bouncing off a lot of a lot of sticks last night and that obviously goes to the power play. Like you originally asked about, I think it was the third power play of the game, start

18:35the third maybe. It just didn't look very sound at all. The golemets didn't get much going, which is going to happen. Like we said, it's game one of 84. I still have to get used to saying game 84. Like I'm not used to saying the Utah man with this will call him the coyote. So we'll see if I can catch on there. Like I said, I mean, there's something that was identified that having Mariner on this right elbow works. And I thought you would see more changes happening during the power plays, just the puck coming up and, you know, Mariner and Theodore kind of switching places organically, just kind of on the fly and didn't really see that last night. Mariner was pretty much on that right side. And Theodore was cubying. No issues with Theodore is a cubie. Never going to be an issue with Mariner as a cubie. They're both a stellar at their jobs. Mariner's probably, I mean, everyone knows Mariner's probably one of the best power play cubies in the league. He did a great job in Toronto, did a great job in Vegas for most of the last season. So you do have to wonder what the discussion point is and why having Mariner doing something

19:37that's unnatural, not cubying and something more unnatural, being on the offwing. There you go, more offwing discussions. So yeah, I mean, again, game one of 84. Let's see what happens Friday. Let's see what happens Sunday when they go to what Vancouver already. Yeah, when they go to Vancouver, who beat the oilers and a barn. The Red Hot 29. There's your pond hockey, Tony. Paul, I was watching that game too back and forth and Paul Codder with the game winner. Big, big day. Yeah, Edmonton. They're there. You joke you got a little lot of four to three hockey. Edmonton got to win a lot of seven to six hockey this year. Seven six. Seven six. Overall, special teams. The Golden Knights had some opportunities shorthanded in the game. That was the opportunity shorthandes. Yeah, they looked okay, but then that led to the greenway goal, I think. Yeah, probably. I think so. One end, some pressure. Shorthanded VGK. And then after the power play expired, I think is when Chicago scored that goal.

20:38The youth could take over the bottom six. We see the youth movement and we saw it on display last night. We'll talk about it next here. On lockdown, Golden Knights. Most people do not realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers collected tales about you from public records and the internet and then they package and sell that information often without your consent. And that could lead to more spam targeted ads, even scammers getting access to your information. Or it helps to protect your personal information by actively removing your data from data broker sites and keeping it off. And Aura does not stop at the data removal. It'll help you with bringing several layers of digital protection together in one application, making it easier to protect your information and identity. You search for something once and suddenly it feels like that product is following you

21:42everywhere. And then the Robocalls and Spam start piling up and it really makes you wonder how much of your information is out there. And that's the kind of problem that Aura is designed to help address. A-U-R-A, start your free trial today. Aura.com slash aware. Once again, protect yourself right now at aura.com slash aware. Get your guys thinking kind of a dart off of my television screen. They did like what they thought that but I it was off. We were in real time watching them like wow they hit you without their a long time. It was out there a long time. Yes, it was a long shift. It was a real long shift for but it was a long shift but he should have been in the smaller box. Instead we have the small box like on the right side of the screen and you can't really watch the game because it's a total death moment from ESPN. There's no doubt about that.

22:43Of several of several. Oh, kind of a dart with the photo op with the Gallic fan. Yeah, that was pretty cool. So I spotted where he was doing the interview and we were doing our second period walk like we always do. I'm like, all right, Chris follow me. And sure enough I was able to kind of figure out where they were going to take them and I walked right by. I just kind of gave him a nod point at the phone. He kind of gave me that nod back and he stopped and just wished me all and got a picture of Chris and there was a nice little moment. So pretty awesome. I love your comment that Chris can be taller than the dart this time next year. I will be. He will be mad. And those walks maybe in a year or two, dad, could I just have a beer, sneak me a beer, something there and he's not going to go on a few more years for that. Okay. So two bottom six pieces last night showed why they could very well be the future of this club Trevor Connelly who we've talked about a ton and Braden Bowman talked about him a lot as well.

23:44Connelly scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game. He also had four shots total on the night. His minutes 1122 as you talked about managing time. So he made an impact while he was on the ice and Braden Bowman didn't have much of an impact. But his line was pretty solid. They were, let's just say responsible, Nick Dowd, Mark Gattcom, together on that line first time really, they're just in their infancy. Bowman 1058 total. Boy did he take a vicious shot by Sam Renzell in that game. And Gattcom came to his rescue and wound up in the box himself. But the two rookies are going to be targeted I think by opponents. And that's something they're going to have to live with. And the vets are going to have to step up and protect them. But let's talk about the play of those two pieces Connelly and Bowman.

24:44Mission Gattcom for a second eight hits last night for Gattcom by the way. I think the defense had three hits coming. I told you I liked that guy. No, so I was sort of brainbowman. I mean, Connelly's getting the flowers for the goal and his offensive awareness and everything. But I thought Bowman, I was concerned about him as a fourth line left winger because he's not that physically. He's not necessarily that big defensive physical presence. You expect on that fourth line we've seen the likes of Colesar and Will Carrier and players like that kind of carry the mail there. But watching Bowman last night, there was one shift in particular where I was the first or second as a matter, but he got low. And instead of staying up high and watching the play behind him, he got low and disrupted passes going right through the slaughter where I like to call the money zone a couple of times. And just his defensive awareness shows he's able to handle now any role on the four lines with either either of the wings and whether he's up on the top line, which he's going to be at some point this year is going to be injuries things are going to happen.

25:47Or if he does stay on that fourth line most of the season, he's going to be able to handle what's in front of him. So Bowman, the biggest two knocks were lack of finish last year. I'm sure that'll be improved this year. And then his defensive play was just not very good last year. He couldn't trust him in big circumstances. Bowman obviously made a commitment to improve. And to Connolly, yeah, I mean, we've said a lot about him. He created a lot of opportunities. He was around it all night. When he was on the ice, you knew he was going to be a factor. And you talked about Tomas Hurtles scoring well last night. I think Connolly is making things a lot easier on Tomas Hurtles. So that third line didn't really have too many concerns about them defensively. But let's see what how things go. And as you said, the temperature goes up against some better competition next couple of weeks. It sure does. And Connolly, one of the areas that he was asked to improve on during the off season was his movement away from the puck.

26:49So you talked about him being in the middle of the action. Did you see any improvement with him doing things that might not show up in the box score? You say Connolly or Bowman pardon me. I blanked out. I said Connolly. Yeah. No, Connolly, he keeps his feet moving. I noticed this in the preseason. He does something a little different than I don't that I don't see from a lot of forwards where when that cycle is going when the team has puck possession, he's not just getting in that triangle and staying tight. He's actually almost getting out of the play and getting his feet moving and picking up speed. So it's almost like you're how a player breaks out. They get that speed coming out from their own blue line. Have that zone entry and maybe you create a quick transition kind of like the old single. Well, Connolly is getting his feet moving and going downhill while there's puck possession. It's very creative and we'll see how other teams adjust to that or what Connolly's what he's doing. How that helps the rest of the players on the ice. But Connolly, he knows where to be. He knows how to get there.

27:49And again, game one of 84 where we're not judging things on the negative. This early, it's not get too far ahead of ourselves, but you do like what you're seeing from Connolly away from the puck and waited away from the puck is why he scored his first NHL goal. He got in position, stick on the ice and it was probably the longest and the longest moment of his life to happen that puck in last night. We appreciate everyone tuning into our show. Thank you so, so much. These shows go flying by these days. Now on video, we send you to the first ever 24, seven Lockdown Sports today YouTube channel. And on audio, check out Lockdown NHL for the release of the 2026 Lockdown NHL top 100 players. We are bold and gold. See you again tomorrow right here on Lockdown Golden Nights. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day for your second listen. Go find Lockdown Fantasy Hockey.

28:49Steal Rodin and Flip Living Stone provide daily fantasy tips to give you the edge over your leaguemates all while making you a smarter hockey fan. Find Lockdown Fantasy Hockey on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team, every day.