Why Vegas won

[Roryslosh]

Was it rigged? I'm unsure... but red flags were definitely going up. Not once in the previous 94 games(yes I watched every one) did I have suspicions about the integrity of what I'm watching but yet in games 2-5 it seemed painfully clear something seemed to be going on.

Vegas won quite simply because of the complete liberty they had to hold, hook and interfere at will. It allowed a badly inferior team to keep virtually all scoring opportunities to low risk areas(which is why fleurys save percentage is so high) and it allowed for their "quick strike" due to creating unusual turnovers and unnaturally gaining position and space in the offensive zone.

If you noticed, referring made sure to penalize the jets early in every game with quick holding or interference call to establish what will be "normal" for the game. As we saw In some cases like the one on wheeler it was a complete phantom call. As for vegas, basically every penalty call on them was tripping essentially letting all their holding and interference go completely unchecked as we saw with mcnab right in front of the ref. This led to a completely stacked deck giving the jets very little chance to win puck battles, make crisp passes or even gain good position away from the play.

This is why vegas won the series, this is why vegas beat the sharks and kings and this is why vegas even made the playoffs. Vegas isn't good, they are a team of bottom 6 forwards and 3rd pair Dmen. Lucas sbisa didn't all of a sudden become awesome at hockey, he became a lot more effective when he can grab his way back into position once he loses a step.

Based on pure odds a Canadian team should win the cup every 4th year and a Canadian team should be in the finals every second year. It's more than just a coincidence it's been 25+ years a Canadian team has won and only 4 Canadian teams have even made the final over that span. People need to stop putting up with this crap.

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[snowkiddin]

The officials were crap and Vegas is one of Bettman’s pets (he may even join in the celebration if they win the Cup) but isn’t it a bit much to think the entire season was rigged for them?

 

[StatisticsAddict99]

There where many factors, we just got past a 7 game series with Nashville so we where tired, Maurice didn’t make enough changes in the lineup, Vegas’s entire group was working much harder defensively(maybe it has to do with the fact they where well rested), Hellebuyck had a bad series where he couldnt stop much while Fluery was flying all over the place stoping qaulity shots and huge chances.

Let’s not entirely blame the refs... The refs noticeably bad for us for a majority of the series but tonight shows you a game where they let the calls go in favour of our way and we still couldn’t do a damn thing, this is simply a team being beat by another team. Refs suck, no team likes them but they’re not to blame for our bad series.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

Jets scored 9 goals in 5 games... 5 in the last 4. Thats why they lost.

 

[JetsFan815]

Why Vegas won

The almighty PDO has claimed yet another victim in the Jets.

 

[Zhamnov10]

I would say the biggest advantage Vegas had over us Was the amount of 18-23 year olds.They had I think 1 and we had 4 or 5 these are just kids

 

[Roryslosh]

Jets scored 9 goals in 5 games... 5 in the last 4. Thats why they lost.

And why did they do that? Listen, I get it.. it fn sucks to have to reconsider something you are so passionate about but you guys all looking for what could have been done to overcome it are the one who enable it.

No team in any sport should have to that much more just to win a game. If hockey hasn't ever been rigged it'll be the only professional one in the history of mankind.

 

[AlphaLackey]

At the end of the day, I think the primary reason was that Vegas had a much bigger edge in the net. Not just because MAF played unsustainably over his head (the "league average goalie has 1-in-6 chance of playing at a Vezina level in a 15 game stretch" rule comes to mind) but Hellebuyck had two weaknesses that the Knights absolutely zeroed in on mercilessly: High over the shoulder, and that Bucky handles the puck like the Three Stooges handle a live grenade. Just imagine if, the first time Vegas sent two guys behind the net, Bucky was able to rip it high off the glass over the forecheckers, never mind "didn't cack up a back-breaking freebie" in a pivotal game. What comparable flaw in MAF could we have exploited? I can't think of any.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

And why did they do that? Listen, I get it.. it fn sucks to have to reconsider something you are so passionate about but you guys all looking for what could have been done to overcome it are the one who enable it.

No team in any sport should have to that much more just to win a game. If hockey hasn't ever been rigged it'll be the only professional one in the history of mankind.

How in the blue hell do you rig hockey? Ok.. Luca.. You are gonna shoot the puck and Armia u deflect it to Reaves who deflects it bardown. Ya sure.

Sorry. But Vegas won cuz the Jets were gassed.. Vegas knew it and outworked them. Fleury stood on his head.. That in the script also?

Vegas got all the bounces and while i agree with them getting away with murder every game, not just This series but this year in general, they won cuz they outworked the young Jets.

Fleury likely has as much PO experience as our entire team.

 

[Deedog99]

Jets scored 9 goals in 5 games... 5 in the last 4. Thats why they lost.

Totally agree.

 

[koth]

Was it rigged? I'm unsure... but red flags were definitely going up. Not once in the previous 94 games(yes I watched every one) did I have suspicions about the integrity of what I'm watching but yet in games 2-5 it seemed painfully clear something seemed to be going on.

Vegas won quite simply because of the complete liberty they had to hold, hook and interfere at will. It allowed a badly inferior team to keep virtually all scoring opportunities to low risk areas(which is why fleurys save percentage is so high) and it allowed for their "quick strike" due to creating unusual turnovers and unnaturally gaining position and space in the offensive zone.

If you noticed, referring made sure to penalize the jets early in every game with quick holding or interference call to establish what will be "normal" for the game. As we saw In some cases like the one on wheeler it was a complete phantom call. As for vegas, basically every penalty call on them was tripping essentially letting all their holding and interference go completely unchecked as we saw with mcnab right in front of the ref. This led to a completely stacked deck giving the jets very little chance to win puck battles, make crisp passes or even gain good position away from the play.

This is why vegas won the series, this is why vegas beat the sharks and kings and this is why vegas even made the playoffs. Vegas isn't good, they are a team of bottom 6 forwards and 3rd pair Dmen. Lucas sbisa didn't all of a sudden become awesome at hockey, he became a lot more effective when he can grab his way back into position once he loses a step.

Based on pure odds a Canadian team should win the cup every 4th year and a Canadian team should be in the finals every second year. It's more than just a coincidence it's been 25+ years a Canadian team has won and only 4 Canadian teams have even made the final over that span. People need to stop putting up with this crap.

This is the stupidest thing I've ever read.

 

[GNP]

Jets scored 9 goals in 5 games... 5 in the last 4. Thats why they lost.

_________________________________________________________

Do this not say it all ?? --Jet's scored 9 goals in 5 games --about 1.8 goals per game. Does anybody in their right mind think your going to win with "no goal scoring" ?? This is the "main reason " why the Jet's lost.

Why no Goal scoring ??

1) Fleury was saving at around 95 % to start.( how can you beat that ?)

2) The Preds series took a lot out of us--the Jet's looked very sluggish.

3) Our 30 goal scorers were not producing anything--like Ehlers, Connor etc. We also got no depth scoring from Perrault, Little, Lowry etc --so how do we expect to win, hoping Scheif scores 2-3 goals every game--is not going to cut it. Statsny was invisible against the Knights as well-his age is showing., and he should not be resigned. He'll want 4-5 years and sround $ 6 mil per--let someone else swallow that big bill--like New York--they have money to blow, and love to overpay players.

4) The young guys looked a little intimidated by the big playoff stage--the big loud crowds and high expectations--they will learn from this--mature, and be a lot better next year, and expect to see the Preds and Vegas as our "main competition."

 

[Paul4587]

As an outside observer and someone who watched every game of your series the main reason Vegas won was goaltending. You guys outplayed them by a decent margin overall but Fleury was lights out.

Officiating also didn’t help, nor did having Enstrom playing regular minutes (he was brutal for the most part) but going forward you guys are going to see a lot of success where as unless they get significant additions in the offseason the Knights will be more of a Cinderella story.

 

[kxx]

It would be nice to believe that - makes it easier to accept - but fact is Vegas scored enough goals and we didn't - they struggled against us at times - that says a lot - there were no huge blowouts like they are fully capable of - but they really knew what they were doing. I didn't realize it really until now but the amount of time we spent panicking in our own zone as they came in wave after wave. Really they made it seem like they had 6 skaters on at a time. That adds up and even though we were still fast (started to look gassed near the back end of the series) it stopped being controlled.

Still think Fleury MVP but the more I think about the more I was blown away by how much ground each of their players covered. It could change how the game is played.

Maybe as simple as the extra 3 or 4 days of rest and the hot goalie. Again the conspiracy can make it easier to deflect the reality we weren't as ready for the WCF / SCF as we thought - but the league can barely get its tweets right sometimes let alone set up something like this. Watch the games again and its easy to see what happened.

Officiating is bad and inconsistent across the entire league but today and last game we failed on multiple powerplays. There are bad / missed calls for both sides.

 

[folix]

LMAO ill add to this! Cause why not right? In the year before Sportsnet signed its massive TV for Canada almost ALL the Canadian teams made the playoffs. This artifically inflated the price to 1 billion.

The year after? Not one Canadian team made it, not......one.

After the great MLS scandal and how corrupt it is, and Canada now deemed as one of the most corrupt countries in the world for sports honestly? Who the hell knows.

Ever since Bret Hulls skate was in the crease and the NHL allowed the Stars to win the cup and not review that goal because you know they dont give a shit about Buffalo but the Stars sure needed the money. Ever since then ive doubted the league. To be honest I pretty much stopped watching hockey after that, but when the Jets came back I gave it another shot.

There does leave a lot to questioned, honestly there is. From the seemingly random suspensions handed out to phantom penalties to ever enigmatic goal interference, the NHL has the ability to influence the out comes of games however it pleases now.

 

[Channelcat]

Vegas played smart playoff hockey. Wpg didn't in this round. Jets are a highly entertaining team with some awesome characters but they aren't a technical team. Jets, you did not make the cut. Hand in your weapon.

 

[Turin]

Fleury > Hellebuyck and that’s mostly it.

 

[WingsOverAvs]

BREAK OUT THE TIN FOIL HATS! There is no conspiracy so please stop it.

PP opportunities were 17-11 in favor of WPG. Were some calls missed? Sure. But that goes both ways and those sort of things tend to balance out over the course of a series.

Hellebuyck didnt play poorly per say. He was solid between the pipes but struggled a bit handling the puck and it cost him more than once.

As the series went on I thought WPG looked hesitant to shoot at times. Fleury was playing so well it seemed to get in their heads and they tried looking for the "perfect shot" instead of just getting it on net.

Defensively, WPG didnt have an answer for the Vegas dump and chase. Vegas was the faster team and it showed every night but game 1. There was just a constant onslaught of pressure.

Vegas was more disciplined and I thought Gallant outcoached Maurice

 

[gn2007]

It doesn't help you guys when during game 2,3,4 you guys scored than Vegas answered immidiately and pretty much steal back the momentum and play their way of hockey.

 

[irunthepeg]

I don't agree with this guys post in terms of it being the reason the Jets lost but it didn't help. I do think all the calls (and bounces) went the way of the VGK. They definitely outworked the Jets but they got help too.

 

[CorgisPer60]

Reasons why the Jets lost - an objective lesson:

Vegas scored more goals and gave up fewer.

~fin

To expand on this, Vegas worked their asses off all series. That's not to say the Jets didn't play hard as well, or worked for it, but Vegas was clearly the harder working team. Gallant had them pulling on the rope at the same time, in unison. No one took any shifts off, other than a by-design prevent-defense in the 3rd period of a couple of the games. They got success by being fast on the forecheck, fast on the backcheck, fast in getting sticks into lanes, etc. They were fast in all aspects of the ice, and executed their defensive schemes to near perfection. They were the closest I'd seen to a perfectly executing team in these playoffs. Fleury had to work, but he was able to make the saves that would have been goals for a lesser goalie.

They won with Deryk Engelland taking regular shifts in the top 4, and he didn't look overwhelmed or out of place. What does that tell you about Gerard Gallant? What does that tell you about GMGM? What does that tell you about the rest of the GMs in the league? One thing I will say is that Chevy played the XD to perfection, giving up almost nothing in exchange for keeping his team together. That made them one of the strongest in the league. That was undermined by several GMs out-GMing themselves, seeking to protect people they thought were valuable, and giving Vegas stronger pieces to keep them away from those pieces. Trading Reilly Smith to Vegas so they would take Marchessault, all to protect Alex Petrovic. Trading Alex Tuch so they would select Haula, instead of one of their top 4 defensemen (which they traded away to get 2 underwhelming forward pieces *cough*). You can't really fault the Pittsburgh deal, as it was the most logical move to make. The Islanders' one was largely derided when it was made, but none of the pieces mattered to the Knights this year, so it was largely irrelevant. CBJ I can forgive, because no one expected a guy who's career best season goal totals was 9 to have the year he had this year.

It seems like everything aligned for Vegas, when most of it was the result of GMs out-GMing themselves. Is this GMGM taking advantage of a market inefficiency? Is he playing 6D chess? This is the guy who famously traded Erat + nobody for Filip Forsberg, and gave up a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for Tomas Tatar, who was healthy scratched for most of his time in Vegas.

Ultimately, to quote Buff: Shit Happens. *shrugs*

I would say the biggest advantage Vegas had over us Was the amount of 18-23 year olds.They had I think 1 and we had 4 or 5 these are just kids

This brings up another interesting point. Look at the average age of all the players on Vegas' roster. Look at all of their individual ages. Alex Tuch is the youngest at 21. Deryk Engelland is the oldest at 35. They are the outliers. Everybody else is either just entering their prime, are precisely in their prime, or just leaving their prime. _Everyone_ was in the position to be at or near their ceiling.

Edit: Oh. I responded legitimately to a thread that decided that the best way to gauge what happened was to cry conspiracy about the reffing. Carry on then.

 

[Guffman]

After Game 1, we got behind every game. Whenever we clawed our way back, we let in a demoralizing goal shortly thereafter. Needed some timely saves.

A lot of Jets just didn’t produce. Secondary scoring evaporated.

 

[raideralex99]

The refs do play a big part in every sport but the great teams are able to over come it. Yes, the Jets had a few bad calls go against and maybe it cost them a game of two in this series but in the end they have to be able to handle that and they did not.
Here's my question I wonder how Vegas would handle it if the calls went against them and they lost a game of two ... would they be able to over come it?
Oh wait there was one game ... game 2 against the Sharks where the Sharks got all the breaks and the calls went against Vegas. Vegas lost and Gallant cried like a baby about the 7 PPs the Sharks got and the interference the Sharks were running.

The short series with the Kings sure helped Vegas ... it's a good thing the NHL suspended Drew Doughty or else the double overtime game could have produced a different outcome.

No I don't have my tin hat on ... I just proving a point it seems very strange how one team gets a lot of calls in their favor in 3 different series.

Anyways I'm cheering for Vegas now just so teams get the picture ... don't over pay for FAs no player is worth $10 million

 

[WaveRaven]

I think it's pretty naive to think that the NHL has no influence on game style.

It was obvious by the early penalties called and to whom that game style benefits.

 

[PhilJets]

Game 2
Knights adjusted their defensive scheme.
Adjusted their gaps
Adjusted how to counter attack the Jets pinching defense

Game 4
Knights additional adjustments.
Make the life of Mark Schiefele a living hell.

Knights
They work hard all 18 skaters every shift.
Never let up.
Preds were much talented and same with Jets but Knights have this workmanlike system that they kept going and going.
Fleury gave them confidence
They have a coach that fits the Knights like a mold.

Jets
7 players scored in 5 games.
Only 4 forwards!!!!
Mental breakdown from the whole team once they get a goal.
No adjustment made to counter the Knights system. We kept trying to push what was not working. Activate thr D for offense. It worked with the Preds but not with the Knights.
Late changes on some personnel.
Morrow Kulikov Armia Roslovic should have been inserted in earlier.
Coach should have switched lines to try to throw of Knights.

I don't blame the coach. In the end Knights were the better team overall.
The vets didnt produce.

Whats my personal take for next year.
Buff Wheeler Little Perrault.
Have to take a back seat next year with ice time to the young group.
This was their chance to lead and take it all the way. Time to adjust responsibilities and leadership.
Nothing against the vets.

 

[Keystone]

I was disappointed in the lack of physical play. Maybe they were gassed and Vegas isn’t the easiest team to hit but I felt like a lot of guys passed on easy chances to lay a hurtin on the smaller forwards and didn’t. Especially the guys who weren’t providing anything else offensively.