Golden Knights Postgame: Robin Lehner: “It Is What It Is.”

Monday night will be a game to forget for the Vegas Golden Knights as they allowed five unanswered goals and lost to the St. Louis Blues 5-2. For the first time in forever the Golden Knights actually came out strong in the first period and led 2-0. Reilly Smith and Chandler Stephenson scored for the VGK. 

With the Golden Knights already halfway done with their road trip and owning a tremendous home record, the team will look to put this game on the backburner. They will take on the Nashville Predators Wednesday night where Max Pacioretty will likely rejoin the team

A perfect bounce-back opportunity for the Golden Knights. 

“I think the best thing for us is to have a short memory, to turn the page and focus on Nashville,” said Reilly Smith, who has five points in his last five games including a goal Monday night.

Thankfully for the team, Anaheim Ducks lost Monday night as well. However, the Golden Knights are still out of a top-three spot in the Pacific Division as they trail the Ducks by one point. There is still a lot of time left in the season of course, but every point matters.

Monday night Robin Lehner had perhaps his worst game of the 2021-22 season and for the first time this year, he looked unstable. Ryan O’Reilly scored from a sharp angle for the Blues’ first goal. But Lehner owned up to his mistakes postgame.

“I kind of screwed up the first goal it was obviously a pretty bad goal. But I thought I’d bounce back with a couple of saves. It is what it is,” said Lehner.

Mark Stone was another player that seemed to be off tonight. Since rejoining the Golden Knights after missing twelve games with injury, the captain has yet to score a goal.

“I think any guys that have missed extensive amounts of time are going to have to work their way back into the game. Stone is not alone there. Shea Theodore‘s in that group,” Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer said on Stone.

“This isn’t going to be automatic as these guys bounce back in our lineup they are going to be up to game speed it is going to take them a while to get their timing and everything else and everything else but he is still a very good player for us,” 

It’s not panic yet for the Golden Knights. They will be fine. Pacioretty and Alec Martinez could return soon. Jonathan Marchessault, Michael Amadio, and William Carrier will be coming off COVID protocols as well. The Golden Knights lineup could greatly improve here quickly.

VGK roster could look something like this soon. Patches and Alec return- COVID guys come back #VegasBorn

Pacioretty-Stephenson-Stone
Marchessault- Roy–Smith
Janmark- Leschyshyn Dadonov
Carrier- Brooks- Kolesar

Hague–Pietrangelo
Martinez- Theodore
McNabb- Whitecloud

— Owen Krepps (@OKrepps85) November 23, 2021

Also, a friendly reminder that Jack Eichel is a Vegas Golden Knight.