Gerard Gallant continues to show faith in Deryk Engelland
Gerard Gallant spent all summer and training camp settling on his preferred defense pairs, and for the first time since opening night, the Golden Knights coach was able to use them Thursday.
That meant: Brayden McNabb and Nate Schmidt as the top pair, Jon Merrill with Shea Theodore on the right, and Nick Holden joined by Deryk Engelland against the Canadiens.
Gallant wasn’t left much room to draw outside the lines with his lineup, as the Knights did not recall anyone from the American Hockey League and went with six defensemen in the 5-4 overtime loss at T-Mobile Arena.
Once they do, it’s still unlikely Gallant will go away from the 37-year-old Engelland.
Gallant is committed to keeping Schmidt and Theodore as right defensemen to balance all three pairs and doesn’t seem to mind that it limits his options elsewhere.
Engelland can play the right with Merrill, which would leave a Holden-Theodore combination that seems sketchy at best. Or, Engelland can skate with a rookie as he’s done for much of the season, and one of Holden or Merrill becomes a healthy scratch.
Regardless, Gallant wants the Knights’ de facto captain and top penalty killer in the lineup rather than a rookie skating with Theodore.
When Gallant was asked prior to Thursday’s game whether he’s seen enough to keep the Merrill-Holden pair together, which would ostensibly push Engelland out of the lineup, he had a lukewarm response.
“I thought they played real well together,” he said of Merrill and Holden. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to keep them together, but they played well. They played good.”
Neither of the rookies grabbed hold of a job during their audition in first 13 games of the season and supplanted Engelland.
Nic Hague showed why the Knights are high on the 20-year-old, but also struggled with his defensive zone coverage at times.
Jake Bischoff played like a five-year veteran in his NHL debut against Pittsburgh and didn’t appear out of place in the loss at Philadelphia. But then there’s this lapse for Chicago’s first goal on Oct. 22.
Engelland entered Thursday with a 45.2 shot attempts percentage at 5-on-5, the lowest among the Knights’ defensemen.
He and Holden struggled in puck possession against the Canadiens at 32.3 and 34.5 shot attempt percentage, respectively, according to the website NaturalStatTrick.
But unless Gallant plans to A.) pair a rookie at left defense with Theodore and B.) keep the Merrill-Holden pair together, Engelland will remain a mainstay in the lineup.
Temporary change for Pirri
Wing Brandon Pirri filled in as the sixth defenseman at times during practice this week, which is slightly ironic considering he was labeled a liability in his own zone by coaches and scouts early in his career.
That also meant Pirri temporarily joined the defensemen during the conditioning skate at the end of practice, and the wing didn’t hesitate to point out it was easier than what the forwards do.
“The whole practice was,” Pirri cracked. “Those guys have it easy.”
The scene brought back memories of the 2013-14 season when Engelland sporadically skated at right wing on the Penguins’ fourth line.
Engelland bagged a career-high six goals that season.
“It was different. More skating but less thinking, I guess,” he recalled. “I guess you just got to get used to the system and stuff.
“I played forward for even strength and then (penalty kill) I’d go back and kill at the point sometimes. It wasn’t ideal, but it’s better than sitting in the press box.”
Quotable
Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant on the 5-4 loss to Montreal:
“I don’t think we were that bad. The two goals went off of people. We had a 4-2 lead; we were playing pretty good hockey. I wasn’t totally happy with the whole game but it was still good enough to win. I don’t think it’s inconsistency. They got some hockey luck at the end, off Tatar’s body and off Gallagher’s skate. What do you do about that? Overtime I didn’t like, obviously.”
Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch:
“They’re a good team. They kept battling, kept working, kept throwing pucks on net. I think we got a little lackadaisical. … We sat back, and we’re not a team that sits back ever. Even if we have a two-, three-, four-goal lead, we’ve got to keep going. Anything can happen. They get one and get a little bit of momentum and pull their goalie and they get another. It takes all of us in here. It can’t just be one or two guys that continue to work. It’s got to be all 20.”
Golden Knights left wing Jonathan Marchessault:
“We still had pretty good chances. We still played not too bad. It’s just not good enough for our group to have a two-goal lead and don’t close that out in the third period. At some point, you got to give credit to the other team but their goals were just kind of lucky too. Tatar was off his chest and in. Gallagher was off his skate and in. It’s lucky goals and I guess it’s not the lucky bounce we’re getting too right now.”
Golden Knights center Cody Eakin:
“Anytime you have a lead like that you want to finish off with two. It’s a tough one. We can’t be happy with it.”
Canadiens coach Claude Julien:
“I think the biggest thing is the guys never gave up and we fell behind the eight ball in the third period with a few goals. The main thing for us tonight, we knew it was going to be a tough game. The key was not to get frustrated and to stick with it, and I think we did a good job of that. We fell behind by a couple of goals, but on the bench, we kept saying let’s get the next one here and put some pressure on. When you believe and you work properly and you do the right things, which we did, we started throwing pucks at the net and we started getting some traffic there and battled around the net. We got rewarded for that. For playing against a really good hockey club here, you have to be happy with the two points.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.