Well I think they learned their lesson from the Tampa game. No shots from Vegas for the final 15 minutes is pretty sweet. Overall they looked like the better team. Georgie looked shaky, but hopefully that shootout gives him some more confidence going forward, because they probably aren't willing to give up on him any time soon. Nate also looked more like himself, and it's early days, but Kylington sure looks like a potential Girard replacement if we have to make that move at some point.
I feel happy for Nuke that he got those goals. He works so hard on the ice, so it's nice to see him rewarded.
On the whole addiction discussion and whether or not to cheer for him, I think I have a rather odd take. I don't really care what he does off the ice. If he had been taken out of the playoffs due to him injuring himself doing something dumb, it wouldn't matter to me any more or less than him failing a drug test. Hockey players, on the whole, are not smart people. I'm sure they make all sorts of stupid decisions in their personal life. Most barely have high school educations. Nuke also has the issue of Russian culture, especially Russian star athlete culture.
I mean, back in the day hockey players apparently were doing coke all the time. Do we even know what kinds of things the 96 team were putting into their bodies? How about the 01 team?
I think Val's family, friends and teammates have reason to be annoyed or angry with him, but me as a fan? Do whatever you want Val. I'll cheer for you when you're on the ice and when you're not (for whatever reason) I'm not going to think of you much.
And the fact is, he's not a tradable asset (at least not without taking a loss compared to what he brings on the ice), so anyone who cheers for this team should probably get used to seeing him play.
Honestly, this whole mindset that he quit on his team reminds me a lot of what went on in Toronto with Kadri, who got suspended in the playoffs two consecutive playoffs. After they traded him here, Dubas even said that they "had to" trade him. That was never remotely true - look what they got for him compared to what he brought us. Kadri likely would still be in Toronto and be their long-time 2nd line center, but they got caught up in the narrative that just because it happened before, it's guaranteed to happen again.
So, will Val fail another drug test? Maybe. He might be a drug addict, and that likely means relapses. In my mind, that makes him similar to someone like Drouin, who is always getting injured. When he's around - great. When he's not - that sucks but the rest of the team will need to step up.
Lastly, when it comes to addiction in general, I'm team empathy. Yeah there are probably some dumb decisions scattered throughout any addict's story, but there's also the fact that we're talking about a chemical addiction here - not something based purely on willpower. Couple that with an environment where you have tons of money, tons of freedom, and lots of physical pain, and it's frankly amazing that more hockey players don't fail drug tests (or maybe they're just not testing for the right drugs).
