The Vegas Golden Knights (2-0-0) remain undefeated after securing a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues (2-1-0) Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights’ top line accounted for two of the four goals, and Shea Theodore and Nicolas Roy each notched their first of the year in the victory.
For the second game in a row, the Golden Knights surrendered the first goal, as Pavel Buchnevich cut to the middle of the ice and roofed a backhand over Adin Hill’s shoulder 6:47 into the contest.
But just as they did in the home opener, the Golden Knights responded quickly, as Jack Eichel beat Blues netminder Jordan Binnington just 1:15 later.
Ten minutes after that, the red-hot top line gave Vegas its first lead of the night when Mark Stone sent a behind-the-back feed to the cutting Ivan Barbashev, who buried his third of the year.
It was another full-line goal, giving the trio of Eichel, Stone and Barbashev a whopping 17 points through the first four periods of the season.
Theodore extended the lead to 3-1 less than three minutes into the middle frame when he wired home a rebound off a Cole Schwindt slapshot.
In his Vegas debut, Schwindt — claimed off waivers from Calgary earlier this week — recorded his first career NHL point.
After the game, Schwindt, who was impressed by the atmosphere in T-Mobile Arena, said he owed Theodore a dinner for getting him on the board; he also said he intended to give the puck to his mom so she could “look at it everywhere.”
But three minutes after Theodore found twine, a turnover by Roy forced Theodore into taking a slashing penalty. It was a “good” penalty, but it resulted in another Buchnevich tally, bringing St. Louis back within one 7:29 into the second.
The St. Louis power play moved the puck extremely well, and Buchnevich beat Hill with a top-corner blast from the circle.
For the first time this season, the Golden Knights gave up a goal and did not respond within 2:14; however, they did respond.
It took just over 25 minutes, but Roy tipped a Theodore shot for his first of the season to restore Vegas’ two-goal lead with 7:07 remaining in the third.
The Blues entered Friday’s game with two come-from-behind wins under their belt, and it was another strong third-period push by St. Louis, who cut the lead to one goal for the third time with just under five minutes left.
A streaking Robert Thomas caught Hill cheating and beat him blocker-side with a laser to make it a 4-3 game.
Less than a minute later, Noah Hanifin was called for delay of game, setting up a dangerous Blues power play. However, the Golden Knights had an excellent kill and then shut things down the rest of the way, preventing Binnington from heading to the bench until the final minute of the third.
Vegas held on to the 4-3 lead for their second straight victory to open the season.
“We were really dialed in, played winning hockey at the end, and that’s a real positive this time of the year,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s two leads we’ve had in the third period, both games we’ve closed them out. I was really proud of the guys at the end for getting it down and kind of dialing it up a bit at those key moments.”
Theodore, who is responsible for five of the 10 points scored by Vegas defensemen this season, described the Golden Knights as “very resilient. We’ve been opportunistic, but I think defensively we’ve shut down some pretty high-profile players so far, so it’s a good test of our group.”
Though it failed to cash in, the Vegas power play was effective once again. The Golden Knights hit the post twice on the first attempt and had excellent movement on the second.
“I’ve lucked our puck recovery,” Cassidy said about the man-advantage. “I’ve liked our decision making with the puck, when to shoot, which shots to take. We’re generating a lot of action at the net, but I think it’s our puck recoveries for the most part, and then not forcing a play but making a good play. Managing risk-reward so that you’re not one-and-done type of thing. I think that’s where it’s been better; hopefully that’ll continue.”
At the end of the day, however, the Golden Knights are 2-0-0 because of the top line, which has been sensational through two games.
Eichel, Stone and Barbashev have combined for 17 points. In the win over the Blues, the Eichel line had a ridiculous 85.6 percent expected goal share and 85.71 percent scoring chance share, generating five high-danger chances while giving up zero.
“Those are the guys you look to, and that’s why we put them together at the start,” Cassidy said. “Let’s rely on them early on and know that they’re gonna generate, and then go from there.”
Through two games, Eichel has one goal and five assists, Stone has two goals and three assists and Barbashev has three goals and three assists.
“They’re dynamic off the rush,” Cassidy said. “They can all make plays and all score. There’s not one guy who’s strictly a playmaker, one strictly a shooter, and that’s been the beauty of it.”
Eichel and Barbashev have had excellent chemistry going back to the 2022-23 campaign.
“He’s easy to read off, he wins a lot of battles, he’s good on the walls,” Eichel said about his linemate. “I think he’s got some underrated hands and scoring touch in tight. He does a lot of little things that as a centerman make my job a lot easier.”
Eichel also highlighted Stone’s hockey IQ, and he attributed some of the line’s early success to Stone’s ability to strip pucks and extend time in the offensive zone.
“He’s a world-class player,” Eichel said about the Vegas captain. “He’s so good at holding the puck on the wall and allowing me to build speed underneath and then finishing seams to get pucks through. He’s got his head up. He gets so many pucks back, so extends a lot of shifts for us offensively by picking people’s pockets and his ability to get us extra possession. So he’s another guy who’s super easy to read off of; he’s such a smart hockey player, and he’s so responsible all over the ice.”
Despite the 2-0-0 start, the Golden Knights know there is work to be done.
“There’s definitely some things in our game we have to clean up,” Theodore said.
Even the driving force behind the best line in hockey is focused on improving.
“It’s been good,” Eichel said about his line’s performance. “We want to continue to get better. I think there were a couple other chances in the game we would have liked to have finished, but I thought it was overall a good effort from our team.”
Vegas will need a more balanced offense moving forward, but the instant chemistry and production from the top unit has helped fuel the fast start. The fact that the Tomas Hertl line has yet to record a point hasn’t been an issue so far, but it’s something that will need to be addressed.
The defense and goaltending have some cleaning up to do as well.
Hill finished the night with 19 saves on 22 shots for an .864 save percentage. While he was leaning on the Thomas goal, the Blues capitalized on a bad change by Alex Pietrangelo, giving Thomas too much time and space. Even so, it was Hill’s second game with a save percentage below .900.
Not insignificantly, the Golden Knights have been able to collect four points while adjusting to game speed and sorting through all the personnel changes.
They will look to extend their winning streak when they host the Ducks Sunday night.
Statistics courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.