The Vegas Golden Knights improved to 9-0-1 on the season when they defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in a shootout Monday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights did not deliver their best performance and were outplayed for large stretches of the contest. But once again, Vegas found a way to win and came away with another two points to extend its season-opening point streak to 10 games.
The Golden Knights have collected 19 of a possible 20 points and hold an eight-point lead over the second-place Vancouver Canucks in the Pacific Division.
It was a wide-open game early, with both teams trading chances in a high-pace start. Montreal’s Sam Montembeault and Vegas’ Adin Hill were sharp early. It wasn’t until the final five minutes of the frame that either team broke through.
For the sixth time this season, it was the Golden Knights that struck first.
Paul Cotter’s shot-pass got deflected up high and went up and over Montembeault to put the Golden Knights up 1-0. It was Cotter’s third goal of the year, and it came on the first power play of the game.
William Karlsson tallied an assist on the play, extending his point streak to seven games, which matches a career high.
It was a solid start for the Golden Knights, who had the better chances early.
However, the same could not be said about the second and third frames, as Vegas was outshot 27-7.
The Golden Knights got two more power plays early in the second period, and Cotter almost pulled off another highlight-reel goal like his dazzler against Philadelphia, but his shot hit iron.
On the second power play, however, a disastrous turnover by Hill led to a shorthanded tally for Sean Monahan. Hill completely misplayed the puck, fanning on a pass attempt that left the puck on a silver platter for Monahan. Monahan simply waited for the diving Hill to slide past him before depositing the puck into the empty cage, evening things up at 1-1 5:38 into the middle frame.
It was such a bad goal that the crowd gave the Stanley Cup champion a Bronx cheer the next time he touched the puck.
The Golden Knights did not register a shot on goal through the first 15:09. In fact, Vegas hit the post twice before they recorded their second shot of the period. Though they finished the frame with just two, they made the second one count, as William Carrier scored for the second game in a row.
The marker came on a delayed penalty off a brilliant backhand feed from Chandler Stephenson, who set up an easy tap-in to make it 2-1 with under two minutes remaining in the period.
The Vegas penalty kill came up with two big kills in the third (and went 4-for-4 on the night), but the Canadiens netted the equalizer with 4:18 remaining in regulation.
It came on a terrific play by Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who sent a shot-pass below the goal line; former Golden Knights first-round draft pick Nick Suzuki made a great play to collect the puck and tuck it into the net, evening things up at 2-2.
The Golden Knights had a strong overtime period, finishing the five-minute frame with more shots than they managed in the entire third period (6-5) and three times as many as they mustered in the second (6-2).
Vegas generated multiple scoring chances and forced Montembeault to make some huge stops.
One came on a penalty shot by Jack Eichel, and the other was highway robbery on Alex Pietrangelo, as the Canadiens netminder did a split across the crease and made a kick save to prevent Pietrangelo from scoring what looked like a sure goal.
Both goalies made key stops to keep it tied through 65 minutes, so Vegas headed to a shootout for the third time this season. For the third time this season, Vegas came out on top.
Jonathan Marchessault and Shea Theodore scored for the Golden Knights in the four-round contest.
Despite Suzuki scoring a filthy goal, Hill shut down attempts by Monahan and Cole Caufield and got a little help from the post on Alex Newhook’s shot to secure the win and the extra point.
“Good teams find a way to win,” Hill said. “We held on and we got it to the shootout. We went 2-for-4 in the shootout, which is great by our guys, and found a way to get two points tonight.”
Vegas was fortunate to come away with those two points.
The Golden Knights were outplayed for much of this game, and they managed just seven shots in 40 minutes of hockey. At all strengths, Montreal held a 33-7 edge in Corsi in the third period and held an 81.81 percent expected goal share at 5-on-5.
“They outplayed us,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I don’t think there’s a lot to digest in there. … I wouldn’t attribute it to anything other than they won more battles for pucks than us, and they chose to put them on net.”
While the Golden Knights never trailed against Montreal, it never felt like they had control of the game.
“Even when we’re not on our A game, we find ways to gut it out with our B game,” Cassidy said, adding that Vegas’ depth continues to be a strength — as Cotter and Carrier accounted for Vegas’ goals tonight — and that Hill was rock-solid following the Monahan goal.
Though Hill’s turnover was a brutal one, he had a very strong game, turning aside 37 of 39 shots for a .949 save percentage.
“It’s a mistake,” he said after the game. “I kind of just whiffed on the pass there. But I felt good about my game. … Outside of that one mistake, I felt like I had a good game.”
He is now 5-0-1 on the year, and he played a critical role in helping the Golden Knights stay in Monday’s game.
“We’re a pretty resilient group,” captain Mark Stone said. “I think we hang in games. At worst, we give ourselves a chance to win a game, and that’s our goalies, defensemen and forwards working together. We always give ourselves a chance to win, which has kind of been our MO since the start of the season. We’ve made some timely saves, we’ve made some timely goals. … But we have to play better.”
Stone also talked about Vegas’ execution being off.
“We’re not breaking out as clean as we normally do, we’re not making the plays in the offensive zone that we normally do, we’re not getting through the neutral zone,” he said. “It’s just a little off. But it’s a little off; that’s why we’re still winning games.”
Despite not yet hitting their stride, the Golden Knights have the best record in hockey.
“I mean, it’s 19 out of 20 fricken points,” Cassidy said. “We’re missing one point. So we can sit there and digest our game and say we need to do this better or that better, but we just got 19 out of 20 points. So to me, that’s pretty good, and we’re not gonna push that aside or overlook it. And I think you can’t because it’s too hard to win in this league.”
The Golden Knights are one of two teams (along with Boston) without a regulation loss this season. Though Monday’s performance was far from Vegas’ best, Montreal is a competitive hockey team. The Canadiens have played well this year and were 5-2-1 coming into T-Mobile Arena; plus, Montembeault had a very strong game, stopping 23 of 25 shots for a .920 save percentage.
That being said, the Golden Knights know they can be better and need to be better in order to sustain this level of success. The fact that they’re not playing to the best of their ability but are still accumulating so many points will be helpful when the playoff race heats up down the stretch.
Vegas has two days off before playing three games in four nights; next up is a home matchup against the Winnipeg Jets.
“We’ll regroup and touch up a few things,” Stone said. “I think guys are trying to make the right plays, it’s just the execution is not at its finest right now. But I feel like two days of practice will be good for that.”