One game after suffering the worst goal deficit on home ice in franchise history, the Vegas Golden Knights turned out a defensive gem with a 1-0 shutout win against the visiting Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas and Edmonton pulled off a feat for the first time in 80 years by completing a game with zero penalty minutes and just one goal.
The lone goal of the game, which came 10:47 into the first period, wasn’t even scored off a shot attempt. Ivan Barbashev’s team-leading 13th of the season was actually a pass that slipped through the pads of Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner.
Barbashev and Jack Eichel had a 2-on-1 off a turnover, but after the initial pass came back to Barbashev, the second attempt ended up in the back of the net.
For the second time this season, the Golden Knights held star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl off the scoresheet, and Adin Hill made 28 saves for his second shutout of the year.
In fact, McDavid didn’t record his first shot on goal until the third period.
It was a much-needed bounceback effort for the Golden Knights, who saw pretty much everything go wrong in their previous matchup, a 6-0 debacle against the Utah Hockey Club.
By contrast, it was arguably Vegas’ best defensive effort of the season.
“For the most part, I thought we did our jobs well,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We were able to check in layers against them, and I think that’s when we’re the most effective. So I would say if it wasn’t the best of the year it was pretty darn close in terms of what we gave up.”
Hill echoed those sentiments.
“I thought we did an unbelievable job,” he said. “I thought it was one of our best defensive efforts of the season.”
The Golden Knights were able to take away the middle of the ice, and though they were outshot 16-2 in the third period, Hill stood tall to help the Golden Knights close out the win.
After getting off to a slow start to the season, Hill has gone 5-1-1 in his last seven starts with a 1.70 goals-against average and .935 save percentage.
Vegas, now 16-7-3, will look for win No. 17 on the season when they take on the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night in the second half of a back-to-back. Mark Stone, who skated in a regular jersey on Tuesday, could return to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 6.