The Vegas Golden Knights (24-11-12) scored five goals in the third period in a convincing 7-2 win over the Nashville Predators (23-21-4) Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The thrashing extended Vegas’ winning streak to seven games, giving them a four-point cushion in the Pacific Division standings with two games in hand over Edmonton.
Pavel Dorofeyev kicked off the five-goal outburst in the third period with what proved to be the game-winning goal. Shea Theodore finished the night with a goal and an assist in his 600th career game and 547th game with Vegas. He was one of five players with multiple points, joining Mitch Marner and three depth players in Keegan Kolesar, Alexander Holtz and Cole Reinhardt. Akira Schmid picked up win No. 15 of the season, turning aside 27 of 29 shots for a .931 save percentage.
The Golden Knights got off to a decent start, generating several scoring chances and forcing Predators netminder Justus Annunen to make some saves early. However, the Golden Knights didn’t have anything to show for it.
Instead, a Golden Knights turnover in the defensive zone ended up in the back of the net. Roman Josi picked off a weak clearing attempt and fired off a shot that was tipped by Luke Evangelista on its way past Schmid.
Vegas led 15-9 in shots and 13-7 in scoring chances but trailed 1-0 where it mattered after 20 minutes. That being said, the Golden Knights’ forechecking pressure was there, just not the results.
But that problem was rectified in the second and third periods, as Vegas went on a scoring spree with seven straight goals.
It took a while to get things going in the second period, though, as the Golden Knights didn’t get many dangerous looks. The Predators threatened to extend their 1-0 lead, but Schmid was excellent, keeping the deficit at one with 11 saves in the frame.
His teammates rewarded him by striking twice in the final three minutes, with the two tallies coming 65 seconds apart.
The first came on a deflection by Holtz, who got a piece of a Theodore shot for his second goal of the year.
Just 1:05 later, Theodore netted one of his own to give Vegas the 2-1 edge.
Michael Bunting cross-checked Braeden Bowman after the goal, leading to a heated scrum between the two clubs. The result was off-setting minors to Bunting and Tomas Hertl, but the Golden Knights took the 2-1 lead into the third period. If nothing else, it gave Vegas all the more reason to stay engaged and come out of the locker room hungry.
Vegas did just that, exploding for five more goals in the final frame.
Dorofeyev scored a rare even-strength goal on a 2-on-1 with Marner, who blocked a shot at one end and set up the goal at the other. This proved to be the game-winner.
The captain made it a 4-1 game exactly three minutes later on another 2-on-1, this one with Jack Eichel, who came out of the penalty box, stole the puck, blew through the neutral zone and then delayed before sending a perfectly-timed backdoor pass to Mark Stone..
The Golden Knights made it a four-goal game at 12:26 when Reinhardt found twine for the first time since Oct. 16. It was the fourth line’s second goal of the game.
Marner made it 6-1 less than a minute later as he beat Annunen with an absolute laser.
Even Schmid found the scoresheet with a secondary assist on Marner’s 12th of the year.
The Golden Knights added one more for good measure (and the extra point) when Kolesar scored for the second game in a row.
Nashville winger and noted Vegas killer Filip Forsberg scored a late power-play goal with just 22 seconds remaining, but it was a mere footnote in a dominant third period and one-sided win by the Golden Knights.
This was an emphatic finish by a Golden Knights team that continues to win and continues to score.
Another seven goals against Nashville gives Vegas a total of 32 in the last six games, good for an average of 5.3.
“It’s really started to click again,” Schmid said about Vegas’ offense. “Obviously, we had a little bit of a funk there, but we worked hard every day at practice. At the end of the day, they’re good players, and they’re always gonna get back on track.”
But tonight’s game was a true team effort, as everyone had a hand in the win.
Fourteen different Golden Knights recorded a point, including Schmid. Perhaps more impressively is the fact that no one had more than two points, which demonstrates how widespread the offensive contributions were. This was a truly balanced performance, with all four lines scoring at least once.
Depth scoring played a key role, with Holtz scoring Vegas’ first of the night and the fourth-line trio of Holtz, Reinhardt and Tanner Laczynski combining for five points. Kolesar also scored a goal and an assist, and 11 of 12 forwards found the scoresheet. The only player who was held off was Ivan Barbashev, who had two scoring chances and four shot attempts.
“It takes the burden off our top guys,” Kolesar said when asked about the widespread production. “They’re gonna be our drivers most nights, but sometimes when we can contribute whenever we can, it lightens the load on them. Obviously, they’re world-class players; they’re gonna find their cookies here and there with how they play, but it just takes some of that burden.”
Schmid also was a significant factor in the win.
This was a very close game for more than 40 minutes, and Schmid came up with a number of saves (particularly in the second period) to keep it a one-goal game. He also made a big stop early in the third period before the Golden Knights’ offense took flight. In a year that has seen a carousel of goalies in the crease, Schmid has 15 wins. He looked confident, capable and poised in Saturday’s tilt.
Schmid said he was most pleased with his “compete” level. “That’s kind of what I’ve been working on,” he said. “Competing on pucks, rebounds, being set for shots.”
But this game could have gone a different way, as the Golden Knights had their chances but weren’t rewarded early.
Bruce Cassidy discussed the message in the locker room after the scoreless first.
“We discussed a few things we needed to do better,” he said. “Our breakouts weren’t clean, we weren’t efficient. Some of [Nashville’s] best chances came off that. So let’s make sure we’re moving our feet and supporting the puck a little better.
“It looked like [the Predators] were a tired team, but they’re a veteran team, so they still have great hockey sense. And that’s what they were doing to create some turnovers on us. So if we force them to skate and play a 200-foot game, I thought it would go our way.”
It did, in fact, go Vegas’ way.
Unlike in too many games over the last month, the Golden Knights didn’t falter after a slow start. They stayed with their game, continued to generate offense and eventually broke through late in the second.
“We were playing some good hockey, we just gotta limit their chances,” Kolesar said. “[Those chances] came from our mistakes, just poor puck play. Once we corrected that, we were able to spend more time in the offensive zone, and you saw what happened.”
In the third period, the Golden Knights completely took over the game.
“We realized, I guess, as a team that when we get pucks and bodies to the net, good things happen,” Kolesar said. “That just clicked in our mind going into the third period. I don’t think anyone was really passing up opportunities to get pucks to the net. We get chance after chance after chance, and that can just wear them down.”
Though Dorofeyev got the ball rolling, Stone’s goal seemed to open the floodgates for Vegas.
The captain continues to play on another level. He is in the midst of a career-high 11-game point streak during which he has collected 10 goals and 18 points. He has at least a point in 28 of 31 games this season.
He and Eichel have returned to being a lethal duo since being reunited on the top line. In fact, both have 14 points throughout this seven-game winning streak, which leads the NHL in that span.
It took a while, but the Golden Knights showed up in a big way after weathering the storm early, taking advantage of a Predators team in the second half of a back-to-back.
“It was a close game up until the third period, and then we scored five goals,” Schmid said. “It felt like every time they announced a goal there was another one getting scored right away.”
In the end, the Golden Knights scored three goals in 2:46 and five in the span of 9:40 in the third period.
Not too long ago, the Golden Knights were finding ways to lose. The opposite has been true throughout this seven-game winning streak, and the team is finally starting to play Golden Knights hockey.
“It feels like we’re turning a corner right now,” Cassidy said, “and a lot of that is because the puck is going in the net.”
Kolesar, who didn’t realize Vegas’ streak had reached seven games, said the team has been “taking it one game at a time, one day at a time. We’re not trying to get too far ahead. I think we’re just treating every game like it’s just the start of [the streak] again.”
They will look to do the same when they finish this three-game homestand Monday against Philadelphia.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
Photo via @GoldenKnights on X