The Vegas Golden Knights improved to 3-0-0 for the third year in a row and fifth time in franchise history after locking up a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas got goals from Brett Howden, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev, and Keegan Kolesar recorded two assists in an excellent all-around performance.
Ilya Samsonov made his Golden Knights debut, stopping 22 of 23 shots for a .957 save percentage and his first win with Vegas. He wasn’t overly tested but made some key stops when the game was tied early in the third before the Golden Knights added two goals.
Shea Theodore had another solid outing in his 500th career NHL game, leading the team with an individual Corsi of seven at 5-on-5 and 11 at all strengths.
Jack Eichel and Mark Stone extended their point streaks to three games with assists on Hertl’s power-play marker.
For the first time this season, the Golden Knights opened the scoring, as Howden potted his second of the year 6:17 into the game. It was a strong forechecking shift, and Howden cleaned up a rebound off a point shot by Alex Pietrangelo to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.
But the Ducks evened things up at 11:49 when Troy Terry beat Samsonov glove-side on a clear-cut breakaway, taking full advantage of a brutal turnover by Ivan Barbashev at the blue line.
Cassidy swapped Victor Olofsson and Alexander Holtz in the second period, which seemed to spark the middle six. It appeared as though Holtz had finally broken through after knocking a puck out of the air and into the net on the power play, but it was ruled that he touched the puck with a high stick, negating the goal.
Ultimately, neither team scored in the second period, but Vegas began to clean things up and find its game later in the frame.
On their third power play of the night, the Golden Knights looked particularly dangerous and eventually converted for Hertl’s first goal of the year.
Then, another excellent and aggressive shift by Kolesar set up Dorofeyev, who beat James Reimer cleanly on a perfectly-placed top-shelf shot, making it 3-1 with 5:51 remaining.
The Golden Knights collected another two points to complete the three-game sweep to start the season.
Coming into this game, it was important for the Golden Knights’ depth lines — particularly the middle six — to take a step forward. Needless to say, mission accomplished.
Unlike the first two games, the Golden Knights got standout performances from players not on the top line. The fourth line was great in the first period, and Tanner Pearson’s speed was a factor. But the middle six came through in the third, marking the first time this season that Vegas was able to roll four effective lines.
“Our first line won the first two games for us, today was other lines,” Hertl said. “We want to be all-year-round four-line team, and hopefully this will kind of help us.”
Howden, Nicolas Roy and Holtz held a 6-2 edge in Corsi and 4-2 edge in shots in 6:39 of ice time after Cassidy made the switch, while the trio of Hertl, Dorofeyev and Olofsson managed a 69.56 percent expected goal share in 4:52 (though Dorofeyev’s goal was scored with Kolesar on the ice).
Holtz’s goal may not have counted, but the skillful play should boost his confidence, and Olofsson came very close to notching his third of the year. Plus, Hertl and Dorofeyev both found twine, and Kolesar and Howden were particularly effective.
“When I play simple, trying to do the right things, not trying to cheat the game, I find that kind of works out,” Howden said. “When we’re keeping them in their zone, it’s a lot easier to play that way.”
Kolesar’s stellar effort on the forecheck had a lot to do with that, and it was one of his best games ever.
“We’ve always relied on those guys,” Cassidy said about Howden and Kolesar. “They can be a big part of your identity when they’re going, and we need them going.”
The special teams were strong once again. Though Vegas only converted on one of four opportunities, the Holtz non-goal came on one of the power plays, and Vegas hit the post on another.
“I think every game we’ve been much more dangerous than we have been in the past,” Cassidy said about the man-advantage. “We’re passing it around finding the appropriate option; we’re doing a way better job of that this season, and then executing the last plays is what makes you really successful or not, and we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that.”
That being said, it took Vegas a while to settle in to the game.
“We all thought we started not the way we really wanted,” Howden said. “I thought we were a little slow at the start, but as the game went on, we started to pick it up, and we picked up our pace and slowly took over the game.”
Cassidy had a similar assessment.
“Early in the first, we didn’t manage the puck as well as we should have against a team in [a back-to-back].”
Puck management may not have cost Vegas the game, but it was a noticeable problem. The Golden Knights gave up too many odd-man rushes, including several glaring breakaways, one of which accounted for Anaheim’s lone goal of the night, with another hitting the post.
Samsonov admitted it wasn’t an easy game after not playing for a few weeks, but he was happy to get the win. He said T-Mobile Arena is “the best atmosphere in the league. So happy to be here.”
Cassidy said Samsonov looked “composed” in the net. “I liked his game. I don’t think he was overly busy, but there were still saves to be made off good shooters on their team. I thought he held his post well on the off-angle shots that you’re seeing in the league every night.”
It wasn’t a compelling 60-minute team effort by any means.
But the Golden Knights did what they had to do to come away with two points.
“We didn’t execute as well offensively as we have, but we executed well enough to win the hockey game,” Cassidy said. “We did think coming out of the second period, if we kept that kind of pace up and kept playing behind them, that we could control the game. … I thought we did a better job of that as it went along.”
The Golden Knights are still working through early-season adjustments despite the strong start, and they will look for similar success as they head out on a three-game road trip.
“Having three at home right away, you want to take advantage of that,” Howden said. “Each period we’ve played, I feel like we’ve been building in different ways, and we’re feeling confident about ourselves. But there’s still a ways to go. It’s a good sign, and now we’re going on to the road; we want to continue that and carry that on.”
That will start Tuesday night in Washington when the Golden Knights take on the Capitals, who have played just one game so far.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.