The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 6-4 on Saturday, and extended their win streak to seven games in a row. The Golden Knights opened the scoring 13:25 into the first period when Nic Hague tallied his first goal of the season.
The lead was short-lived as Cole Caufield found the back of the net less than a minute later to even things a 1-1. Vegas got off to a quick start in the second period, and Reilly Smith gave the team a 2-1 lead less than three minutes. The remainder of the period was scoreless, and the start of the third period gave a preview of things to come.
Nick Suzuki scored to make it 2-2, and finished off a pass from Kirby Dach to complete an odd-man rush that was created when Chandler Stephenson lost an edge in his own zone. Eventually the Golden Knights ended up back on the power play, and Reilly Smith scored his fifth of the season, and second of the game to give Vegas a 3-2 lead.
Keegan Kolesar added a goal at 8:14, and 21 seconds later Nicolas Roy added one of his own to give the Golden Knights a formidable 5-2 lead. At this point the game got a bit silly, as Josh Anderson boarded Alex Pietrangelo in front of the Vegas Golden Knights bench.
Let’s play ‘How Many Games?’ 🤔
Josh Anderson with a dangerous hit on Alex Pietrangelo… He got five and a game. pic.twitter.com/3LiD6DOrQY
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) November 6, 2022
A minor scrum ensued, and when all was settled it was the Canadiens who found themselves with the man-advantage. Nick Suzuki quickly took advantage on the 4-on-3, and picked up his eighth goal of the season, and second of the game.
The Golden Knights eventually ended up on the power play again after the 4-on-4 play was over, and Jonathan Marchessault picked up his sixth of the season to give Vegas their final goal of the game. Juraj Slafkovsky, the player chosen to serve Anderson’s five-minute major, would score at 15:21 to give Montreal their fourth and final goal of the game.
By the Numbers
- Vegas was out shot 14 to 12 in the first period, but would out shoot the Canadiens 16-8 in the second period, 14-9 in the third, and 42-31 overall.
- Adin Hill stopped 27 of the 31 shots he faced, including 26 of 29 at even strength.
- Vegas went 2 for 4 on the power play, and 1 for 2 on the penalty kill. Special teams has been an area that has made or broken games for the Golden Knights, and tonight was an example of them taking care of business when they needed to.
- Jonathan Marchessault picked up two points during the game, and in the process became the first player in Golden Knights history to tally 300 points with the team./
What’s Next?
Vegas is off on Sunday and Monday, and they return to action Tuesday vs. the Maple Leafs in Toronto. They will then play again on Thursday in Buffalo vs. the Sabres before returning home to take on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday evening.