On Sunday night, the Vegas Golden Knights (8-11-1) played the first half of a Canadian back-to-back on a mini, three-game road trip. First up were the Edmonton Oilers (9-9-1). The Oilers have acquired a ton of talent, namely in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, and Connor McDavid, the best player in the NHL right now. A game in Edmonton is no easy task, especially for a team struggling like the Golden Knights.
Tonight’s game has been circled on the Golden Knights’ and Vegas fans’ calendars since September. This game, game number 20 of the season, was defenseman Nate Schmidt’s first game back from his suspension for a positive Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) test. Schmidt is the number one defenseman on the Vegas depth chart and the Golden Knights have felt his absence, compiling a losing record in those 20 games without number 88. Nate the Great was back and Vegas needed the spark, on the heels of a 4-1 whooping against St. Louis on Friday evening.
As the game started, the familiar feeling of losing crept in. Edmonton wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with a goal from McDavid just 52 seconds into the game. McDavid made a great redirection on a Matt Benning shot from the blue line, that caught Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury off balance as he was fighting through the screen set by McDavid and defenseman Nick Holden. McDavid mixes speed, strength, and finesse fighting off Holden and getting a stick on the incoming shot, while skating through the slot. 1-0 Oilers and some fans weren’t even in their seats yet. This one is surely going to be ugly.
Not so fast said Vegas center William Karlsson, as he scored his fifth goal of the season, at 12:57 of the opening frame. Karlsson redirected a shot from defenseman Shea Theodore, past Oiler goalie Cam Talbot to even up the score. Karlsson’s effort emulated the McDavid goal, scored just 12 minutes prior. Skating through the slot, Karlsson managed to change the direction of Theodore’s quick shot, for Vegas’ first of the game. Theodore got the puck from Reilly Smith, immediately fired it on net, and the rest was history. 1-1, tie game, we have some hope!
Capitalizing on a Brayden McNabb holding penalty for Vegas, Edmonton took back the lead on their first power play opportunity of the night. Forward Alex Chiasson camped out to the right of Fleury. During a scramble Chiasson corralled the puck, coming off the end boards, and without skating to the net front, lifted the puck over a sprawling Fleury. Chiasson’s eight goal of the season came with 3:27 left in the first period, eventually sending the Golden Knights to the locker room down one goal.
Second periods have been the Achilles Heel of the Vegas Golden Knights this season. Vegas has been outscored in the second period 28-17 coming into the game against Edmonton. Needless to say, going into the locker room down a goal wasn’t the strategy Vegas wanted to employ. Shockingly, Vegas avoided danger early, killing off a William Carrier boarding minor (that could and should have been more) that occurred a short 40 seconds into the 2nd period. Cody Eakin scored a shorthanded goal with 19 seconds left on the penalty to Carrier. Playing with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Eakin created a turnover and took the puck up ice. Bellemare did a great job occupying the Edmonton defender and driving the net, allowing Eakin to take on Benning. Eakin ripped a far-side wrist shot off the post and in to tie the game at two goals apiece. The goal was Eakin’s 8th of the season, continuing his hot streak. Following the kill, Vegas simply took over. A short 1:32 following the shorthanded goal, Max Pacioretty got on the board. Pacioretty tried a centering pass for Eakin, but it was knocked in by the Oilers’ defenseman Matt Benning who was cancelling Eakin out. The good bounce remains credited to Pacioretty, as it is unclear who it bounced off of between Eakin and Benning. Either way, 3-2 lead for Vegas.
Forty seconds later, on the power play, Vegas extended their lead with a Jonathan Marchessault rocket from the top of the faceoff circle. Marchessault retook the sole team lead in goals with his 9th of the season. Eakin was tied for the team lead for a short 2:12. Apparently Marchessault wanted his spot back. 2:12 and Vegas scored three goals, taking the lead for good.
The third period brought more early goals from Vegas. Marchessault scored his second of the game and 10th goal of the season, assisted by Colin Miller and Reilly Smith. Miller sent a shot toward Marchessault and he redirected it past Talbot in the low slot, stretching the lead to 5-2. Marchessault’s goal came 34 seconds into the third period. Three straight periods with quick goals.
Vegas’ top line (Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith) had not been producing at the rate shown last season. Well, tonight, they all scored a goal, once Smith netted his fourth of the season at 3:04 of the third period. Smith was set up by Marchessault, who fired a great pass into the slot from the low corner. Marchessault’s pass was beautiful and Smith made no mistake, burying the shot for the 6-2 lead. Edmonton got one more goal before the game ended on a nice play by Leon Draisaitl, but even Draisaitl couldn’t celebrate his 12th goal of the season. The game was out of reach and Vegas was rolling.
The Golden Knights would go on to win the game 6-3 improving to 9-11-1 on the season while the Oilers dropped to 9-10-1. In his return, Schmidt looked great and was paired with fellow dynamic offensive defenseman, Shea Theodore. Their Corsi numbers were insane with team-leading CF%s of 78.13 for Schmidt and 77.42 for Theodore. These numbers show that while Schmidt and Theodore were on the ice, the Golden Knights were creating three out of every four shots. Those numbers are staggering and if they are kept together, that pair can be exciting to watch going forward.
Vegas has a quick turnaround and will be in Calgary for a game against former Golden Knight, James Neal. Neal has been struggling early on in Calgary and may try to use this game to break out of his slump. Monday night’s game will be a 5:30 start and if Vegas takes both games on this back-to-back, expect them to be flying on Wednesday in Arizona.
Follow along on Twitter (@VGK_Buzz) for in-game commentary, observations, and analysis.
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