Vegas Golden Knights Power Play Shines In Win VS Senators
The Vegas Golden Knights power play finally came alive against the Senators Saturday afternoon.
This road trip for the Vegas Golden Knights hasn’t gone exactly how they’ve planned. Not only did the team lost against the New York Islanders on Monday evening, but they lost hot goaltender Oscar Dansk to injury. On the very next night, Vegas carried a two-goal lead through two periods against the New York Rangers. Penalties in the third period eventually doomed the team, and they lost in regulation.
The team continued their slide against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night when they couldn’t muster much of any offense. Going into the game against the Senators on Saturday afternoon, the team knew they had to create more scoring chances on their power play. And the NHL’s newest franchise did just that in the nation’s capital.
On the team’s first power play chance, Alex Tuch made a strong power move from below the goal line right for the goal and slid it past Craig Anderson that gave the Golden Knights an early 1-0 lead. That play is precisely the kind of effort what Golden Knights fans want to see out of Tuch. Tuch separates himself among most big forwards in the league because of his quickness, and it was on display on this goal.
Tuch just seems to belong on this hockey team. He fits Head Coach Gerard Gallants style outstandingly. If the Golden Knights can get that type of production from Tuch on a nightly basis, then opposing defenses have to start taking notice.
On the team’s second goal, the Golden Knights were absolutely relentless, making plays on the power play and winning those little one on one battles. Three seconds after the man advantage penalty, Jonathan Marchessault took a shot that deflected right out to Erik Haula who made no mistake. That second power play unit got many chances on that shift, and they weren’t done yet.
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Nate Schmidt took a slapper from the point that Anderson saved, but Marchessault was there to bash in the rebound. That set play gave the Golden Knights a one-goal lead heading into the third period. Overall, Marchessault had a fantastic game and its good to see him on the score sheet after a cold start.
On the third power play goal of the night, David Perron tried to dangle around the defense but mishandled the puck. Fortunately, Haula was there once again to pick up the trash and scored his second of the game. His game against the Senators on Saturday afternoon was by far the best we’ve seen out of Haula.
The Golden Knights held off the Senators late attack and finally picked up two big points on the road trip. Goaltender Maxime Lagace earned his first career NHL win. Four different goaltenders have won at least one game for a franchise that was just born last month. It’s incredible when you think about it.
What’s going to happen when all the goaltenders return from injury? We all know Marc- Andre Fleury will be the undisputed number one but its a close race for the backup job between Malcolm Subban and Dansk. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but for now, it’s the Lagace show in Las Vegas.
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The Vegas Golden Knights battle the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday and they’ll look to keep the power play clicking. With possibly no Auston Matthews in the lineup for Toronto, the Golden Knights have to capitalize. Also, former Maple Leaf Brendan Leipsic will make his return to the lineup against his former team. William Carrier will get the night off despite the fourth lines excellent effort night in and night out. Catch puck drop at the early start of 4 PM PT on AT&T Sportsnet.