Vegas Golden Knights: Reilly Smith Earns NHL’s Third Star Of Week
The Vegas Golden Knights best player last week also outshined almost everyone in the NHL.
This Vegas Golden Knights team is on a serious run in their inaugural season. Sure they had a hiccup on their long road trip against the Minnesota Wild in the second end of a back to back, those things happen. However, victories against the Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, and Washington Capitals in one week? This team is for real folks.
The club didn’t play the best hockey but still managed to earn three wins in four games in some pretty tough road cities. That’s when you have to start asking yourself, can this team make a serious run for the Stanley Cup? And that answer is most certainly yes, especially if Reilly Smith is chipping in like he did last week.
On Monday, the NHL announced that the Toronto, Ontario native earned the NHL’s third star of the week honors. The only players in the league ahead of him were forward Evgeni Malkin and goaltender Harri Sateri. Smith played a crucial part in the team’s success for the week ending February 4th.
Smith finished the week second in goals and tied for third in points. He ended up with a stat line of four goals, one assist and five points. Others players around the NHL had some more points than Smith; though his goals came in a more timely fashion.
Smith scored on the power play in Calgary and shorthanded in Winnipeg then he produced two goals that tied the game for the Golden Knights in Washington. That’s just who Smith is as a player, he’s a clutch performer, and he plays on the top line with Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson.
Now those three players of that trio have won star of the week honors. Marchessault received the first star of the week ending November 26th, and Karlsson obtained the second star of the week ending December 31st. Those three are one of the most explosive groups in the league, they’re relentless on the forecheck, and they create a ton of havoc in the offensive zone that results in scoring chances.
Smith is by far the most balanced player on that line, and he plays in all phases of the game. The 26-year old is very responsible in his defensive zone and doesn’t make a ton of mistakes at all. One player he really learned from in his time in the NHL was four-time Selke award winner Patrice Bergeron.
In his time in Boston, he needed someone to learn from and who better than a player like Bergeron? In his first season with the Bruins, Smith recorded 20 goals and 31 assists. He’s also a playoff performer as he notched four goals and one assist during the B’s run in 2013-14.
His fantastic postseason performance continued in Florida two years later with Head Coach Gerard Gallant. In six games played, he registered four goals, four assists and eight points and a plus-seven rating as he was the Panthers best player in that series against the New York Islanders. If the Golden Knights want to go deep into the playoffs, they’re going to need Smith to replicate that kind of production.
Next: Vegas Golden Knights Battle Washington Capitals On Super Bowl Sunday
All in all, just another great week by the Vegas Golden Knights. Their road trip continues in Pittsburgh for a big game against another eastern conference contender in the Penguins. You will not want to miss Marc-Andre Fleury’s return to the city he once called home. Don’t forget puck drop is at 4 PM PT with Dave Goucher and Shane Hnidy on AT&T Sportsnet.