Vegas Golden Knights: William Karlsson Reaches 30 Goal Plateau In Victory

Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Carpenter shine in victory as William Karlsson scores goal number 30.

If there’s one team that has given the Vegas Golden Knights fits in their inaugural season it’s the Edmonton Oilers. The last two games the expansion franchise played against the Oilers, the team from up north soundly outplayed them. Skill players Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have given the Golden Knights significant problems.

Furthermore, both players have combined for eight points against the Golden Knights alone. To beat the Oilers, you have to contain their top two lines. If they do that, they should be just fine as the Oilers have a very ordinary bottom six.

Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Talbot were the starting goaltenders in this one. Additionally, Erik Haula returned to the lineup on Thursday meaning Brendan Leipsic is the healthy scratch. Haula was a late scratch on Tuesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks due to being very ill.

There was a ton of energy from both sides in the first period. Cody Eakin and Colin Miller created excellent scoring opportunities, but Talbot shut those chances down. However, the Oilers received the momentum when they earned a power play when Deryk Engelland tripped up Mike Cammalleri.

Fortunately, the Golden Knights killed off the minor penalty and countered on the scoreboard. Engelland jumped into the play on offense, generated a shot on goal that Talbot deflected right to Ryan Carpenter who scored on the rebound to give Vegas a 1-0 lead. That’s four goals in the last six games for the Oviedo, Florida native as he’s really starting to find his niche here with the Golden Knights. We talked at length about the 27-year old playing a major role down the stretch, and so far he’s proving us right.

The fourth line of Carpenter, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Tomas Nosek was the best line of the period from both teams. They worked hard along the walls, generated scoring chances and ate up zone time. Fleury closed out the first period by stopping all nine shots that came his way.

In the middle frame, the Golden Knights continued their stable work habits. The top line of Reilly Smith, William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault never quit in the offensive zone as they produced a couple of shots towards the net. Eventually, the Golden Knights broke through again as Marchessault tipped in a wrist shot from Nate Schmidt for his 21st goal of the year that gave Vegas a 2-0 lead.

A few minutes later, Bellemare drew a hooking call on McDavid and the Golden Knights went on the power play. However, Fleury had to make a big save on Cammalleri on the odd man rush. That save by Fleury was crucial because moments later Karlsson took David Perron’s feed through the neutral zone, went streaking for the net and stuffed it past Talbot for goal number 30.

Fleury remained perfect through two periods stopping all 11 Oilers shots on goal. In this game, everything seemed to be going the Vegas Golden Knights way while everything was going wrong for Edmonton. It just looked like another night at the T-Mobile Arena office for the home team.

In the third period, the good times kept rolling for the Golden Knights. Shortly after a penalty from Brandon Davidson expired, James Neal threaded the needle to Haula that deflected off his skate and into the net.

The Oilers finally broke through as Draisaitl scored his 17th of the year breaking Fleury’s shutout bid. It was by far the best cycle the Oilers formed all game long, except it came too late. The final seconds ticked off the clock, and the Golden Knights finished off the Oilers 4-1.

My third star of the game has to go to William Karlsson as he was a driving force while also registering his 30th goal of the season. My number two star is the goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury who stopped 29 of 30 shots and made a timely save in the second period that resulted in a goal the other way. And as shocking as it sounds, my number one star is Ryan Carpenter.

He not only gave Vegas an early 1-0 advantage, but he also played a complete game in just 12:19 of ice time. Carpenter protected the puck, produced scoring chances and even took a massive hit from Milan Lucic to make a play on a clearing attempt. He was simply outstanding, and he stood out with his relentless attack on the forecheck.

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All in all, tonight was a 60-minute effort. Not the best performance by the Vegas Golden Knights all year but they played smart, and they finished the job. Next up for the Golden Knights is a date against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday evening at T-Mobile Arena. Catch puck drop at 4 PM PT with Dave Goucher and Shane Hnidy on AT&T Sportsnet.