Vegas Golden Knights keep on rolling in preseason after topping Sharks

Notes & Stats from the game

These were the lines rolled out from the start by the Vegas Golden Knights, with Curtis McKenzie replacing William Carrier in the first period.

Pacioretty-Glass-Tuch
Zykov-Eakin-Smith
Carrier-Nosek-Kolesar
Pirri-Roy-Duke

Merrill-Coghlan
McNabb-Whitecloud
Schuldt-Holden

Fleury

Here are some key stats from the game:

• Shots On Goal – VGK: 29 – SJS: 29
• FO% – VGK: 48% – SJS: 52%
• PP – VGK: 1/1 – SJS: 0/2
• PIM – VGK: 6 – SJS: 4
• HITS – VGK: 22 – SJS: 31
• BLKS – VGK: 10 – SJS: 18
• GVA – VGK: 4 – SJS: 8

And let’s check out a scoring summary from the game:

• • Valentin Zykov (2) – Pacioretty (2), Glass (2) – 11:06 / 1st
  • Max Pacioretty (4) – Glass (3), Smith (1) – 14:38 / 2nd
  • Antti Suomela (1) – Vlasic (1), Labanc (1) – 14:55 / 2nd
  • Alex Tuch (1) PPG – Pacioretty (3), Schuldt (1) – :58 / 3rd

Here are some brief notes on the game. We will be presenting our three players from the game on Sunday, in addition to taking a look at the big talking points from the first couple of weeks of the preseason on Monday.

• Marc-Andre Fleury made his preseason debut and was outstanding; stopping 28 of 29 shots and pulling off a flurry of key saves at big moment. He is likely to get at least one more start in the exhibition games before the regular season gets underway.
• Max Pacioretty now has four goals and three assists for seven points in just two preseason games after recording a three point night (one goal, two assists) against the Sharks. He was in midseason form once again and the Golden Knights will be hoping for a big year from the veteran.
• Another player to impress was Cody Glass who is hammering home the fact that he’s more than ready to thrive in the NHL, let alone make the leap to the big leagues. He flashed his extraordinary playmaking ability all night against the Sharks, finishing the night with two sublime assists.
• Alex Tuch got his first goal of the preseason on the powerplay and he also excelled on the penalty kill. In total, Tuch finished the night with a goal in 16:27 minutes of total ice time, including 2:06 on the PK.
• Valentin Zykov has largely been the forgotten man in Vegas but he’s enjoyed a strong preseason so far, and that only continued against the Sharks. The forward finished with a goal and a plus/minus rating of +1 in 14:49 minutes of total ice time.
• The battle for the final roster spot on the blueline also continues to rage on and Dylan Coghlan was the pick of the rookies that played, producing one highlight-reel play to break up a 2-on-1 opportunity.
• Coghlan got 17:02 minutes of total ice time, Zach Whitecloud had 18:48 and Jimmy Schuldt got 22:19.
• The Vegas Golden Knights are now 4-0-0 in the preseason and have outscored their opponents 17-5 in that span.

There is now a three-day break for the Golden Knights before their next preseason matchup, which comes against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday – 7:00 p.m. PT.