Vegas Golden Knights: Cody Glass – he came, he saw, he conquered

You tend to have one moment in which to make a good first impression and Cody Glass seized his opportunity to impress for the Vegas Golden Knights with both hands on opening night.

Awarded his NHL debut against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena, the first-ever draft pick in franchise history for the Vegas Golden Knights recorded his first goal on his first shot in the majors, while also being named the First Star of the game.

It was a hell of a coming-out-party for Glass who carried himself as though he had been playing in the NHL for years, rather than mere minutes.

He truly flourished playing on a second line also featuring Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone, and Glass had his two linemates to thank after scoring his first-ever goal in the NHL.

Stone did well to keep the puck alive and Pacioretty, who had developed promising chemistry with Glass in the preseason, fed his young colleague with a sublime dish and Glass did the rest with a one-timer past Martin Jones in the Sharks goal.

It was a stunning play and it presented Vegas fans with a tantalizing glimpse of what could be a potentially explosive second line for this franchise.

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And it happened by accident with Glass cracking the opening night roster after both Alex Tuck and Cody Eakin were struck down by upper-body injuries in the final game of the preseason.

Eakin started the season on the IR and is considered day-to-day, while Tuch is a tad more serious and is thought to be week-to-week.

As a result, Glass was bumped up to the second line in-between Pacioretty and Stone for the final exhibition game against the Sharks and, after the trio showed some promise, they won the trust of Head Coach Gerard Gallant and got the nod to begin the regular season together.

It paid off handsomely with Glass, Pacioretty and Stone all registering points, and they meshed together extremely well as a line.

We’ll go deeper into the future of that line shortly but, for now, let’s shift the focus back onto Glass’ phenomenal debut and his arrival as a bona fide NHL player.

It has been a long time coming for the two-way forward who came into Training Camp determined to make the opening night roster after dominating the WHL with the Portland Winterhawks, blowing away the competition with 292 points (94 goals, 198 assists).

The natural progression from there was a promotion to the AHL and Glass handled that with ease too, going on an absolute tear down the stretch last year with three goals and two assists for five points for the Chicago Wolves.

But Glass saved his best work until the playoffs after tallying 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 22 games, suggesting that he was more than ready for the bright lights of the NHL.

He earned his opportunity after doing everything that was asked of him in the preseason, playing on the wing and in his favored center ice position, putting up three assists in the process and proving that he could handle playing with elite players.

So, all the dedication, all the commitment and all the hours upon hours put in to improve as a player led to Wednesday night and, on the biggest stage with everyone watching, Glass delivered big time.

Granted, he wasn’t perfect and there are kinks in his game to iron out and work on but let’s be honest, no rookie is perfect coming into the NHL and there will be growing pains for Glass.

But he equipped himself well while logging monster minutes with 14:51 minutes of total ice time, including 2:14 on the power play, winning 50 percent of his faceoffs (5 out of 10 draws) and finishing the night with two shots on goal, one hit, two giveaways, one takeaway and a plus/minus rating of +1.

Furthermore, Glass was subjected to some tough matchups and he had to go up against veteran Joe Thornton and the gritty Tomas Hertl. No easy task for a rookie playing in his first-ever NHL game.

The highlight of the night for Glass, however, will be his first goal in the NHL and the young stud admitted to the Vegas Golden Knights official Twitter account that the whole night was a dream come true.

“It felt like a dream come true. It was a lot of emotions at the time and it was special to have my family in the crowd. It was a nice play by Patches and Stoner to get it started. Patch found me backdoor and I didn’t really see it after I shot it, but it was a great play. It is special and you dream of it as a kid. it is very emotional and it was a very special moment.”

Let’s now switch our attention to the other factor at play here, which is how this lineup will look going forward with Glass on the big league roster.

Both Tuch and Eakin should be back by the start of November if not before and, as it stands, either one one of Valentin Zykov or Brandon Pirri will make way for Tuch while Eakin will move down to the fourth line and play center with Tomas Nosek dropping out.

Paul Stastny did a fine job centering a third line with Zykov and Pirri as his wings and, let’s face it, having four centers with the talents of William Karlsson, Glass, Stastny and Eakin gives the Golden Knights an abundance of riches at center.

It adds considerable more balance to that Golden Knights roster and it also gives the coaching staff options and flexibility, which are key ingredients when navigating a gruelling 82-game regular season schedule.

Of course, if Glass dips off significantly then expect the lines to go back to the way they were with Eakin the third line center and Stastny moving back up to the second line.

However, for now at least, Glass has proven that he deserves a shot at being an NHL player and if he continues on his upwards trajectory and produces more moments like Wednesday, then it is safe to assume Cody Glass will be staying put on that second line for the foreseeable.