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Vegas Golden Knights make it a golden weekend after beating Kings

By Andrew Steele-Davis

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 13: The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a second-period goal by Paul Stastny #26 as goaltender Jonathan Quick #32 of the Los Angeles Kings reacts during the second period of the game at STAPLES Center on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 13: The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a second-period goal by Paul Stastny #26 as goaltender Jonathan Quick #32 of the Los Angeles Kings reacts during the second period of the game at STAPLES Center on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 13: The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a second-period goal by Paul Stastny #26 as goaltender Jonathan Quick #32 of the Los Angeles Kings reacts during the second period of the game at STAPLES Center on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 13: The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a second-period goal by Paul Stastny #26 as goaltender Jonathan Quick #32 of the Los Angeles Kings reacts during the second period of the game at STAPLES Center on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images) /

It was a perfect weekend for the Vegas Golden Knights who won both games of a back-to-back after beating the LA Kings 5-2 at Staples Center on Sunday night.

After defeating the Calgary Flames 6-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night, the Vegas Golden Knights completed a successful couple of days by getting the better of the Kings last night and winning a Pacific Division double-header.

The Knights were dominant against both the Flames and the Kings and are now 4-2-0 on the 2019-20 NHL regular season.

Whereas depth scoring propelled them to a win against the Flames, the Knights had their red hot power play to thank after beating the Kings last night.

The man advantage went a perfect 3-for-3 with Paul Stastny collecting three points (two goals, one assist) on the power play.

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Reilly Smith and Max Pacioretty put the Golden Knights firmly in the driving seat and, although Austin Wagner got LA on the board in the first period, Paul Stastny struck twice in the middle period.

Dustin Brown gave the Kings a slither of hope in the third period but Mark Stone continued his hot start to the year by recording his fourth goal of the season to wrap up the win and make it a hugely successful weekend for Vegas.

Marc-Andre Fleury, making his second consecutive start, looked locked in from the start and he continued his impressive start to the year with 36 saves from 38 shots.

The Game

First Period – Marc-Andre Fleury made a handful of big saves as the Vegas Golden Knights killed off an early power play, including an impressive pad save on Jeff Carter, and that allowed the Knights to go and do their thing.

Vegas’ dynamic top line put the pressure on the Kings’ defense in the offensive zone and it paid off as William Karlsson fed the puck to Reilly Smith, who sent a wrister beyond Jonathan Quick for his fourth goal of the year and the Knights’ first of the night.

It didn’t take long for the Golden Knights to double their lead after Max Pacioretty roofed a shot over Quick on the power play, with Shea Theodore and Paul Stastny getting the helpers.

LA hit back quickly, however, as Austin Wagner won back possession before advancing into the Knights’ defensive zone and sending a wrister past Marc-Andre Fleury at 7:49.

Fleury produced arguably the best save of the night with an incredible pad save on Jeff Carter, with the Kings outshooting the Golden Knights 16-7 in an eventful first period, and he followed that up with another unbelievable kick save to this time deny Anze Kopitar.

Second Period –  Jeff Carter was given two minutes for charging Jon Merrill and that came back to haunt him as the Knights’ power play kicked into high gear again.

Moving the puck around beautifully, the man advantage for Vegas improved to two-for-two as Paul Stastny was in the right place to tip a sublime Max Pacioretty dish through the five-hole of Jonathan Quick.

And Stastny and the power play struck again at 17:00 in the second, Nic Hague feeding Jonathan Marchessault who found Stastny with a perfect dish and the forward did the rest by one-timing the puck past Quick.

Third Period – Dustin Brown gave the LA Kings some hope at 4:24 in the final period, but that hope was quickly wiped out thanks to Mark Stone who backhanded a deflected pass from Paul Stastny into the back of the net.

Marc-Andre Fleury, who was enjoying a fine night in net, decided to try and score himself after gloving the puck before dropping it and firing it at Jonathan Quick. Incredible.

And that was that with the Vegas Golden Knights pulling the curtain down on a huge weekend and sealing a second straight win in the Pacific Division.

Let’s go over some notes and stats from the game…

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