Vegas Golden Knights: Three Big Takeaways from Calgary Cruising

1. Knights Flash Killer Instinct

During the course of a run that saw them drop five straight and lose seven of eight, the Vegas Golden Knights were not awful in all of those games.

But, their biggest bugaboo was the fact that they lacked a killer instinct and failed to kill teams off when they were on top.

For instance, they have been guilty of blowing a plethora of blown leads and they had also surrendered two-goal leads in their previous three games at T-Mobile Arena.

So, while we would have all taken an ugly and gritty win on Sunday given how desperate this losing run was getting, the way in which the Knights snapped a franchise-long five-game losing streak was hugely impressive.

They took on the form of a chameleon in the first two periods in that they adapted their game plan to whatever it was Calgary threw at them.

They were outshot in the first period but took a slender lead in to the middle frame thanks to William Karlsson’s eighth goal of the year (more on him later), while they stood up to the physical play of the Flames throughout.

Paul Stastny brought an eight-game drought without a point to a halt in the second period after tallying a sublime effort, before Max Pacioretty’s tuck at 8:13 in the third seemed to be the moment that finally broke Calgary’s spirit.

Because, from that point on, the Knights would hammer their foot down on the throat of their opponents and not let up, proceeding to score three goals in three crazy minutes to ice the game.

It was a killer instinct that had been missing but boy was it good to see it back, and that is how this Vegas Golden Knights team need to play every game.

They are truly at their best when they pummel teams and don’t let up, and that attitude was the driving force behind their big win on Sunday.