Vegas Golden Knights strike early to take down Rangers and achieve a first

Rejoice! The Vegas Golden Knights finally did it after clinching a third straight win by beating the New York Rangers 4-1 at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

In what was the first game of a three-game road trip on the east coast, the Vegas Golden Knights came out hard and fast from the first drop of the puck and they were rewarded emphatically.

Alex Tuch, who had a breakout game in the win over the Arizona Coyotes on Friday, was outstanding in The Big Apple and the power forward got Vegas on the board early in the first period after his shot squirmed through Henrik Lundqvist.

And Tuch haunted the Blueshirts again moments later after one-timing home a sublime feed from Nate Schmidt.

The Golden Knights outshot the Rangers 17-12 in the first period and they were completely dominant in every single area.

It only got better for Vegas, too, after Reilly Smith stole the puck back before charging up ice on a breakaway and beating Lundqvist with a backhander early in the second period.

The Knights were teaching the Rangers a harsh lesson and they iced the game with their second power play goal of the night, Max Pacioretty cranking home a one-timer from a stellar dish from Cody Glass.

Malcolm Subban, who was outstanding having made some big stops, was denied a shutout late in the second period when he was beaten by a redirect from Brendan Lemieux.

However, that was the only blemish on the Golden Knights’ copybook, with Vegas winning three straight for the first time this year.

Let’s delve into the game by breaking it down period-by-period…

The Game

First Period – One of the Golden Knights’ biggest problems this season has been their lack of consistency having never won more than two games in a row in 2019-20.

However, they were determined to eradicate that and they came out with fire in their bellies against the New York Rangers at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

And it didn’t take them long to land the first blow of the night after Alex Tuch latched onto a superb breakout pass from Jonathan Marchessault before ripping a shot past Henrik Lundqvist at 1:34.

The shot squirmed through the body of Lundqvist and appeared to stay out, only for a review to confirm that the Rangers goalie had knocked the puck in the net with his pad.

It didn’t get any better for the Rangers, either, as Tuch struck again at 3:50, one-timing home a feed from Nate Schmidt on the power play.

Vegas were dominating the Rangers and Lundqvist made a big kick save to deny William Karlsson at the end of the first, with the Knights outshooting their hosts 17-12.

Second Period – It took a few minutes but when the Golden Knights recorded their first shot on goal in the middle frame, they made it count.

Reilly Smith, who was going up against older brother Brendan, cut out a pass in the neutral zone before charging up the ice on a breakaway and lifting a backhanded shot over Henrik Lundqvist.

Vegas then went on the power play and, for the second time, they converted and it was all thanks to Cody Glass.

The rookie sent a delicious and outstanding no-look pass right across the slot area to Max Pacioretty at the backdoor, and the forward was able to crank a one-timer past Lundqvist.

Exceptional.

Malcolm Subban came up big to stop Ryan Strome on a two-on-one, although he was beaten at 15:15 after Brendan Lemieux got to the front of the net to redirect a Jacob Trouba pass into the net.

Vegas had again outshot the Rangers 11-7 at the end of the second.

Third Period – There were no goals in the final period as the Vegas Golden Knights did what they had to in order to see the game out, while Malcolm Subban stood tall to cancel out a flurry of Rangers power plays.

And Subban’s big effort, stopping 29 of 30 shots, coupled with an excellent all-round team performance, gave the Golden Knights their first three-game win streak of the season to get this road trip started in the perfect fashion.

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