It was a golden end to 2019 and the Decade for the Vegas Golden Knights who powered their way past the Anaheim Ducks.
Riding a two-game winning streak, the Vegas Golden Knights ended the Decade on a high by beating the Ducks who they had lost to just days earlier.
It was a dominant showing from the Golden Knights who are starting to reach the peak of their powers at just the right time.
It wasn’t the best start for Vegas at T-Mobile Arena, however, who fell behind midway through the first period as Korbinian Holzer rammed home a loose puck.
Vegas were peppering Anaheim goalie John Gibson with a flurry of shots, though, outshooting the Ducks 22-5 in a lopsided first period.
And they eventually got their just rewards as Mark Stone fired a shot over the shoulder of John Gibson, following brilliant work by Max Pacioretty who forced a turnover in the defensive zone.
Gibson was standing on his head and his team would have been in deep trouble were it not for the plethora of saves he pulled off, including making a slew of stops to somehow prevent Jonathan Marchessault from forcing the puck into the net.
But Gibson was eventually beaten and it was by his own teammate in Josh Mason who somehow shot the puck past his own goalie, with the goal being credited to Alex Tuch.
The Ducks gave up 34 shot attempts, 23 shots on goal, 17 scoring chance and 11 high-danger chances in an absolutely dominant period by the Knights, who would have been out of sight were it not for the heroic efforts of John Gibson.
But quality always shines through and that was the case late in the second period as Reilly Smith scored an absolutely filthy backhanded effort to make it a two-goal game.
It was a hell of an effort by Smith and probably his best goal of the 15 he has potted so far this season.
Marc-Andre Fleury then pulled off a stunning save on the rebound to preserve Vegas’ two-goal lead, before the Knights landed another near knockout blow.
After Josh Manson hooked Marchessault on a breakaway, the forward regained his composure to trick Gibson into going down low early before lifting the puck over the goalie.
Anaheim did get a goal back as Jakob Silfverberg scored seconds after the power play had expired with Fleury stranded.
Gibson was then pulled but the Golden Knights iced the game thank to Marchessault who slung the puck into the empty-net.
Shea Theodore dropped the gloves with Max Comtois to finish the game, with the Vegas Golden Knights racking up their third straight win to finish the year in style.
Let’s go over some notes & stats from the game…