Vegas Golden Knights deliver when it matters most against Oilers

Notes & Stats

This was the Vegas Golden Knights Lineup to start the game:

Marchessault-Stastny-Smith
Pacioretty-Karlsson-Stone
Cousins-Stephenson-Roy
Carrier-Nosek-Carrier

McNabb-Schmidt
Martinez-Theodore
Holden-Whitecloud

Fleury

Here were some key stats from the game:

• SOG – EDM: 29 – VGK: 33
• FO% – EDM: 48% – VGK: 52%
• PP – EDM: 0/3 – VGK: 1/3
• PIM – EDM: 6 – VGK: 6
• HITS – EDM: 20 – VGK: 32
• BLKS – EDM: 15 – VGK: 19
• GVA – EDM: 5 – VGK: 5

Here is the Official Scoring Summary from the game:

• Max Pacioretty (30) – Karlsson (28) – 16:04 / 1st
• Nick Cousins (10) – PPG – Martinez (10), Schmidt (23) – 5:44 / 3rd
• Shea Theodore (10) – Martinez (11), Stastny (19) – 9:59 / 3rd

Let’s go over some notes from the game:

• The Vegas Golden Knights are now 35-22-8 on the year and 20-10-4 at T-Mobile Arena this season.
• This was a huge win by the Golden Knights who have now tightened their grip at the top of the Pacific Division, and they hold a four-point lead over the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers, although both teams have games in-hand.
• The Knights are playing at the peak of their powers right now having ripped off seven straight wins, and if they beat the Buffalo Sabres on Friday then they will match the franchise record of eight straight wins, set between Dec. 14, 2017 to Jan. 2, 2018.
• If the Golden Knights keep playing like this then there is no doubt that they will win the Pacific, and they will also be a force to be reckoned with in the postseason.
• How good was Marc-Andre Fleury?! He was simply unstoppable against the Oilers. He stopped all 29 shots fired at him for his fifth shutout of the year and the 61st of his career, tying Turk Broda for 17th on the All-Time list. Fleury also leads the entire NHL in shutouts with 13 over the past two seasons, which is just incredible.
• After a tough year on and off the ice, Fleury looks to be at the peak of his powers right now and he’s been absolutely dominant in his last five starts alone, going 5-0-0 with a .942 Save Percentage and a 1.60 Goals Against Average.
• Six players have now lit the lamp on their Vegas Golden Knights debuts this year after Nick Cousins scored on the power play against the Oilers. Cody Glass, Nicolas Roy, Chandler Stephenson, Alec Martinez and Patrick Brown were the other players to have done it.
• This was a really nice game by Cousins who logged 12:09 minutes of total ice time, recording a point, three shots on goal, one hit and two blocked shots.
• It was also a monster night for Alec Martinez who continues to shine for the Golden Knights since being acquired from the LA Kings in a trade last week. Martinez recorded two primary assists, and they were the first primary helpers of the year for the defenseman. And, after registering eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 41 games for the Kings this year, Martinez now has six points (two goals, four assists) in four games for the Knights. What a transformation.

• Shea Theodore continued his stellar year with his 10th goal of the year, blasting a shot from the point with a hell of a release. Theodore now has 43 points on the year, setting new career-highs in points and assists (33), while he needs three more goals to achieve a career-high in that category.
• William Karlsson, who ended a 21-game drought with a hat-trick against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, recorded his 28th assist of the year with the primary helper on Max Pacioretty’s goal.
• Speaking of Pacioretty, the forward recorded his 30th goal of the year and is second on the team in points with 62. Pacioretty has now achieved six seasons with 30 plus goals. Not bad at all.
• Nate Schmidt, who has elevated his game under Peter DeBoer, tallied his 23rd assist of the year while Paul Stastny picked up his 19th helper.
• The Golden Knights recovered from a shaky first period to outshoot the Oilers 33-29, win the faceoff battle 52%-48%, they outhit Edmonton 32-20 and they also blocked more shots (19-15). Both teams had five Giveaways.
• Vegas went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and they are rank 22nd in the NHL on the PK (78.0), which is an area that certainly needs some work before the postseason.
• On the other hand, the Golden Knights went 1/3 on the power play, and their man advantage  is currently operating at a 21.4 clip, ranked 11th in the NHL.
• The Official Three Stars of the game were: 1. Marc-Andre Fleury 2. Nick Cousins 3. Max Pacioretty.

Looking Ahead

The Vegas Golden Knights could match a franchise record with eight straight wins if they beat the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

The Golden Knights will then open up the month of March on home ice against the LA Kings on Sunday, before finishing the homestand against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.