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Vegas Golden Knights: Debut joy, Martinez red hot, other takeaways

By Andrew Steele-Davis

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 26: Nick Cousins #21 of the Vegas Golden Knights scores a third-period power-play goal against Mikko Koskinen #19 of the Edmonton Oilers during their game at T-Mobile Arena on February 26, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Oilers 3-0. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 26: Nick Cousins #21 of the Vegas Golden Knights scores a third-period power-play goal against Mikko Koskinen #19 of the Edmonton Oilers during their game at T-Mobile Arena on February 26, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Oilers 3-0. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 26: Nick Cousins #21 of the Vegas Golden Knights scores a third-period power-play goal against Mikko Koskinen #19 of the Edmonton Oilers during their game at T-Mobile Arena on February 26, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Oilers 3-0. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 26: Nick Cousins #21 of the Vegas Golden Knights scores a third-period power-play goal against Mikko Koskinen #19 of the Edmonton Oilers during their game at T-Mobile Arena on February 26, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Oilers 3-0. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Marc-Andre Fleury stood on his head as the Vegas Golden Knights shutout the Edmonton Oilers to tighten their grip on the Pacific Division on Wednesday.

Thanks to Fleury’s heroics coupled with another big night from Alec Martinez, the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Oilers 3-0 in what was a huge and significant win at T-Mobile Arena.

It wasn’t always easy, though, with the Oilers absolutely dominating the first period having outshot the Golden Knights 12-9 while maintaining 3:23 minutes of possession in the offensive zone.

And, if it wasn’t for Fleury, then Edmonton would have buried the Knights in the opening 20 minutes alone.

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But Fleury, who has started to look more like himself as of late, absolutely stood on his head to thwart the Oilers, including making a stunning pad save to absolutely rob Leon Draisaitl.

Max Pacioretty then delivered another gut punch to Edmonton after getting Vegas on the board first.

That goal was the 30th of the year for Pacioretty, who has now reached the 30-goal plateau in six different seasons throughout his NHL career.

Vegas absolutely peppered the Edmonton goal with a flurry of shots in the second period, outshooting the Oilers 16-5, although they couldn’t add to their lead.

But keep banging on the door and it will eventually come off its hinges, and that’s exactly what happened as Nick Cousins became the latest player to score on his Vegas Golden Knights debut.

Alec Martinez, who was acquired in a trade from the LA Kings days before the NHL Trade Deadline, recorded his first primary assist of the year and he repeated the feat midway through the third period.

After Paul Stastny won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Martinez dished a pass to Shea Theodore who unleashed a bomb of a one-timer past Mikko Koskinen to ice the game.

It was a seventh straight win for the Vegas Golden Knights who continue to roll, and we had some takeaways from the game…

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