Vegas Golden Knights: Theodore delivers more heroics in OT
With the spotlight on the Vegas Golden Knights are really starting to deliver after beating the Edmonton Oilers in a huge 3-2 overtime win at Rogers Place on Monday night.
With the regular season now in the home stretch, the Vegas Golden Knights tightened their grip on the Pacific Division with a momentous victory in Edmonton.
Heading into the night holding a slender two-point lead at the top, the Golden Knights stretched that to three points after producing the goods in overtime.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced while Shea Theodore potted the game-winner in overtime for his second go-ahead goal in consecutive nights.
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Vegas was given a huge boost prior to faceoff with the news that Connor McDavid would miss the game due to illness, but the Oilers still managed to land the first blow of the night.
Alex Chiasson got to the front of the net and was able to deflect a shot from the point beyond Fleury to give Edmonton the lead.
However, the Golden Knights had dominated the first period and they were rewarded late in the frame when Nicolas Roy continued his hot streak by tipping-in a slap shot from Nate Schmidt.
Both teams were trading blows in the second period but both Fleury and Mikko Koskinen were standing on their heads.
Fleury was eventually beat early in the third, however, after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins buried a feed from Kailer Yamamoto from behind the net.
But, the Golden Knights have really found their groove as of late and they fought back to perform some heroics for the second consecutive game.
It started when Jonathan Marchessault one-timed a wicked shot past Koskinen to make it a tied game, following some good work from Reilly Smith from behind the net.
And, after the game went to overtime, Shea Theodore stepped up for the second consecutive game to become the hero for the Golden Knights, hammering home a thunderous shot to win the game following superb work by Marchessault to shut down Ethan Bear before getting the puck to Theodore.
It was a hugely significant win for the Vegas Golden Knights who now have their destiny in their own hands when it comes to winning the Pacific Division.
Let’s go over some notes and stats from the game…
Notes & Stats
This was the Vegas Golden Knights Lineup to start the game…
Marchessault-Stastny-Smith
Pacioretty-Karlsson-Roy
Carrier-Cousins-Pirri
Merrill-Nosek-Reaves
McNabb-Schmidt
Martinez-Theodore
Holden-Whitecloud
Fleury
Here are some key stats from the game:
- SOG – VGK: 48 – EDM: 24
- FO% – VGK: 46% – EDM: 54%
- PP – VGK: 1/2 – EDM: 0/0
- PIM – VGK: 0 – EDM: 4
- HITS – VGK: 37 – EDM: 46
- BLKS – VGK: 15 – EDM: 17
- GVA – VGK: 14 – EDM: 16
Here was the Official Scoring Summary from the Game:
Alex Chiasson (11) – Neal (12), Klefbom (29) – 9:00 / 1st
Nicolas Roy (5) – PPG – Schmidt (24), Martinez (13) – 16:58 / 1st
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (22) – Yamamoto (14) – 6:46 / 3rd
Jonathan Marchessault (22) – Smith (27) – 11:57 / 3rd
Shea Theodore (13) – Marchessault (25) – 2:13 / OT
Let’s go over some notes from the game:
- The Vegas Golden Knights are now 39-24-8 on the year and 2-1-0 on the road trip after beating the Edmonton Oilers.
- After this signifiant win, the Golden Knights now hold a three-point lead at the top of the Pacific Division, although the Oilers have a game-in hand with the two teams set to meet one final time at the end of the month.
- This was a huge, huge, huge win for the Vegas Golden Knights who are now 11-2-0 in their last 13 outings and 15-5-2 record under Head Coach Peter DeBoer.
- Although a lost wouldn’t have been the end of the world, a win would have filled that locker room with confidence and they now have their own destiny in their hands when it comes to wrapping up the Pacific.
- What makes the win even more impressive was the fact that this was the second game of a back-to-back, and the Golden Knights managed to wipe out two of their main rivals in the Pacific on consecutive nights.
- Timing is everything in both life and in sports and the Golden Knights are really starting to hit the peak of their powers at just the right time.
- Marc-Andre Fleury got the start and he was big, stopping 22 of 24 shots and the goalie is now 27-16-5 this year with a 2.77 Goals Against Average and a .905 Save Percentage.
- We did something on this yesterday and will do so again this week, but what a year Shea Theodore is having. After scoring the go-ahead goal against the Calgary Flames on Sunday, the defenseman was at it again after hitting the game-winner in overtime against the Oilers.
- And, in recording the game-winner, Theodore joined some illustrious company, becoming only the 11th defenseman in the NHL over the last 21 years to score a game-winner in consecutive days.
- What a night for Jonathan Marchessault. After going through a slump, the forward really delivered for his team when they needed him most. Marchessault made it a tied game with an absolute snipe, before doing a stellar job of shutting down Ethan Bear and then dishing the puck to Shea Theodore for the game-winner in overtime. With Mark Stone out, the Golden Knights need others to step up to the plate and Marchessault is certainly doing that.
- Reilly Smith is also having quite the year and the forward is now third on the team in points with 54 after tallying his 27th assist of the year on Monday.
- Another player on a tear right now is Nicolas Roy, who is making the most of an extended role on this team. The forward got to the front of the net to redirect a Nate Schmidt shot past Mikko Koskinen for his 5th goal of the year.
- Nate Schmidt tallied his 24th assist and 31st point of the year, while Alec Martinez recorded a point for the second consecutive game.
- The Golden Knights outshot the Oilers by a whopping total of 48-24, although they lost the faceoff battle 46%-54%.
- They went 1-for-2 on the power play and Vegas is currently ranked 8th on the man advantage in the NHL (22.0).
- Shea Theodore, who just had another monster night, led all Golden Knight skaters in total ice time with 24:15 minutes.
- The Official Three Stars of the Game were: 1. Mikko Koskinen 2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 3. Shea Theodore.
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Looking Ahead
The Vegas Golden Knights are 2-1-0 on this road trip, which continues on Thursday against the surging Minnesota Wild.
The Knights will then finish the road trip against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, before returning home to take on the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.