Vegas Golden Knights: Three stars who stole the show in Edmonton
It was a hell of a win by the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday as they beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in overtime at Rogers Place.
In what was a mouthwatering top of the Pacific Division battle, the Vegas Golden Knights produced the goods again for their second consecutive win to stretch their lead to three points at the top of the division.
Shea Theodore made history by becoming only the 11th defenseman in the NHL over the last 21 years to record a game-winner in consecutive games, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 of 24 shots.
It didn’t start well for the Golden Knights, however, as the Oilers landed the first blow of the night despite being without Connor McDavid due to illness, with Alex Chiasson deflecting a shot past Fleury.
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The Golden Knights made it a tied game at the end of the first period, however, as Nicolas Roy cashed in on the power play.
There were no goals in the second period with both goalies standing on their heads for their respective teams.
But Ryan Nugent-Hopkins broke the tie early in the third period after firing a shot beyond Fleury following good work from Kailer Yamamoto from behind the net.
There was no giving up for the Golden Knights, though, and they made it a tied game again midway through the third period as Jonathan Marchessault ripped a Reilly Smith dish past Mikko Koskinen.
And Marchessault played a huge role in the game-winner as he shut down Oilers defenseman Ethan Bear, before feeding the puck to Shea Theodore who unleashed an absolute bomb past Koskinen to win the game in style for Vegas.
This was a gigantic win by the Golden Knights and there were three players in particular who played a crucial part in the overtime success in Edmonton.
3. Marc-Andre Fleury
With Robin Lehner providing stiff competition behind him, Marc-Andre Fleury has really elevated his game as of late and he was brilliant against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
He stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced and helped to keep the Oilers at bay, who were still dangerous at times despite being without Connor McDavid who missed the game due to illness.
Fleury bailed his team out when he had to and he made a sublime stop to absolutely rob Ethan Bear in overtime, showing superb reactions to deny the defenseman at point blank range.
After struggling for chunks of this year, Fleury is starting to reach the peak of his powers once again and his save in overtime is what you get with an elite goaltender.
Fleury is absolutely money in clutch moments and the 35-year-old was at it again in what was a huge showdown with the Oilers.
Granted, Fleury didn’t have a great deal to do throughout the course of the game but, when his team needed him the most in the biggest moment of the contest, he delivered and that is the true hallmark of a true great.
2. Shea Theodore
We are running out of superlatives to describe Shea Theodore this year.
The defenseman is rapidly morphing into one of the best young blueliners in the NHL, and this season really has been his coming out party.
With a few weeks of the regular season remaining, Theodore has already achieved career-highs in goals (13), assists (33), points (46) and power play points (16).
In short, Theodore has been lights out all year and he’s on the cusp of taking that next step towards becoming a dominant two-way defenseman in this league.
He is a joy to watch and he also achieved a rather unique and special slice of history on Monday night in Edmonton.
Because, in unleashing an absolute bomb past Mikko Koskinen in overtime, Theodore became only the 11th defensemen over the last 21 years of the National Hockey League to record a game-winner in consecutive games.
Dustin Byfuglien, John Carlson, Seth Jones and Drew Doughty are just some of the others to have done it, and that isn’t bad company to be in at all.
It was also yet another example of just how big a weapon Theodore’s lethal shot is, while he also led all Golden Knight skaters in total with a whopping 24:15.
The Golden Knights claimed two huge wins on consecutive nights and they have their stud defenseman to thank for that.
1. Jonathan Marchessault
Big moments require big players and Jonathan Marchessault stepped up to the plate and then some for the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.
After recording just two points in his previous seven outings, Marchessault has now tallied three points in the past two games.
And he contributed two huge plays on Monday that directly led to the Golden Knights beating the Oilers and extending their lead at the top of the Pacific Division.
Firstly, the forward went top shelf on Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen with an absolute snipe following stellar work by Reilly Smith from behind the net.
Winner winner
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Then, with 2:13 on the board in overtime, Marchessault produced arguably his most important play of the year.
With Edmonton defenseman Ethan Bear trying to handle the puck before getting it out of the zone, Marchessault smelt blood and harassed the young blueliner, stripping the puck from Bear before dishing a pass to Shea Theodore who hammered an absolute bomb past Koskinen for the game-winner.
It was a hockey play executed to perfection by Marchessault, and it was also a big-time play in a huge moment.
Next. Theodore delivers more heroics in OT. dark
With Mark Stone still week-to-week, the Vegas Golden Knights need other players to step up and Jonathan Marchessault certainly did that and then some on Monday night.