Vegas Golden Knights: Main Takeaways as hockey is back!

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Four months away from the ice didn’t seem to curtail the Vegas Golden Knights too much.

After over 100 days without hitting a puck in competitive anger due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vegas Golden Knights finally made their long-awaited return to the ice on Thursday.

In what was their one and only exhibition game, the Golden Knights made light work of the Arizona Coyotes to prepare nicely for the first of three round-robin games on Monday with the Dallas Stars the first opponent.

Playing in a strange arena without any fans and without Max Pacioretty who continues to be absent from the Bubble, the Golden Knights adapted to their new surroundings well and looked as sharp as you could expect following such a long layoff.

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Marc-Andre Fleury got the start between the pipes and played the entire game, allowing just one goal on 23 shots in an impressive outing.

And Vegas also got plenty of offense in addition to solid goaltending, thanks in large to Reilly Smith who helped himself to two tallies.

Smith got the show started in the first period after forcing a neutral zone turnover on the penalty kill, before burying a beautiful dish from William Karlsson.

The lamp was lit again at the end of the opening frame after Smith took full advantage of a superb Nick Cousins screen by unleashing a wrister beyond Darcy Kuemper.

It was a scoreless second period but there were a flurry of goals to digest in the final frame as Arizona looked to claw their way back into the contest.

Despite Fleury’s best efforts to try and keep the puck out of his net, Taylor Hall eventually forced the puck home on the power play to make it a one-goal game.

However, Vegas flexed their attacking muscles once more and effectively put a bow on the game thanks to Alex Tuch, who fired a shot from an impossible angle beyond Antti Raanta.

Cousins then fired in an empty-netter in the closing seconds to close the evening for the Golden Knights, who certainly ticked plenty of boxes in their return to action.

In the wake of the exhibition win we decided to put together some takeaways from the Golden Knights’ success over the Arizona Coyotes…

1. Solid outing for Fleury

We live in strange times right now and perhaps that is best illustrated by the current format of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals.

Play-In Rounds, round-robin games, no fans, you name it we have never seen sports like this before.

Another weird oddity surrounding this postseason is the fact that perhaps more than half the teams involved have serious question marks over their goaltending.

We’ve seen it already during the first days in the NHL’s return, and there have even been questions in regards to Vegas and its goaltending.

That’s what happens when you have a future Hall of Famer in Marc-Andre Fleury and an elite backup in Robin Lehner at your disposal.

But, whatever the outside noise may have been suggesting, it is clear that Fleury is the undisputed starter for Vegas and he was given the whole game against Arizona to dial in.

And he didn’t disappoint.

Now, granted, Fleury was hardly exposed in the opening two periods as the Coyotes only mustered up six high-danger scoring chances all game.

However, in saying that, the veteran handled whatever was thrown at him and, when he was needed in the third period with Arizona putting their foot on the gas, Fleury delivered in a big way.

The fact that Fleury looked sharp and dialled in from the first game would have been of huge encouragement to the Vegas coaching staff and front office, and now we will see how the organization handles the goaltending throughout the round-robin games.

2. Golden Touch

Don’t give up a high-danger chance to Reilly Smith because, with the way things are going, you are likely to be scored upon.

Very much underrated on what is a star-studded Golden Knights roster, Smith has been highly-productive for Vegas since being acquired in a trade from the Florida Panthers at the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.

So it shouldn’t really come as a surprise then that Smith was an absolute potent weapon for Vegas during the 2019-20 regular season, recording 27 goals and 27 assists for 54 points in 71 games.

His 27 goals this year were a career-high and Smith hardly missed a beat in that department upon the NHL’s resumption this week.

It took only just under nine minutes for Smith to light the lamp for the first time in this new reality, connecting with usual partner in-crime William Karlsson to score a shorthanded goal.

Perhaps more impressive, though, was Smith’s second goal of the night which came at the end of the first period.

With forward Nick Cousins providing an excellent screen in-front of Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper, Smith ripped a heavy wrist-shot past Kuemper for a power play goal with both of his tallies coming on special teams.

It was an impressive outing by Smith who finished with 16:28 of total ice time, including plenty of exposure on special teams.

And, with it not clear on when top-six forward Max Pacioretty will exactly report to the Bubble in Edmonton, the Golden Knights will need players like Reilly Smith to continue to step up and provide offense.

3. Third-line shows plenty of promise

It is hardly a well-kept secret that one of the biggest bugaboos of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019-20 was the poor play of their third-line.

No matter the combination they threw out on the ice, it didn’t seem to spark a slumping third-line that offered nothing on most nights.

However, it appears as though Head Coach Peter DeBoer has finally stumbled upon a potential solution to his third-line woes.

Although very early days, the Golden Knights threw out a third-line of Nick Cousins, Alex Tuch and Nicolas Roy against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.

And the trio were easily the best line out on the ice.

Cousins, playing on the left wing, had a goal and two assists and also provided an excellent screen for Reilly Smith’s second goal, rookie center Roy provided two helpers and Tuch had a fine night on the right wing with a goal and an assist.

Again, although a very small sample size, a combined total of seven points from that three will no doubt have pleased DeBoer, who will need secondary scoring from his bottom-six if he is to guide the Golden Knights to Stanley Cup glory this year.

It was especially encouraging to see Tuch so dominant after the winger endured an injury-ravaged 2019-20 regular season.

He used his big frame and his speed to help create Smith’s power play goal at the end of the first period after charging up through the neutral zone, and his speed and vision for his goal was something to behold.

Next. Golden Knights look sharp in the bubble. dark

The 24-year-old was all over the ice and finished the game with two points (1 G, 1 A), a plus/minus rating of +2 and 17:07 of total ice time, including plenty of time on the power play.

If Tuch can remain healthy throughout the postseason and continue to build chemistry with Cousins and Roy, then the Vegas Golden Knights may have finally solved their third-line headache if Thursday night is anything to go by.

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