Vegas Golden Knights put in solid effort to take Game 1 over Blackhawks

It is advantage Vegas Golden Knights in their Best-of-Seven series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Robin Lehner made 19 saves and Reilly Smith lit the lamp twice as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Hawks 4-1 in Game 1 of their Western Conference First Round matchup.

It was a solid effort from the Golden Knights who relied on their excellent second line, while limiting the Blackhawks from doing too much damage.

Vegas also did a good job of putting the shackles on Chicago’s big guns, and that has to be the gameplan going forward.

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There was a lack of intensity in the first period but the Golden Knights did a good job of controlling the play while keeping Chicago quiet.

Things did liven up in the middle frame and it was Vegas who lit the lamp first thanks to Shea Theodore, with the defenseman ripping a wrist shot past Corey Crawford.

William Carrier then jammed the puck home to make it a two-goal game, but the Blackhawks hit back minutes later after a Theodore turnover led to David Kampf recording his first goal in the Playoffs.

In what was a narrow game the Golden Knights needed one of their top-six forwards to step up to the plate and that’s exactly what happened.

Reilly Smith, who set a career-high in goals with 27 during the regular season, made it a two-goal game again early in the third after his wrister went in off Crawford’s blocker.

And Smith effectively iced the game just shy of midway through the final period when he beat Crawford on the backhand following a brilliant saucer pass from Jonathan Marchessault.

It was a big win for the Golden Knights who certainly have some kinks to iron out before Game 2, but let’s break down Game 1 period-by-period…

First Period

Robin Lehner got the start over Marc-Andre Fleury but the 2018-19 Vezina Trophy finalist wasn’t needed that much in the opening period.

Vegas had the puck for a lot of the first and controlled play well with the Blackhawks really struggling to get anything going.

And the stats backed that up with the Golden Knights outshooting Chicago 9-5 and 19-10 in shot attempts.

Second Period

A bad turnover led to Jonathan Toews hitting the crossbar before the Chicago Captain got into it with Jonathan Marchessault by the benches.

That brawl appeared to send a jolt of energy through the Vegas bench and it worked as they got on the board first shortly after.

Shea Theodore took the puck from Reilly Smith before ripping a shot past Corey Crawford from the top of the circle at 7:22.

It was then a two-nothing game at 9:39 as Ryan Reaves flung the puck on net with William Carrier in the right place to jam the puck home.

However, the Knights then gave their opponents a pathway straight back into the game thanks to a costly mistake.

Theodore went to retrieve a puck that had left the zone but he was outmuscled by Brandon Saad, who then sent a slick backhand pass to David Kampf who buried a shorthanded goal.

Third Period

The Golden Knights were the better team on balance and they got their just rewards at 3:32 after Reilly Smith beat Corey Crawford with a wrister.

Crawford made a big stop to deny a Mark Stone one-timer but the Chicago goalie was beat by a Smith backhand at 8:14 after Jonathan Marchessault had fed his teammate with a great saucer pass.

That was that as the Golden Knights outshot the Blackhawks 34-20 on their way to taking Game 1, with Game 2 slated for Thursday.

Let’s go over some notes and stats…