Vegas Golden Knights: Takeaways from Game 1 win against Chicago
Things went as planned in Game 1 for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Odds on favorites heading into this Western Conference Round 1 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Vegas Golden Knights took care of business in a 4-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Robin Lehner got the start over Marc-Andre Fleury and the 2018-19 Vezina Trophy finalist went on to make 19 saves from 20 shots, despite having trouble with his skates.
Following a scoreless first period that was lacking in intensity, things livened up in the middle period.
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Shea Theodore got the Golden Knights on the board after beating Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford with a wrister, before William Carrier jammed the puck home to make it a two-goal game.
However, Chicago did a good job of hanging on in there despite being outplayed and a bad turnover from Shea Theodore led to David Kampf scoring a shorthanded goal on Lehner.
It didn’t lead to anything, though, and the Golden Knights resumed their dominance in the third period.
Reilly Smith, who was part of a dominant second-line, unleashed a wrister that went in off Crawford’s blocker and Smith lit the lamp again after getting a gorgeous saucer pass from Jonathan Marchessault before beating Crawford on the backhand.
Smith’s two goals iced the game for the Golden Knights who took a 1-0 series lead, with Game 2 slated for Thursday.
Before we delve into Game 2, however, let’s go over some takeaways we had from Game 1 between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Chicago Blackhawks…