Four days ago, the Vegas Golden Knights scraped together 19 shots in a flat 2-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. On Thursday, Vegas gave up 19 shots on their way to a strong 5-1 palate cleanser against the Boston Bruins. It marks the seventh 40-win season in franchise history, and the fourth straight home win against an Eastern Conference team. Here are my three takeaways on a night where the "Big Bird" is the word, also known to one as…
“He’s the one they call Dr. Dorofeylgood…!”
Given the (earned) reputation that Vegas has as a place where young talent gets shipped out for NHL-ready players, the story of Pavel Dorofeyev does deserve a good deal of flowers. The Golden Knights third rounder in 2019 had his second hat trick on his way to his 30th goal. It was also the first of his young career.
He’s only the fifth player in team history to register a 30-goal season, and the first to come from a draft pick. It's a nice feather in the cap of Kelly McCrimmon- a hat that’s already pretty feather filled at this point.
SCORE-OFEYEV x3 🎩🎩🎩 pic.twitter.com/vDa6D1gS8T
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 21, 2025
Dorofeyev this season has grown into the kind of sharpshooter that’s gonna give the rest of the Conference nightmares for a good decade. He’s already probably the subject of many long nights for assistants in Minnesota and Los Angeles, especially after games like this.
Return of “Wild Bill” excels in subtle ways
After weeks of waiting and speculation, William Karlsson returned to the Vegas lineup on the third line alongside Reilly Smith and Nicolas Roy. He only had an assist on the Brett Howden goal in the third that started to put the two points in carbonite, but he made things look smoother in different areas of the ice, particularly that first penalty kill.
There’s still issues with getting back to the swing of things in the faceoff circle and getting a good scoring touch. But what Karlsson brought tonight is more than encouraging for the 15 games left on the schedule.
“To be lucky…and brilliant!”
That’s the best way I can think to describe Adin Hill’s 18 save performance on Thursday. For the vast chunk of the game, he was in control of the Golden Knights net, calmly squelching any chance the Bruins offense could scrounge together. The only one that beat him from Morgan Geekie started via a brilliant threaded pass by David Pastrnak late in the third period. That was when the audience was prepping how to try to beat the traffic out of T-Mobile Arena.
As for luck, all you have to do is hear the sizable clang of the post by Geekie in a wide open net to start the second period. That hits the back of the net, and the narrative of the game turns on a dime. They still would’ve won, but it wouldn’t have been as wind at the back as it was on Thursday.
Next on the Marquee:
The homestand hits its second act with a Saturday night national TV rematch with the Detroit Red Wings at 5 P.M. There’s no chance this game will look like a carbon copy of Sunday’s flat soda matinee, at least if ABC has anything to say about it. There is a chance of a letdown game. But I like to think Los Angeles’s win in Chicago and Edmonton scraping a point against Winnipeg cleans that juju out nicely. Anyway, till then…