The Vegas Golden Knights secured their fifth victory of the season with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings at T-Mobile Arena. Both Golden Knights goals came on the power play, with Mitch Marner snapping home the game-winner just nine seconds into the man advantage at 2:40 in overtime. Vegas sits atop the NHL standings, the first team to reach 10 points this year.
Golden Knights continue to dominate on the power play
After going 0-for-4 against the Toronto Maple Leafs a few nights ago, the Golden Knights reloaded against the Kings, going 2-for-3 on the power play. Rookie Trevor Connelly scored his first career power-play goal in the second period off a beautiful feed from captain Mark Stone and Marner. Unfortunately, Jack Eichel's point streak ended, but if the NHL awarded three assists on a goal, he would have earned one for keeping the puck in the zone seconds before his teammates capitalized. Later, in overtime, Connelly returned the favor to Marner. On the ensuing face-off, the 20-year-old kept the puck along the boards before Mark Stone knocked it back to the point where Marner took over and snapped it home.
In an evenly played game against the winless Kings, the two teams were neck and neck in almost every statistical category, including power play goals. In the second, the ageless Artem Panarin tallied Los Angeles’ only goal on the man advantage to tie things up at 1-1. On Saturday, the Golden Knights made the most of their chances, improving their overall power-play percentage to 30.4% and converting seven of their 23 opportunities this season.
Golden Knights building on last season's power-play success
Under two head coaches, Bruce Cassidy and John Tortorella, Vegas finished the 2025-26 season with the sixth-best power play in the NHL at 24.6%. Over six games, the Golden Knights have scored on the man advantage in all but one, with an even higher success rate of 30.4%. At this point last year, the club was 9-for-24 on the power play, a 37.5% success rate. Obviously, through the regular season's ups and downs, it is almost impossible to maintain that level, but clicking around 25% is something most teams could only dream of.
With Victor Olofsson sidelined by injury, many wondered who would replace him on the power play, but rookie Connelly is quickly making a case for himself. As one of the most hyped prospects to come out of Henderson, he’s getting great guidance from the veterans in the lineup and is holding his own under pressure. When the Golden Knights are healthy, they could have one of the NHL's most successful power-play units. But as the saying goes, the hockey gods giveth and taketh away. In the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas went 2-for-18 (11.1%), contributing to their six-game loss.
That was last year, and this is a clean slate. So far, Vegas has taken advantage of their new opportunities and is winning hockey games by making opponents pay for taking ill-advised penalties. Their losses are the Golden Knights' gains.
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