Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights clutch out a win over the Rangers in overtime

December has always been a kind month to the Golden Knights, and three games in, that continues to ring true. Fresh off an extremely hot-and-cold November, and staring down a five-game road trip, the Knights have come out blazing.

Two games and two wins is the story so far out east, where the Knights picked up a clutch win over the snakebitten-at-home Rangers. Some potentially questionable refereeing aside, it was a game to build on, with the team grinding out of the hole they often struggled to climb out of last month.

Both ends of the game prove costly for the Rangers

Remember when we said that Brett Howden needed to shine against his former team? It almost feels like he read that article, because just 36 seconds into the game, the former Ranger sniped home a Mitch Marner pass:

Keegan Kolesar later brawled with Rangers heavyweight Sam Carrick, but the first period was otherwise uneventful. The second period, however, was nearly a disaster. Both Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere scored four minutes apart at the midway point of the period, putting the Knights down 2-1. Again, this team's had a way of digging itself into holes, often giving up the first goal or blowing leads; thankfully, though, that wasn't to be tonight.

In the third period, with just two minutes to go in the game, Ben Hutton and New York defenseman Will Borgen were called for offsetting roughing minors (something that NYR head coach Mike Sullivan was not happy about). In the ensuing 4-on-4, Tomas Hertl struck for the third straight game with just under a minute left in regulation, sending the matchup to overtime in a neat parallel to Howden's earlier goal. To be blunt, the level of clutch our (second?) favorite former Shark is reaching feels almost unbelievable.

Jackpot ends the Knights' OT woes

It took nearly the entire period, but for the first time since Alex Nedjelkovic's infamous blunder, the Knights won a game in overtime. Sprung on a breakaway by Shea Theodore (funny, we also said he needed to shine), Jack Eichel potted the game-winner on former teammate Jonathan Quick with only eight seconds left, sparing VGK their second shootout in three games.

This, however, was also not without controversy. The Rangers were irate over an uncalled penalty by Mitch Marner, who seemingly tripped up Matthew Robertson during the overtime period; this, on top of the earlier roughing minors, led to accusations of poor refereeing by tonight's officials. Now, I'm not one to defend bad calls; I think Marner probably should've been penalized. That said... when you score just two goals against a goalie that's played one game in the past two years, and can't win in overtime against a team with just one OT victory all year, you can't only blame the refs.

Takeaways and what's next

Sunday was a story of resilience for Vegas. In spite of a tough environment at MSG, a tough opponent in the Rangers (who'd won five of their past seven), and yet another blown lead, they pulled it out in the end. Hart made the stops he needed to, they kept their foot on the gas, and ultimately, the guys you expect to do things did the things you expect them to do. While the offense is waking up, the defense has gelled despite the absence of Jeremy Lauzon, and goaltending finally looks rock-solid after a rough few months. Now riding a four-game win streak, the Knights have momentum heading forward; let's hope they sustain it against the Islanders.