Strong defense is the name of the game in Golden Knights' gritty, low-scoring game 1 victory over Anaheim

To be completely honest, I was a little unnerved coming into this game. Sure, we'd beaten an on-paper better team last round in Utah, with Anaheim far less consistent by most measures. That said, Anaheim had given us fits in the regular season, and was coming off a surprising six-game victory over the big, bad Oilers.

Thankfully, all of that was for naught, as Vegas edged out a razor-close 3-1 victory to take Game 1 of this second-round series. Would you believe that was our first home win in the second round (or later) since the Cup year? Despite explosive first round performances from both of these teams' offenses, it was a quiet game scoring-wise, with other elements of the Golden Knights' game shining through to seal the deal. Let's take a look at how Vegas was able to sneak past Anaheim regardless of only two non-empty net goals scored.

The penalty kill shines, with faceoffs a particularly bright spot

Many Anaheim fans will tell you that a questionable non-call on what may or may not have been an icing cost them the game, given Ivan Barbashev's game-winning goal came immediately afterwards:

What they won't mention, however, is that their previously-strong power play seemingly ran into a wall. Entering tonight, Anaheim was at an absurd 50% on the man advantage, going 8-for-16 against Edmonton's notoriously weak defense and goalies. That unit had plenty of opportunities to add to that total tonight, registering four power plays throughout the game. However, the Golden Knights' penalty kill unit continued their own ridiculous run, ending the game a perfect 4-for-4 on the PK and adding to their 19-for-20 playoff record thus far. It wasn't just fortunate shot-blocks either; much of the time, Anaheim was barely even able to set anything up, with a great forecheck and clears aplenty keeping their threats to a minimum.

A huge part of those constant clears was the work of Vegas's centers, specifically Brett Howden and Nic Dowd. Vegas posted a nearly 60% faceoff win rate while down a man, with Dowd handling most of VGK's shorthanded defensive-zone draws, and Howden posting a ludicrous 82% win rate (or 9-2 overall). Sometimes, it's the little things that win games, and in this case, a great faceoff performance on the PK defanged Anaheim's most potent weapon thus far. Howden also scored for the fourth consecutive game, contributing the opening goal off a sick feed from Mitch Marner, continuing to build his playoff legend in Vegas.

Oh, and Marner had both his fourth consecutive game with a point and second straight multi-point game. How about that, Toronto?

Carter Hart stands on his head

Carter Hart has seen some high highs and low lows through the playoffs so far. However, John Tortorella clearly still trusts him, and so he unsurprisingly got the call to start Game 1 against Anaheim. What was a little surprising, however, was him turning in one of his best efforts in a Vegas uniform. The netminder turned away 33 of 34 Anaheim shots on the night, holding the first round's highest-scoring offense to just a single third-period goal, and making multiple massive saves to keep Vegas in it.

On top of the eye test, the advanced stats confirm his elite performance, with an incredible 2.08 goals saved above average; for the uninitiated and/or new fans, that's two full Anaheim goals that he prevented entirely by his own play. We can only hope this marks the start of a hot streak.

Up next, it's Game 2 on Wednesday. Let's hope we keep home ice and head out to the Honda Center up 2-0!

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