There have been plenty of wins for the Golden Knights this season that felt like they narrowly escaped with two points. Tuesday’s victory over the Canucks was not one of those.
The Golden Knights scored four goals in the first period, setting the tone set the tone for a dominant evening and a 6-3 victory at T-Mobile Arena.
The win comes after a 3-0-1 trip in the midst of the playoff chase. The Knights managed to rack up seven of a possible eight points in four games against Western Conference playoff contenders.
“I love the way we played. Loved the way we started and battled the whole night,” said Cassidy. “Going to watch it again tomorrow and (the film will) probably back that up, I’ll see a lot of good stuff.
“This one was a little bit fortunate (coming back) from this road trip. Last year it seemed we’d come off the road from East or whatever, get back basically in the middle of the night.”
Cassidy said those were the home games that he thought they felt flat last season.
“A lot of those games, we were just not ourselves coming back (to) some of those home games,” he said. “The schedule favored us here for this one. Now, again, we go away for a while, but I think our guys know what’s around the corner, so the trips don’t feel as long.
“I just think the guys know what’s around the corner if we take care of business, right? I think that’s what we’ve been working towards all year. There’s no secrets there.”
First Period
1:01 (18:59) 1P | Skate Incident | 0-0
Eichel goes down and is being helped off the ice, but it looks like it’s just a broken skate blade.
Slight cause for pause for Knights fans here since this is what caused his January knee injury that required surgery and kept him out two months. Luckily, this time his leg wasn’t also awkwardly jammed against the wall and he appears to have escaped without any real ailment.
1:37 (18:23) 1P | VEGAS GOAL | 1-0 Golden Knights
Casey Desmith saves Pavel Dorofeyev’s shot with his leg pad, then Anthony Mantha collects the rebound and fires it in to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead. The Fortress explodes.
It’s a playoff-esque atmosphere and that was a good way to get the fans going early here.
6:23 (13:37) 1P | VEGAS GOAL | 2-0 Golden Knights
Jonathan Marchessault does Jonathan Marchessault things and scores on a beautiful snipe that sailed over an outstretched Nikita Zadorov and past Desmith for the second Knights goal of the first period.
The fans went crazy for the first one, but they went even crazier on their second. Pay the man. 2-0.
9:20 (10:40) 1P | VANCOUVER GOAL | 2-1 Golden Knights
Nils Hoglander drills the puck past Logan Thompson amidst a chaotic scene in front of the net. Thompson was unable to get on top of the puck in the scrum and Hoglander fired in a shot that the Knights netminder had little chance of saving after his initial mishap.
The Canucks have some life, but still trail 2-1 just past the halfway point here in the opening period.
9:40 (10:20) 1P | VEGAS GOAL | 3-1 Golden Knights
Whatever life was conjured by the Canucks with that Hoglander goal was just taken abruptly. Jack Eichel comes back from his skate incident earlier in the period to score his 26th goal of the season off a Marchessault assist to stretch the Knights lead.
PA Bruce didn’t even get the Canucks goal announcement off before Eichel scored, so immediately after announcing Hoglander’s goal to the crowd, Bruce did his customary Eichel goal call and let the fans fill in the “EICHEL”. They did indeed. 3-1 Knights.
14:42 (5:18) 1P | VEGAS GOAL | 4-1 Golden Knights
Jack Eichel finds his buddy Noah Hanifin, who fires in the one timer on the power play for the Golden Knights. It hasn’t been a great night for Desmith or the Canucks to say the least.
It looked like Barbashev may have got a piece of the puck there for the tip in at first glance, but the replay shows no such thing and Hanifin keeps credit for the goal. 4-1 Knights.
15:09 (4:51) 1P | Vegas Penalty | 4-1 Golden Knights
Shea Theodore and JT Miller collide near the boards and Theodore smoked Miller in the face with his stick. It did appear accidental on Theodore’s part but visible bleeding to Miller’s lip left little to debate.
Theodore gets awarded the double minor and the Canucks will go on the power play for the next four minutes.
19:51 (9.1) 1P | Vancouver Penalty | 4-1 Golden Knights
Brett Howden takes a brutal hit from Zadorov, with his head and neck going into the boards. Howden makes a questionable decision to throw a jab at Zadorov’s chest which prompts Zadorov to swing back. Both teams crowd the scene and are pulled away before any real fighting occurs.
Zadorov gets hit with a five minute major, which is confirmed with an additional game penalty upon replay. Zadorov is done for the night.
FIRST INTERMISSION: Golden Knights 4, Canucks 1
Second Period
1:46 (18:14) 2P | VEGAS GOAL | 5-1 Golden Knights
Alex Pietrangelo’s shot goes through Desmith’s legs, dying just before the goal line but William Karlsson beats a recovering Desmith to the puck and pokes it in give the Knights even more of a cushion here to start the second period.
The goal is good for Karlsson’s 16th of the season. It’s been a productive year for Wild Bill that’s gone a bit under the radar thanks to the performance of Marchessault and Eichel around him but it’s surely appreciated by Bruce Cassidy and his teammates. 5-1 Golden Knights.
6:13 (13:47) 2P | VANCOUVER GOAL | 5-2 Golden Knights
Quinn Hughes with a beautiful wrister that finds the top right corner of the net for the Canucks second goal of the night.
It’s been a brutal night for the first-place Canucks, but at least they’ll get some style points with that one. 5-2.
SECOND INTERMISSION: Golden Knights 5, Canucks 2
Third Period
1:41 (18:19) 3P | VANCOUVER GOAL | 5-3 Golden Knights
Quinn Hughes fires a prayer at the net that somehow sails between Pietrangelo’s legs and past Thompson for the Canucks third goal of the evening and Hughes’ second. That wasn’t a great goal for Thompson and the defense to give up to say the least and now the Canucks have life in a game where they once trailed 5-1.
Not what Bruce Cassidy was looking for to start the third, surely.
2:05 (17:55) 3P | VEGAS GOAL | 6-3 Golden Knights
Brett Howden comes back from the scary hit he was on the receiving end of in the first period and converts a clean feed from Keegan Kolesar to put the fourth line on the board tonight. Every line besides the second has now scored in the six goal effort for the defending champions.
This was a performance The Fortress crowd needed to see heading into playoff season. 6-3 Golden Knights.
Wrap-up
The Golden Knights will embark on three road more games, with the first coming Friday night against Arizona. The Knights will look to extend their point streak to eight games against a Coyotes team that is above .500 at home. Puck drop is set for 7 pm.
