CHICAGO–The boys from Vegas are on an all-time heater. The Golden Knights rallied in the third period to defeat the Blackhawks 5-3 in Chicago on Saturday night.
The win pushes Vegas’ record to 6-0-0, surpassing the mark set by the 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers for the greatest start to a season by a defending Stanley Cup champion in NHL history.
On the Blackhawks end, the main storyline was of course the home debut for wunderkind Connor Bedard. 19,867 fans packed into the United Center to see the number one overall pick finally make his debut in Chicago.
Bedard didn’t make the fans wait for long. It’s entirely possible some Blackhawk fans hadn’t even found their seat yet when he fired a wrister past playoff hero Adin Hill, marking his first goal in front of the world-renowned hockey fanbase just 1:30 into the festivities.
Vegas settled in quickly, finding a timely response from William Karlsson on the power-play to even the score at 1-1 four minutes into the game. Paul Cotter and rookie Kaeden Korczak tallied assists on the goal.
Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault scored his third goal of the season to put VGK ahead 2-1 mid-way through the second period. Marchessault took an across-the-ice feed from Jack Eichel before finding his shot in the middle of ice, firing it into the back of the net.
This time it was the Blackhawks’ turn for a quick response. Center Reese Johnson answered with a goal of his own just over a minute later to tie the score at two, where it would remain through the second intermission.
Just :13 into the third period, Nicolas Roy scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal after Keegan Kolesar served it to him on a silver platter.
Michael Amadio tallied two impressive assists on the two subsequent goals, scored by Mark Stone and Paul Cotter respectively, that pushed the final score to 5-3 in favor of the Golden Knights.
The first of those assists was a wrap-around feed to captain Mark Stone for Stone’s first goal of the season.
The Golden Knights are back at home on Tuesday night, with puck drop scheduled for 8 p.m. PDT against the Knights on ESPN.
