The Vegas Golden Knights pelted the Arizona Coyotes in a 2-1 shootout victory.
The first period didn’t garnish a lot of action. Both teams were skating well, and there were plenty of high danger chances for the Golden Knights. However, they weren’t able to net a goal…until the second period.
Thanks to Derek Stepan delaying the game, the Golden Knights received a power play opportunity. Nic Hague fired off a beautiful shot towards the net. Alex Tuch deflected the puck past Darcy Kuemper to get Vegas on the board.
Vegas’ lead was not meant to last. At 14:53 in the second period, Jakob Chychrun fired a wrist shot toward Malcolm Subban. Though he was hot all night with saves, that was one he could not make. The game was tied, 1-1 going into the third period.
As with the first period, the third period didn’t see much action. Each team had several chances to take the lead, but it was not meant to be. The game would end up going into overtime (dun dun dun).
Evidently, the defense for both the Coyotes and the Golden Knights showed up for the game. Overtime didn’t result a score for either team, and that would lead to a shootout.
Jonathan Marchessault would score first for the Golden Knights, but shootouts don’t just end with one goal. The Coyotes had a chance to answer, to which they did. Tuch would end up answering their goal with one of his own, resulting in a 2-1 victory for the Golden Knights, and a back-to-back victory for Subban.
This victory is huge for the Golden Knights. Going into Friday’s game, the Arizona Coyotes were second in points in the Pacific Division. They are still second, but the added points to the Golden Knights launched them into third. They are currently five points away from tying with the Edmonton Oilers for first.
The other good news is that we’re starting to see more wins for the Golden Knights. A victory is a victory. Winning in overtime and also going past overtime to a shootout (where Subban tends to thrive) is enormous.
The not-necessarily-bad-but-not-the-best news is that it’s taking them until overtime and/or the shootout to deliver a victory in a nice, neat bow.
The pacing is still great. They aren’t going all out during the first and fading out in the third. Our defense seems to be getting better, because we are keeping opposing teams from racking up more goals. But the coaching staff could make a few more tweaks. Maybe add a special sauce to get the Golden Knights back to winning more in regulation.
The Golden Knights jet off to New York to face the New York Rangers on December 2. Will we get a third victory? In the Golden Knights (and Subban) we trust!
Note: Garrett Sparks has been assigned to the Chicago Wolves. Sparks was called up on emergency basis when Fleury was home to see his father. Now that he’s been sent back down, it could possibly mean that Fleury will be back for the next game.
