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Center Ivan Barbashev scored the lone goal of the game for the Vegas Golden Knights to lead them to a shutout victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
The Golden Knights beat the Oilers, 1-0, on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the T-Mobile Arena.
“I thought the guys bought in very well and understood that’s how you beat Edmonton,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We would’ve liked to have generated more offense obviously. But defensively, we were solid, and Hill was there when we needed him.”
With the win, Vegas improved its record to 16-7-3 and 10-2-0 while playing at home on the season. The Knights now have 35 points, which is four points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division.
Tuesday night’s game was the second of four meetings between the VGK and Edmonton this season. The Golden Knights also got the win in their first game last month on the road. Their next meeting will be next weekend in Edmonton and their last meeting will be back in the Fortress in April.
It was also the last stretch of a three-game homestand for Vegas, after they split the first two games.
Despite just wrapping up a back-to-back, the Knights are in the midst of another back-to-back spurt of games. They will be right back in action tomorrow night, when they play on the road against the Anaheim Ducks. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Honda Center.
“It was a good effort from our entire group, top to bottom, “ defenseman Shea Theodore said. “There were some really big saves by Hill when we needed it. It’s a good win to get us feeling good about our game.”
After being shutout in their last game, Barbashev made sure to return the favor for VGK when he scored a fast break goal in the first period that proved to be the difference in this game.
“I think our team did a really good job,” Barbashev said. “ Especially at the end.”
Barbashev’s unassisted fast break goal was his 13th of the season.
“More than four or five nights, [Barbashev] has been very consistent,” Cassidy said. “He has very few off nights for us. He’s found a way to have the necessary skill, hockey IQ, and all that to play in the top line, and still does the job on the walls. He doesn’t need first power play duty to get his points, it’s a lot of five-on-five. He does play in the second unit, but he’s got tenacity to his game so he’s a good all-around player.”
Goaltender Adin Hill got the start at goalie for the Golden Knights after sitting out their last game due to it being the back end of a back-to-back.
“I thought we did an unbelievable job,” he said. “I thought that was one of our best defensive efforts of the season.”
Hill was absolutely standing on his head in Tuesday’s game, coming up with miraculous save after another to solidify the win and his perfect game.
“Good for Adin, his game has really come around,” Cassidy said. “We’ve seen it in the last seven, eight, 10, whatever it is games. When he’s on, you need that guy to be the backbone of the team. We hope we don’t need him to stand on his head every night.”
By the final buzzer, Hill recorded 28 saves and improved his record to 11-4-2 on the season.
“It was a good defensive game by both sides,” Hill said. I think we got a little lucky with our goal there. A 1-0 game, feels kind of like a 2003 throwback. It was a fun game out there.”
Vegas made up for suffering their second shutout loss in their last game by getting their shutout victory of the season on Tuesday in front of 17,887 people in attendance. Their other shutout win this season was against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 28.
“They had some offense in the third, but I thought our guys did a great job blocking shots when they needed to be done,” Hill said. “Getting the pucks out of our end and then making them play behind them.”
The Knights win over the Oilers also marked the fifth regular season in NHL history to feature zero combined penalties and one or fewer goals.
The last time that ever happened was when the Toronto Maple Leafs tied the Chicago Blackhawks, 0-0, on Feb. 20, 1944.
Previously mentioned, Tuesday night’s game was a completely clean game with no penalties committed from either team.
VGK’s only advantage besides the score, was that they had 22 blocked shots to Edmonton’s 16.
Besides that, the Golden Knights had less shots on goal, hits, faceoffs won, takeaways, and committed more giveaways.
As for the Oilers’ defense, goalie Stuart Skinner got the start between the pipes.
Despite letting the one goal slip past him, Skinner finished the game with 15 saves for a .938 save percentage.
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