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The Vegas Golden Knights were on the brink of defeat before capping off the third period in exhilarating fashion to win their second straight game.
The Golden Knights sent the fans home happy on Nevada Day by defeating the Ottawa Senators, 6-4, at the T-Mobile Arena Friday, Oct. 25. The win improves their record to 5-0-0 at The Fortress.
“You’re going to have to win games through the course of the 82 games when you’re not at your best and we weren’t,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We were awful at times but at the end of the day, you got to get to your game sooner or later and it started to come.”
Overall, Vegas is now 5-2-1 with 11 points in this young season, which puts them just behind the Calgary Flames for first place in the Pacific Division.
Friday afternoon’s game was the first of a back-to-back for the Knights, and the first of 13 back-to-back scenarios they will have this season.
The VGK will take on their division rival San Jose Saturday, Oct. 26, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. from The Fortress.
“It wasn’t nice but it was chip-in from everybody,” forward Tomas Hertl said. “Tonight we found a way but we definitely want to be better for tomorrow.”
The Golden Knights scored three goals in the final 3:10 of regulation to not only tie the game, but also take a two-goal lead en route to the win.
“That was pretty pumped up,” forward Ivan Barbashev said. “It shows the character of the team. It was nice to do that at home today.”
Hertl got the rally started for Vegas when he scored a goal off an assist from center Jack Eichel and captain Mark Stone to cash in on its second power play opportunity of the night, tying the game at four apiece.
It was Hertl’s fourth goal of the season, with three of them coming on the power play.
“I was happy about the goal but it wasn’t our best game,” Hertl said. “But it’s why we are a good team, we stay with it.”
About a minute later, right-wing Keegan Kolesar scored his second goal in the past three games to give the Knights their first lead of the game. His goal came off the second assist pairing of the night from left-wing Tanner Pearson and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
In desperate need of offense, the Senators pulled their goalie in hopes of a comeback. Barbashev quickly squashed that with an empty net goal to increase the lead to two.
It was his second goal of the game and seventh of the year. Eichel and Stone also combined on that goal for their second collaborative assist of the night.
The VGK scored all of its goals in fast fashion with their first two coming within 21 seconds of each other in the first period. They now average 5.4 goals per game at home.
“When we start bringing our best, we’re a pretty good team,” Kolesar said. “That should be a lesson to all of us that if we can turn it on right from the start, it’d have been an easier game for us.”
Ottawa got their third lead of the game heading into the third period thanks to Vegas’ first penalty of the night.
The Golden Knights’ defense held strong for the first half of their power play kill but the Senators would eventually score the goal with 26 seconds left on the power play.
Goalie Adin Hill made his first start in more than a week and it was evident that there was some rust early in the first period.
“The numbers aren’t great for him,” Cassidy said. “The sample size is starting to grow a little bit, I think he worked on his game a lot this week.”
Ottawa scored the first goal of the night just over two minutes and 30 seconds into the game on a play that would need to be reviewed. After watching the replay, the referees determined that the puck did sneak by Hill and the goal was confirmed.
By the end of the first period, Hill surrendered three goals and the Knights were down, 3-2. Throughout his five starts this season, he has allowed eight goals in the first period and went into the first intermission with a .750 save percentage.
“I thought he settled in in the second period,” Cassidy said. “He froze pucks a lot, made the saves, and controlled the rebounds. So he kind of allowed us to get through that period. Hopefully he feels good that he got the win.”
Despite the rough start, Hill finished the game with 35 saves for a .897 save percentage. Through his five starts, he is 3-2-0 with 3.81 goals given up per game to go along with a save percentage of .864.
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