Las Vegas-The Golden Knights of Vegas desperately needed a victory after closing a small road trip of two games with a defeat in Dallas and extended their skids to 2-6-1 since January 9.
Mission accomplished because they won not only a victory on Sunday evening, but they opened a three-game home with a strong performance against the title champion of the Stanley Florida Panthers Cup in a 4-1 victory.
“It was massive,” said Vegas striker Nic Roy. “As you said, not our best section (recently), but it will happen, it’s a long season. And playing a very good team today, they won last year. So we knew That it was going to be a big game, we wanted to go out hard and I think we did that.
Brayden McNabb, Tanner Pearson, Jack Eichel and Tomas Hertl marked the Golden Knights, while Ain Hill had one of his best projections recently to stop 32 of the 33 shots he faced.
Although Vegas was surpassed over the three periods and 33-26 for the match, the Golden Knights did a good job to keep the nethers from the net by forcing the action outside.
“Our guys are just put in sticks and let me cover the washer,” said Hill. “And yes, we did a great job without really letting them do rebounds or second chances. So it’s always huge when our guys can do it.
Hare three take -out dishes of the Sunday match:
Take a blow, make a game: Nic Roy ended the evening with three assists, and one of them was a little more painful than the others.
While skating in the offensive area and in the right circle, Roy turned to see who dragged and dropped the washer for Pearson. In doing so, however, he was abandoned by the defender of Florida, Aaron Ekblad, who withdrew Roy from his feet with a shot of monster.
“I didn’t expect that at all,” said Roy. “A little was destroyed a little. I was on the ice there and when I saw (Pearson score), I was smiling.”
No distractions: After a 5-4 defeat against the Blues of St. Louis on January 20, coach Bruce Cassidy was categorical about his team to play better and stay focused.
“We have … the guys who go to the 4 nations, so is that in their minds?” Cassidy said. “There is a bit of that. There is a break. So it’s a month that we have to spend.”
After Sunday’s victory, it was clear that the Golden Knights returned from their trip to the last section before 4 nations, because they play two others at home before playing four on the East Coast.
“Everyone knows in the room what we have to do, and each point is crucial at this time of the year,” said Pearson. “So you can’t get ahead of yourself. You have to focus on the next match, and the game after that, and the game after that, and continue to grind me to the break.”
He’s a killer: Although the Golden Knights have the 20th row penalty at 77.6%, they were a perfect 3 for 3 against the panthers, which arrived in Vegas with the third best road power game. Florida scored at least one electric goal in each of its last two games, but for the fifth time in seven games, has been closed on all their attempts. This included an opportunity for first period in the first period, with Vegas leading 2-1, and the Panthers have a perfect chance to link the game.
“I think if you want to win games like that, you need all aspects of your game to show,” said Pearson.