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After a 3-2 loss to the defending champion Colorado Avalanche Saturday, Oct. 22, the Vegas Golden Knights were able to find the win column against the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning 3-1 on Monday night inside the T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas forward Phil Kessel tied the NHL’s “Ironman” streak for most consecutive games played Monday when he appeared in his 989th straight game. Kessel will have the opportunity to break the record on Wednesday, Oct. 26 when the Golden Knights get set to take on the San Jose Sharks.
Kessel nearly had his 400th career goal Monday, which came early in the game. Toronto challenged the goal for offsides and the goal was taken off the scoreboard.
“I thought I scored actually, but it is what it is,” Kessel said. “We ended up scoring right after and that’s all that counts.”
The third period was the period Vegas had to control and they did. Center Chandler Stephenson started the period off with a goal that gave Vegas a 2-1 lead and shifted momentum in their favor. This goal came only 42 seconds into the third.
“Stephenson’s line, [centers Jack Eichel and Mark Stone] had a lot of good looks,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Lots of speed, played against [center Austin] Matthews a lot, I thought they did a good job against them.”
Center Michael Amadio added the insurance goal with just over 11 minutes to play in regulation to put Vegas up 3-1.
As it currently sits, Vegas is 5-2-0 on the season with a total of 10 points. The Golden Knights sit atop the Pacific Division and hold a two-point lead over the Calgary Flames who have a record of 4-1-0 to start the year.
As mentioned previously, the next time the Vegas Golden Knights will be in action will be a road matchup with the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night on the second of a back-to-back for Vegas. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. PST and can be seen on ESPN nationwide.
Goalie Logan Thompson played another solid game in net for Vegas as he was able to make 22 saves on 23 shots faced for a final save percentage of .957.
Thompson had his fair share of moments where there could have been more goals scored for Toronto, but he made some acrobatic saves to hold the Maple Leafs to only one goal.
“I think the whole team was rock solid tonight,” he said. “We really shut down their big guns.”