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For the second time in as many games, the Vegas Golden Knights went on the road and came away on the winning side of the scoreboard. Vegas defeated the Minnesota Wild, 5-1, Thursday Feb. 9 inside the Xcel Energy Center.
“We got some breaks early that we didn’t get earlier this year where some pucks went in off their guys,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That was [actually] happening to us.”
This is the eighth time this season that Vegas has won back-to-back games and first since their three-game winning streak that spanned from Dec. 31 to Jan.5. It is also the first time this season that the Golden Knights have held their opponent to one goal in back-to-back games.
With this win, the Golden Knights ran their record to 31-18-4 on the season, good for 66 points in the Pacific Division. Vegas has extended their division lead out to three points over Edmonton, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Now that this season-long six-game road trip is wrapped up for the Golden Knights, the team returns back to the confines of T-Mobile Arena on Sunday, Feb. 12 for a Super Bowl Sunday showdown with the Anaheim Ducks. Puck drop is set for 12 p.m.
The last time these teams met was back on Dec. 28 at the Honda Center where the Ducks walked away with a 3-2 victory over Vegas. Coming into Sunday’s matchup, these teams have split the season series at one game apiece.
Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson did leave the game with an injury in the third period. Up until the injury, Thompson made 23 saves on 24 shots faced for a final save percentage of .958. Fellow goalie Adin Hill saved all four shots he faced in relief of Thompson.
Thursday was another game where the Golden Knights looked to set the tone early when center Nicolas Roy scored the game’s first goal just past seven minutes into the contest to put the Knights up 1-0 heading into the second period.
This is back-to-back games that Vegas has held a lead after the first period.
Roy’s goal was his tenth of the season which makes him the ninth Vegas Golden Knight to reach double digits for goals scored in a season. Vegas is tied with Boston for having the most double-digit goal scorers on a team in a single season.
Both teams used the first 4:37 of the second period to trade goals in what saw Vegas up 2-1 after the exchange. From there, it was all Golden Knights for the remainder of the period who scored three unanswered goals in the final 9:13 of the middle frame to extend their lead to 5-1.
This is the second straight game that Vegas has scored at least five goals in a game and it is the third time this season that the Golden Knights have scored five or more goals in back-to-back games.
“We’re a team that when we manage the puck, we’re pretty good,” Cassidy said. “We’ve always been good with the takeaways. We check well, especially when we have a full lineup so that part was there.”
Goals in the second period came from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, center Paul Cotter and Jack Eichel along with right-wing Reilly Smith via a penalty shot. Eichel also assisted on Cotter’s goal.
“I thought we played well both nights,” Eichel said. “We did a lot of things that we’ve been trying to work on as a group. It was good to see us get rewarded.”
This was Smith’s first made penalty shot in his two attempts as a member of the Golden Knights. His other attempt came on Feb. 12, 2019 against the Arizona Coyotes.
“This was a really important road trip for us,” Smith said. “It was nice to do it for the dads. It seemed like they had a lot of fun.”
These past two games against Nashville and Minnesota marked the annual “Dads Trip” for the Golden Knights where dads of various Golden Knights players join the team on the road for select games.