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In a game that the Vegas Golden Knights had to have in order to keep pace in the Pacific Division, it was defenseman Alex Pietrangelo who delivered with an overtime winner to help Vegas beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1.
“I needed that one,” Pietrangelo said. “That’s a great pass from [captain Mark] Stone. If you watch the replay, there’s not a ton of room to thread that through there. That’s why he gets paid what he does. What an unbelievable play, easy for me to tap that one in.”
This was Pietrangelo’s second goal of the season and Stone’s 28th assist of the year.
“This was an identity game for us in terms of hard to play against,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think the Bruins would say that and they were hard to play against so you have yourself a playoff type battle. I think the more we’re in those types of games, the more it’ll bring the best out of us , getting dragged into the fight so to speak.”
The Golden Knights will be back in action on home ice Saturday night as they get set to welcome in the Calgary Flames for a Pacific division showdown. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Thursday night was the first of what will be a five-game homestand for the Golden Knights
After Thursday’s game, Vegas now sits with a record of 24-13-5 which is good for 53 points in the division. The VGK still remains six points behind Vancouver for the division lead.
This was the first time that Cassidy beat his former team inside T-Mobile Arena since being let go by the Bruins and hired by the Golden Knights.
“I love to beat the Bruins and I didn’t have the opportunity to do it until last year,” Cassidy said “A big piece of my heart will always be with that organization. It’s always nice to beat a team that lets you go. I think any coach would tell you that after they’ve been in a certain place or a player that moves on so they’re always nice.”
This one felt like a goalie battle for the majority of the game between Jeremy Swayman and Logan Thompson. Both goalies traded saves for the first two and a half periods of the game until center Jack Eichel got a tipped shot past Swayman to break the tie. Boston’s Matt Grzelcyk tied it at one about five minutes later for the Bruins.
“I think our emphasis tonight was playing good team defense,” Eichel said. “I thought we did a good job of that. I thought everyone bought in and Thompson obviously played great for us. There was a sense of desperation from us and I think we needed that.”
Thompson finished the game with 32 saves on 33 shots faced for a final save percentage of .970 in the win while Swayman racked up 23 saves on 25 shots faced for a final save percentage of .920.
“Logan was awesome,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “It was great to see. He made timely saves and made saves when he had to.”
The interesting thing about both Stone and Eichel is they both went down the tunnel in the second period with apparent injuries but were able to return to the ice by the start of the third period. It just so happens that they played major roles in the outcome of this game for the Golden Knights.
It was a milestone night for McNabb who played in his 700th career NHL game Thursday night.
“I just feel very fortunate to be in the NHL and playing in Vegas,” McNabb said. “I never thought that would become a thing but it’s become home. It’s been an awesome ride and just look to keep it going.”
The Golden Knights were able to get the power play going in the third period, something the team was unable to do Wednesday night against Colorado. Vegas was also perfect on the penalty kill Thursday night as they killed off every penalty they faced.
“It was a tight checking game,” Eichel said. “I think we had chances on both sides throughout the game. It was good. It was a gutsy effort by our group and good to get two points.”
Eichel’s goal came on the power play which snapped a streak of eight straight power play opportunities that the Golden Knights had failed to convert on.
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