Knights on Ice — The Night a King Became a Knight and Not Just Any Knight, but a Vegas Golden Knight

Last night, Alec Martinez officially surrendered his King’s crown and was Knighted at T-Mobile in front of 18,376. During A-Mart’s coronation, the VGK proceeded to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3. In the process, Alec became only the fourth VGK to register a multi-point game in his first appearance as a Golden Knight: A-Mart had 1 goal and 1 assist. Can you name the other three? The answer is provided at the end of this post.

The VGK is now the hottest team in the Pacific Division and maybe the entire Western Conference. Last night, they faced the hottest team in the entire NHL. Tampa arrived in Las Vegas on an 11-game winning streak. Their number #1 goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, was on a 21-game point streak with a record of 19-0-2. Last night’s loss was Vasilevskiy first in regulation since December 14.

But things didn’t start off like they ended. Tampa Bay’s speed in the first 10 minutes of the game caught Vegas by surprise; the VGK were one step behind and slow to react. It took Vegas awhile to start moving their feet, which in turn neutralized Tampa Bay. 

The first Tampa Bay goal was generated off a quick transition from defense to offense after Vasilevskiy got his pads on a Paccioretty snap shot from the slot. Once inside the offensive zone, Kevin Shattenkirk joined the rush late and slid down the right side before throwing a blind cross-ice pass in front of Fleury. The pass had eyes as it found the skate blade of Nick Holden, which deflected it into the net for the first goal of the game and the last lead Tampa would hold. Actually, the only goal that beat the Flower last night was the last goal that TB scored on a power play after pulling Vasilevskiy for a 6-on-4. Steven Stamkos scored his 2^nd goal of the game and their 2^nd power-play goal from the same exact spot as his first—the Stamkos office, the faceoff circle to the right of Fleury.

A-Mart’s goal, his first as a VGK and his second of the year in the first period, tied the game at 1-1 where the period ended.

Ironically, both of A-Mart’s goals have come at T-Mobile this year. His first goal came against the VGK on Jan. 9, when like last night he scored first; the L.A. Kings went on to win that game 5-2. 

Paul Stastny scored 6:45 into the 2^nd period off a pretty pass from Reilly Smith to put the VGK in front 2-1. On this play, Nate Schmidt, who as of late has regained his form, carried the puck into the zone and in a move you don’t see often, turned his back to the goal and did a spin-a-rama before sending the puck to Reilly Smith.

Stamkos’ first power-play goal from his office hit Nick Holden’s stick, changing its direction and causing it to go over Fleury’s shoulder to tie the game at 2-2.

But Mark Stone responded quickly with one of his own just 1:01 after the Stamkos’ PPG to regain the lead the VGK never surrendered. Stone left the first period halfway through with an undisclosed injury, but he returned after the 2^nd period was already underway. No details were released on the injury and Stone was made available post-game to the media.

Entering the 3^rd period with a lead, the VGK were 25-2-2, while TB entering the 3^rd period trailing were 4-11-3. Vegas did not give TB even a sniff of a chance to consider a comeback, as Ryan Reaves scored just 10 seconds in, stealing a clearing pass from Braydon Coburn. Less than a minute later, Max Pacioretty scored on a power play when the frustrated Coburn took a penalty 30 seconds after the Reaves goal and Pacioretty scored seven seconds into the power play. Reaves’ goal ended an 11-game scoring drought, while Pacioretty continues to light the lamp with 7 goals in his last 7 games.

The VGK had 5 different goal scores as the team under PDB is now firing on all cylinders. They’re now 8-3-2 under PDB and the once-loud whispers about DeBoer are just a distant memory in VGK land.

The TB power play that came into the game with just 2 PPG in their last 46 attempts finally scored two, but their perfect 10-0-0 record against Pacific Division teams is no longer perfect.

So now we sit 4 games into a homestand of 5 games against 5 quality teams and the VGK have won the first 4 to tie the team record for this season of having won 4 games in a row for the third time. Saturday’s game vs. Florida will be the first of back-to-back games, with the second game on Sunday against the Ducks at Anaheim.

Some post-game quotes from A-Mart: “Man, these guys are Good,” in reference to his new team; and “I’m a lucky guy,” in reference to playing in Las Vegas.

My 3 Stars of the Game: Alec Martinez (1G, 1A, and 4 blocked shots on over 20 minutes of ice time, just shy of 3 minutes of time on the penalty kill—a full and complete game for someone who was emotionally jacked up), Mark Stone (1G, 1A and 5 SOG, which led the entire team, and his missed a chunk of time tending to an injury suffered in the first period), Max Pacioretty (1G, 1A and his 3rd-period goal pretty much put the final nail in the TB coffin).

So how many of you knew the answer to the other 3 VGK with multi-points in their first game as a VGK?

1) James Neal

2) Alex Tuch

3) Brandon Pirri

The next game is Saturday at 7 p.m. vs. FloridaYour comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you can contact me directly at [email protected] or visit my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy.

Thanks to Eddie Rivkin for providing the post-game locker room videos and those of PDB.

Stastny deflects home goal

PDB 1 PDB 2 PDB 3 PDB 4 PDB 5

Martinez

Flower

Patches

Reavo 1 Reavo 2

Stone 1 Stone 2