On Tuesday night, the hockey gods sprinkled some misfortune on the Golden Knights in their game against Carolina when two former VGK players scored their very first goals of the season to beat the Knights and end their winning streak.
On Thursday night at T-Mobile, the hockey gods bestowed the good fortune on Vegas and just about duplicated the results from the previous game.
First, James Neal scored on the VGK’s very first shot of the game to take a 1-0 lead. The VGK have an impressive record when scoring the first goal of the game. Their record was 13-1-0 when they scored first. You can now make that 14-1-0 with Thursday night’s 2-1 victory over the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, which brought the Knights’ overall record to 20-9-2.
James Neal had played 199 games as a Penguin between 2011 and 2014. Marc-Andre Fleury played his first 13 seasons in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was the number-one overall pick in the 2003 draft. As a Penguin he recorded 375 wins, along with 44 shutouts, and he won three Stanley Cups: 2009, 2116, and 2017. When he was left unprotected in the expansion draft by Pittsburgh, he was grabbed by VGK GM George McPhee; Vegas also added incentives in draft picks when they agreed not to select any of the other players that Pittsburgh exposed.
Neal and Fleury were instrumental in the victory that Vegas posted Thursday night. Their total wins of 20 for the season now breaks another 100-year-old NHL record, becoming the fastest expansion team to record 20 wins in just 31 games of their inaugural season.
Fleury was a force in the nets, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced. The only goal scored against him was a breakdown of coverage in the VGK defensive zone as the defending forward allowed Penguin Ian Cole to slip in deep to the left of the net; when the puck came across from the right side where Fleury was positioned, Cole had an open net to shoot at. James Neal’s goal was just about identical as he had a wide-open net from a cross-ice pass.
In another unexpected blessing from the hockey gods, VGK Jon Merrill, who hasn’t played since December 1 and was only playing in his sixth game for Vegas, took two minor penalties, one in the first period and another in the second, putting the Penguins on their potent power play, which ranks fourth in the NHL. This is not the way to stay in the good graces of Coach Gallant who decides who plays or who sits. Merrill’s future playing time was at stake here. VGK managed to dodged three all three power-play chances, but Merrill then scored his first goal of the season—the winning goal in a defensive battle between two high-scoring teams. With Merrill’s goal, the VGK now have 19 players who’ve scored at least one goal this season.
When Merrill was asked about taking the two penalties and putting the Pens on the power play, he said, “I kept telling myself, I’ve got to score, I’ve got to do something. I made a presence for myself and I’m really happy I was able to do that tonight.”
This was Fleury’s first win since October 10, the team’s home opener. When he was asked about the win versus his former team, he said, “For a little while, I can be relieved. I’m glad it’s over and we got the win.”
The second and final meeting of these two teams takes place in Pittsburgh on February 6.
This game was also a good response by the VGK, rebounding from a loss and posting a win against a team in the Eastern Conference, where they haven’t fared well.
The VGK’s next game is tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers at 5 p.m. at T-Mobile.
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