Blog: Golden Knights crush Sabres to start long homestand

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018 | 4 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018 | 9:49 p.m.

For the first time this season, the Vegas Golden Knights are on a win streak.

Vegas supplemented a road trip-closing victory at Philadelphia with a 4-1 win over Buffalo Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena. Marc-Andre Fleury racked up 26 saves, while Jonathan Marchessault notching a pair of goals with Cody Eakin and William Karlsson also scoring.

The Golden Knights improved to 3-4 on the season with a chance to even their record against the Anaheim Ducks Saturday night at home.

A sold-out crowd of 18,321 fans showed up to welcome Vegas home from a season-high five-game road trip. The Golden Knights are now in a season-high five-game home stand.

And what a way to start it, as Vegas played its most complete game of the season. The score may not have even illustrate how lopsided the action played out, as the Golden Knights stayed on the attack and limited the Sabres’ chances throughout.

After 16 failed power plays to start the season, Vegas scored for the first time with the advantage late in the first period. William Karlsson completed a cross-crease pass to Jonathan Marchessault, who fired the puck past Carter Hutton.

Vegas’ special teams beat Hutton again a period later when Cody Eakin, similar to Marchessault’s shot, went over his glove. The Golden Knights committed six penalties, but were able to kill all of them.

The Sabres didn’t score until right after the final penalty expired, when Vladimir Sobotka sent the puck through Fleury’s legs with 36 seconds to go. The Golden Knights answered 24 seconds later when Marchessault scored on an empty-netter for his team-high fourth goal.

Check back to lasvegassun.com later for more coverage.

Vegas adds another goal in the second period

The second period went a lot like the first — the Golden Knights were in complete control.

The only bittersweet part for Vegas is that its lead isn’t larger than 2-0. It certainly feels like it could be.

The Golden Knights limited the Sabres’ opportunities throughout the frame, including on a pair of power plays. Vegas scored a shorthanded goal on its first penalty, with Cody Eakin going over Carter Hutton’s shoulder to score his third goal in four games since returning from injury.

Hutton was otherwise strong, and has managed 23 saves, to keep the Sabres in the game. But Buffalo will really need to turn things around to have a realistic chance at the comeback.

Golden Knights lead Sabres 1-0 at end of the first period

The Golden Knights did everything they set out to do against the Sabres in the first period at T-Mobile Arena.

They dictated pace, stuck to defensive assignments and even scored a power-play goal. Vegas leads Buffalo 1-0 after Jonathan Marchessault scored with a minute left in the period.

It was Vegas' first power-play goal of the year. William Karlsson made the play and added a team-high fifth assist.

Marchessault now leads the Golden Knights with three goals on the year.

Pre-game

One overlooked area where the Vegas Golden Knights excelled in their inaugural season was avenging defeats.

They won 12 of 18 regular-season games against teams that had beaten them in the series’ previous meeting. Vegas got off to a similar start this year, defeating Philadelphia 1-0 on Saturday after losing to the Flyers in the season opener.

The Golden Knights have another chance to split their season series with an Eastern Conference opponent at 7 p.m. today when they play the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena. Buffalo beat visiting Vegas 4-2 last Monday.

“We made some bad mistakes in that game,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said this morning.

Gallant initially characterized the Golden Knights as ‘sound asleep’ for half of the contest but has since backtracked those comments. He said that upon review, the performance wasn’t as bad as he thought but still not up to standards.

The Golden Knights’ cardinal sin was leaving Buffalo captain Jack Eichel wide open in front of the net on two occasions. Those types of defensive lapses have plagued Vegas through a rocky 2-4 start to the season.

“I think we just missed some assignments,” said Cody Eakin, Vegas’ third-line center. “We’ve been missing assignments and they’ve ended up in the back of our net, so we just need to maintain a solid 60 minutes and play the right way.”

Eakin was injured and did not play against Buffalo the first time but has since returned to score two goals in three games. He’s not the only new face the Sabres will encounter.

Tomas Hyka was also recalled from the Chicago Wolves two games later and has since been promoted to the Golden Knights’ second line. He’ll fill in there for the injured Paul Stastny, who could miss up to two months with an injury suffered against the Sabres, starting tonight.

Joining Stastny and Alex Tuch on the injury list tonight is defenseman Deryk Engelland, who will be out for the first time this year but is considered day to day. Engelland’s absence makes for a defensive shakeup that affects everyone except the top pairing of Brayden McNabb and Colin Miller.

Shea Theodore will play alongside Nick Holden instead of Engelland, while Jon Merrill and Brad Hunt, who’s active for the first time this season, round out the pairings. How they mesh will likely determine if the Golden Knights can maintain their knack for revenge.

Keefer’s Prediction: Golden Knights 3, Sabres 2

Season record for predictions: 2-1

Pick to score the Golden Knights’ first goal: Max Pacioretty

Season record for first goal scored: 0-for-3

TV: AT&T Sports Net (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-200, Sabres plus-170; over/under: 6 (plus-110, minus-130)

Golden Knights (2-4-0) (0-1-0 road)

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Goals leader: Jonathan Marchessault, Cody Eakin, Reilly Smith (2)

Assists leader: Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson (4)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (3.08 gaa, .880 save percentage)

Buffalo Sabres (3-2-0) (1-0-0 home)

Coach: Phil Housely (second season)

Goals leader: Jack Eichel, Conor Sheary (3)

Assists leader: Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Ristolainen (3)

Expected goalie: Carter Hutton (3.07 gaa, .912 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected game day roster

Forwards (12): Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, William Carrier, Ryan Carpenter, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, Tomas Hyka, William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Tomas Nosek, Max Pacioretty, Ryan Reaves, Reilly Smith

Defensemen (6): Nick Holden, Brad Hunt, Brayden McNabb, John Merrill, Colin Miller, Shea Theodore

Goalies (2): Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.