Blog: Golden Knights down Ducks to win third straight game

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018 | 3 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018 | 9:42 p.m.

The Golden Knights came home from a rough five-game road trip saying T-Mobile Arena could be the key to jumpstarting their season.

So far, so good. Vegas won a second straight to start its current home, and third consecutive overall, Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, defeating Anaheim 3-1.

Vegas won its first Pacific Division showdown of the season and evened its record at 4-4 in the process, getting everything it wanted in the game aside from a couple of extra goals.

The Golden Knights certainly worked hard enough to have a little more success on the scoreboard. They controlled the action and peppered John Gibson with shots, but the standout goalie racked up 42 saves.

Gibson survived through Vegas’ first two power plays, but allowed a goal on the third. That came at the tail end of the first period when William Karlsson redirected a shot from Jonathan Marchessault to make the score 1-0.

The Golden Knights scored again nine minutes into the second period when Ryan Reaves hustled for a score on a rebound. Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury had a significantly lighter workload than Gibson, totaling only 17 saves on the night.

The Golden Knights’ defense swarmed the Ducks on the forecheck all night and rarely let opponents behind them. The Ducks’ lone goal came at the beginning of the third period when Ben Street got a pass from Ryan Getzlaf, shook a defender and pushed the puck past Fleury in front of the net.

Vegas added its final goal in the game’s waning seconds, when Jonathan Marchessault scored on an empty net.

The Golden Knights are back in action Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena.

Check back later for more coverage from lasvegassun.com

Golden Knights lead Ducks 2-0 at end of second period

The Golden Knights hoped their first game against a Pacific Division opponent this season would bring out their best performance, and so far they’ve gotten their wish.

The Ducks haven’t looked remotely in the same class as the Golden Knights, which go into the second intermission with a X-X lead. Vegas has XX shots on goal to Anaheim’s XX shots.

Ducks goalie John Gibson has been a saving grace for the team, as he’s racked up X saves but one has gotten past him in each period so far. After William Karlsson’s power-play goal in the first period, Ryan Reaves bruised his way to the front of the net and scored on a rebound midway through the second period.

Anaheim will need to find a way to stimulate some offense if it wants to increase its current lead in the division.

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

The Anaheim Ducks came into tonight’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights with a statistical profile indicating they’ve been a mediocre team elevated by an amazing goalie.

They played true to that form in the first period at T-Mobile Arena. Anaheim goaltender John Gibson stopped the first 15 shots he faced before William Karlsson tipped in a shot from Jonathan Marchessault at 19:46 of the period.

The Golden Knights lead 1-0, but it feels as if they could easily be up multiple goals.

The puck practically lived in the Golden Knights’ attacking zone, as the Ducks managed only three shots on goal. The first one was dangerous, as a Ryan Kesler slap shot from close to the blue line beat Marc-Andre Fleury but hit off the post during a power play.

Anaheim killed its first two penalties, but didn’t get deep into beating the third before Karlsson’s goal.

Pre-game

Marc-Andre Fleury joked and smiled like every other day as he methodically pulled off his pads in front of his locker room stall.

He just had a little less company, with none of the Golden Knights’ top six forwards electing to take part in an optional skate ahead of 7 p.m. tonight when they host the Anaheim Ducks.

It was a light mood this morning at City National Arena that will surely give way to an intense atmosphere tonight at T-Mobile Arena.

The Golden Knights’ first of four meetings against the Ducks is likely their biggest game of the young season considering it starts their Pacific Division schedule against the team currently in first place.

“They’re playing real good obviously, and real fast,” Golden Knights Coach Gerard Gallant said of the Ducks. “I think their coaching staff talked about them playing quicker. They’ve got a lot of injuries right now but they’ve got a lot of young guys in there playing really hard, playing fast.”

Anaheim (5-1-1) sits with a five-point lead over Vegas (3-4) in the standings through two weeks, but these are the types of games the Golden Knights dominated last year. They went 18-8-3 against divisional opponents, including 3-1 versus the Ducks.

The games against Anaheim were low-scoring games for the most part — with three of the four failing under sports book’s goal totals — and it would appear that tonight’s game could follow the same pattern. The matchup features the NHL’s best goalie from the playoffs last season, Fleury, against the one who’s looked the best early this year in John Gibson.

Anaheim’s starting net minder sits second in the NHL with a save percentage of .948. He’s been dominant despite some defensive issues and injuries in front of him.

Among the many Ducks currently nursing injuries are Corey Perry, Nick Ritchie and Ryan Getzlaf, who’s expected to return against the Golden Knights. In their stead, Anaheim has relied heavier on younger plays such as Max Comtois, Richard Rakell and Kiefer Sherwood.

Galant hasn’t seen the new faces hindering his team's rivals.

“They’ve got some kids in there playing with a lot of energy that want to stay in the NHL,” he said.

The Golden Knights won’t find extending their win streak to three games easy.

“They’re in first place and we’re trying to catch up,” Gallant said. “These are the games you have to win.”

Keefer’s Prediction: Ducks 3, Golden Knights 1

Season record for predictions: 3-1

Pick to score the Golden Knights’ first goal: William Karlsson

Season record for first goal scored: 0-for-4

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-175, Ducks plus-155; over/under: 5.5 (minus-105, minus-115)

Golden Knights (3-4-0) (1-1-0 home)

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Goals leader: Jonathan Marchessault (4)

Assists leader: William Karlsson (6)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.71 gaa, .896 save percentage)

Anaheim Ducks (5-1-1) (3-1-0 road)

Coach: Randy Carlyle (third season)

Goals leader: Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg, Adam Henrique (3)

Assists leader: Hampus Lindhom (5)

Expected goalie: John Gibson (1.89 gaa, .948 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.