Blog: Golden Knights open 2020 with thriller over Flyers

By Justin Emerson

Published Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020 | 3 p.m.

Updated Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020 | 9:42 p.m.

We're in for a fun year of hockey if every game is like the first of 2020.

The Golden Knights and Philadelphia Flyers made sure the T-Mobile Arena fans got their money's worth with a high-paced first period and an entertaining rest of it, as Vegas picked up the win on Thursday 5-4.

The first period was as wild a 20 minutes as the Golden Knights have played all season. The Flyers scored first, a snipe from Claude Giroux, but Vegas responded with three goals in 2:45 to claim the lead. 

First up was Shea Theodore, continuing his torrid streak by whipping it by the ear of goalie Carter Hart. Max Pacioretty was next, calming a bouncing puck from a bad angle to put home a power-play goal.

But the story was Jon Merrill, who said he has not played forward in over a decade since his junior hockey days. He was thrust into the role of fourth-line left wing after a late injury to Jonathan Marchessault, and he was up to the task. He saw the rebound, collected it, pushed it to his backhand and into the net for his first goal of the season.

The Flyers responded with another goal of their own, this time after Travis Konecny raced around the Vegas defense and beat Marc-Andre to bring it within one. But Pacioretty's second of the night restored the two-goal lead, and ended a wild first period with a 4-2 Vegas lead.

The second period was tamer, particularly from the home side. Vegas did get one, a Cody Glass highlight goal from one knee, but so did the Flyers, as Sean Couturier scored his first of the night. The Golden Knights couldn't sustain any offense, and mustered just five shots on goal in the second. And as the period was winding down Ryan Reaves took a penalty that proved costly.

With one second remaining in Reaves' tripping minor and just 15 seconds into the third period, Couturier ripped in his second of the night to trim the Vegas lead to 5-4. The third period had plenty of action, including two late Vegas penalties that gave the Flyers 43 seconds of 6-on-3 time but no more goals as the Golden Knights skated off with their third win in a row.

Philadelphia led in shots on goal 38-33.

Golden Knights hold steady in second against Flyers

The second period didn't have the fireworks the first period did, but it still had some scoring. Both the Golden Knights and Philadelphia Flyers netted a goal and Vegas led 5-3 after two periods.

There wasn't the onslaught of scoring, but Vegas still got on the board, albeit in an odd sort of way.

Cody Glass was tied up in the slot battling for the puck near the middle of the frame, but out-muscled his defender as he was falling to the ice. He hit one knee and ripped it at the net, using Paul Stastny as a screen and beating Carter Hart fr his fifth of the season at 9:37 of the second.

The Flyers got one too, in a much more traditional way. Matt Niskanen had the initial shot off Marc-Andre Fleury's bad and when Fleury deflected the puck away from him, it went right to Sean Couturier. It was an easy put-back for the Flyers forward, and it made the score 5-3 at 12:11.

The Flyers quieted the Golden Knights aside from the Glass goal, holding Vegas to just five shots on goal while putting on 13 of their own. Flyers led 25-23 in shots on goal after two.

Jon Merrill scores as forward in crazy first period against Flyers

If every game in 2020 is like the start of this one, we're in for a fun year.

The Golden Knights and Philadelphia Flyers combined for six goals and 30 shots in a wild first period, and the Golden Knights led 4-2 after one.

The first sign that a wild game was to come was when Jonathan Marchessault didn't take the ice for warmups. He was listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and with the Golden Knights out of forwards, they had to turn to a defenseman. Instead of playing 11 forwards and 11 defense, they opted to dress Jon Merrill as a forward.

Near the first TV time just past the 7-minute mark, he Golden Knights took two poor shifts that led to odd-man rushes for the Flyers. On the first, a 2-on-1, Philadelphia fluttered the pass too far and away from the attacking forward and on the second, this time a 3-on-1, Marc-Andre Fleury came up with a diving stop to keep the game scoreless.

It wouldn't stay scoreless for long. The Golden Knights let Flyers captain Claude Giroux sneak into the slot while the puck was in the corner and no one picked him up. Once Jakub Voracek collected the puck he was the only one who saw Giroux, who ripped it by Fleury at 7:33.

That seemed to open the floodgates for the Golden Knights. First it was Shea Theodore, sneaking in from the blue line, collecting a pass from Paul Stastny and ripping it by Philadelphia goalie Carter Hart for his sixth of the season at 8:42. Eighty-six seconds later, Max Pacioretty took a pass again from Stastny and deposited the bouncing puck into the net to make it 2-1.

But craziness struck at 11:27. That was when Merrill, playing out of position but not looking like, picked up a rebound, went to his backhand and scored for a 3-1 Vegas lead. That was, of course, his first of the season.

Vegas' breakaway issues continued in the period, first when Scott Laughton was awarded a penalty shot on a breakaway, then when Travis Konecny skated around the defensemen for a goal. Fleury had no issue stuffing Laughton's penalty shot, but Konecny had no issue blowing by Nate Schmidt, evading a Fleury poke check and scoring to make it 3-2 at 14:40.

The Golden Knights though, weren't quite done scoring. It was Pacioretty again at 17:03, deking in front of the net and going backhand five-hole on Hart for his 18th of the season and 43rd point in 43 games.

Nicolas Roy returns as Golden Knights face the Flyers

Nicolas Roy was all smiles in the dressing room after an optional morning skate. The 22-year-old center has been up and down between Vegas and AHL Chicago, and after a Wednesday night recall, he's back with the big club.

Roy is happy to be back, and he joins a surging Golden Knights squad looking for a win today against the Philadelphia Flyers, one of few teams that have had Vegas' number. The Puck drops at T-Mobile Arena at 7 p.m.

"I was down there trying to improve, trying to work hard to be back here, and to get an opportunity again is really fun," Roy said. "I've just got to play hard and good tonight."

Roy has a goal and three points in seven games with the Golden Knights this year. In 61:22 of 5-on-5 ice time, his 57.0% on-ice Corsi percentage tops the team. It's a limited sample to be sure — Roy has played mostly fourth-line minutes — but it shows that when he has had his chances, he's made the most of them.

"Work hard, play the games he's played here before," coach Gerard Gallant said of his expectations for Roy. "He's played really good down there, scored some goals, played power plays, PKs, so let's see what he can do tonight."

Against the Flyers, Vegas could use all the help it can get.

There are only seven teams the Golden Knights have lost to more than they have beaten, and they are 2-3 all-time against the Flyers, including an 0-2 record at home. They also lost in Philadelphia 6-2 on Oct. 21. Vegas has averaged 1.8 goals in those five games, the worst scoring rate against any team in the league.

Philadelphia has hovered around the outskirts of the playoffs since Vegas joined the league, qualifying in 2017-18 but missing last season. The Flyers are right back there this year, sitting in the Eastern Conference's second Wild Card spot. But since they have played fewer games than most, the have the conference's sixth-best points percentage.

"They've got a few very highly skilled guys up front and a couple fast, good-skating, puck-moving defensemen on the back end," Vegas forward Alex Tuch said. "We have to play to our identity, not worry too much about what the Flyers are going to do."

The Golden Knights will return to Marc-Andre Fleury in net for the third game in a row. They'll look to continue riding the hot hands of Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty, who have six and five points, respectively, in the team's last four games.

Tonight's game is the third of seven in a home stand that is the longest of the season. Vegas won the first two games.

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-185, Flyers plus-155; over/under: 6 (minus-110, minus-110)

Golden Knights (22-15-6, 50 points) (12-7-3 home), first place, Pacific Division

Coach: Gerard Gallant (third season)

Points leader: Max Pacioretty (41)

Goals leader: Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone (16)

Assists leader: Max Pacioretty (25)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.71 GAA, .913 save percentage)

Flyers (22-13-5, 49 points) (9-11-1 road), fifth place, Metropolitan Division; second place, Wild Card

Coach: Alain Vigneault (first season)

Points leader: Travis Konecny (35)

Goals leader: Claude Giroux, Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk (12)

Assists leader: Travis Konecny (24)

Expected goalie: Carter Hart (2.41 GAA, .911 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Alex Tuch—Paul Stastny—Cody Glass

William Carrier—Nicolas Roy—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb—Nate Schmidt

Nicolas Hague—Shea Theodore

Nick Holden—Deryk Engelland

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban