Golden Knights win second straight shootout behind Subban’s big night

By Jesse Granger

Published Friday, Dec. 8, 2017 | 3 p.m.

Updated Friday, Dec. 8, 2017 | 8:15 p.m.

Malcolm Subban made a career-high 41 saves and stopped all six attempts in the shootout to lead the Golden Knights to a 4-3 win over the Predators Friday night in Nashville.

After five stops by Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne, Vegas forward Reilly Smith finally beat him with a wrist shot to win the game for the Golden Knights.

It was the second shootout in a row for the Golden Knights, and Subban has yet to allow a goal in nine attempts for the opposition. His win tonight comes with even more weight, as it was his first against his older brother, PK Subban, who is a star defender for Nashville.

"It was something special obviously with all of my family watching back home, having my dad here, and beating my brother," Malcolm Subban told AT&T Sportsnet. "It was an unbelievable experience."

Golden Knights, Predators tied 3-3 after regulation

The Golden Knights squandered a two-goal lead in the third period, allowing Nashville to score three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead. It looked like that would hold, until Vegas pulled its goalie and Erik Haula tied the game with 39 seconds left in regulation.

Colin Miller made an outstanding cross ice pass to Haula, who one-timed it over Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne's left shoulder.

This is the third consecutive overtime game for the Golden Knights, who are 5-0 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts this season.

Golden Knights lead 2-1 after two periods

In his first return to Nashville since being taken by the Golden Knights in June’s expansion draft, James Neal scored on his former team.

Luca Sbisa fired a shot towards the Predators’ net in the second period and it was deflected right to Neal, who buried it into the wide-open net to put the Golden Knights up 2-0.

The Predators would finally beat Malcolm Subban to cut the lead in half, after Cody Eakin turned the puck over in his defensive zone and Calle Jarkrok took advantage. The goal brought Nashville within one goal, and the Golden Knights lead 2-1.

The Golden Knights are 10-2-0 this season when leading entering the third period, and the Predators are 0-5-0 when trailing after two periods.

Vegas will start the third period on the power play after Neal drew a high sticking penalty on Nashville in the final seconds of the second period. Luckily for Neal the high stick didn't hit his teeth, which he just had replaced after being knocked out on Oct. 27.

Golden Knights lead 1-0 after one period

Alex Tuch weaved through the Nashville defense, past the blue line and just as he passed the net, hooked the puck back into the slot to William Karlsson.

Karlsson one-timed the puck past Pekka Rinne for his team-leading 15th goal of the season to give the Golden Knights an early 1-0 lead over the Predators in Nashville.

The power play goal by Karlsson ended a drought of 17 straight power plays without a goal for the Golden Knights.

Vegas was equally impressive with a man in the box during the first period. Following a holding call on David Perron and a tripping call on Brayden McNabb, the Golden Knights killed the 48-second 5-on-3 advantage with the help of a big block by Nate Schmidt.

Nashville was unable to score on the 5-on-3 or the 5-on-4 that followed despite having the No. 2 ranked power play in the NHL.

Malcolm Subban stopped all 16 shots he faced.

Pre game

The last time Golden Knights forward James Neal was in Bridgestone Arena, he was playing in the Stanley Cup Finals with the Nashville Predators.

Neal tallied a goal and an assist for Nashville in the six-game series that eventually saw the Predators fall to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and 10 days later, he was selected by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft.

“It’s hard to explain when you play for a team, you play with the guys and you become really tight, and then you go back and play against them on the opposite side,” Neal said. “You’re walking in the opposite dressing room and doing everything backwards. You wouldn’t believe how different it feels from having it be your home rink to your away rink. I’ve done it before, but you never really get used to it.”

Last season, the Predators sneaked into the playoffs as the final team to qualify but made a run all the way to the finals.

“You do everything you can to try to win a Stanley Cup, and we did everything we could to try to win it and just came up a little short,” Neal said. “The way the city and team came together was really special, and it’s something I’ll never forget. It was a really amazing thing we did.”

While the Golden Knights are still early in the season, Neal already sees similarities between the teams and the way the nontraditional hockey markets rallied around the them.

“This city would get pretty wild if we start to push here for playoffs and then make a run,” Neal said. “We have a really good group of guys here. We had to come together really quickly to become a team. Everyone cares about each other and wants to win for each other and when you have that, good things happen.”

Nashville is regarded as having one of the best home-ice advantages in the NHL and has a 11-2-1 record already this season. The Golden Knights already have one of the best home records in the league at T-Mobile Arena, with a record of 11-2-0.

“I think there are some similarities to the buildings,” Neal said. “This is a really intimate building for fans to watch the game and in Nashville, it’s the same way. It gets really loud. And then with the Strip right there and the way Broadway leads up to Bridgestone Arena, everyone comes down to enjoy the game, and they have fun and then go right into the atmosphere.”

Tonight, the Golden Knights face the task of playing in a the hostile environment of Bridgestone Arena against a red-hot Predators team. Nashville is 13-2-1 in its last 16 games and is only one point behind Western Conference-leading St. Louis.

Prediction : Predators 5, Golden Knights 3

Season record for predictions: 17-8

Puck drops: 5 p.m.

Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink Prism 1760)

Betting line: Golden Knights plus-145, Total 6 minus-120 to the over

Golden Knights (17-9-1) (6-7-1 away)

Coach: Gerard Gallant

Goal leader: William Karlsson (14)

Assist leader: Jonathan Marchessault (15)

Expected goalie: Malcolm Subban (6-2, 2.27 goals against average)

Nashville Predators (18-7-3) (11-2-1 home)

Coach: Peter Laviolette

Goal leader: Filip Forsberg (14)

Assist leader: Filip Forsberg, PK Subban and Ryan Johansen (14)

Expected goalie: Pekka Rinne (16-4-2, 2.38 goals against average)

Golden Knights game day roster

Forwards (12): Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, William Karlsson, Brendan Leipsic, Oscar Lindberg, Jonathan Marchessault, James Neal, Tomas Nosek, David Perron, Reilly Smith and Alex Tuch.

Defensemen (6): Deryk Engelland, Brayden McNabb, Colin Miller, Luca Sbisa, Nate Schmidt and Shea Theodore.

Goalies (2): Malcolm Subban and Maxime Lagace