Vegas Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch (89) celebrates a goal with his teammates over Nashville during their game at the T-Mobile Arena.
Published Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 | 4 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 | 9:32 p.m.
The Golden Knights continued their winning ways at home Tuesday night, beating the Nashville Predators 3-0 at T-Mobile Arena.
Following a scoreless opening period, Reilly Smith opened the scoring for Vegas with a power play goal by banking the puck off the back of Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne and into the net.
Shea Theodore added to the lead 1:30 later with a slap shot from the point that squeezed through Rinne and rolled past the goalline.
Nashville turned the pressure up in the third period with good scoring chances throughout but couldn’t beat Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who recorded his second shutout of the season.
After pulling Rinne in a last-ditch effort to score, Vegas’ Jonathan Marchessault added an empty net goal to make it 3-0 for the Golden Knights. It was Marchessault’s 15th goal of the year.
Golden Knights lead 2-0 after two periods
The Golden Knights scored two goals within 1:30 to take a commanding 2-0 lead over Nashville into the final period.
Reilly Smith broke the scoreless tie in the second period when he banked the puck off Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne’s leg and into the net. It was the Golden Knights’ 24th power play goal of the season and was assisted by Nate Schmidt and Alex Tuch.
Moments later Nashville winger Kevin Fiala lost his stick and the Golden Knights took advantage. Defenseman Shea Theodore sent a blast from the point that somehow found its way through Rinne’s pads and trickled across the goalline.
Tuch also assisted on Theodore’s goal, giving him two tonight and 11 on the season.
Marc-Andre Fleury has been perfect through 40 minutes, stopping all 17 of the shots faced.
Golden Knights, Predators tied 0-0 after one period
Through one period, the goaltenders have been the best players on the ice at T-Mobile Arena. Both teams created multiple scoring chances, but the Golden Knights and Predators are scoreless after 20 minutes of hockey.
Vegas dominated play for most of the period, outshooting Nashville 14-4, but Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne was sharp enough to stop them all.
The closest Vegas came to scoring in the first stanza came on a play where the puck ricocheted off Reilly Smith’s skates, past Rinne and off the goal post.
While the Predators had only four shots, they created their share of chances. Marc-Andre Fleury made a spectacular sliding save on a rebound attempt by Nashville late in the period to keep the game scoreless.
Pre game
With a win over Nashville tonight, the Golden Knights would match the Predators’ franchise record for consecutive wins at eight.
As Vegas’ win streak stands, it’s already matched the longest in Dallas Stars history, dating back to their days as the Minnesota North Stars. The Golden Knights have existed for 37 games, while the Stars are celebrating their 50th season.
Vegas’ seven-game win streak is already longer than any by the Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise, which dates back to 1999.
The Golden Knights have already defeated the Predators this season in a 4-3 shootout win Dec. 8 in Nashville. Vegas hasn’t lost in regulation since then and has collected a point in each of the last 12 games.
The Predators are in third place in the Western Conference, three points behind Vegas.
“I expect an awesome game,” Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “It’s another great game in our schedule. This is one of the top teams in the league, and I’m really excited about the challenge. These are fun games to play.”
The Predators cycle the puck extremely well in the offensive zone, keeping sustained pressure on a defense, which can lead to tired players making mistakes.
“It’s a lot like our forwards do,” Schmidt said. “Our guys do a great job, and it’s one of the reasons we wear teams down on the forecheck. We might not get it on that shift, but it’s the next one or the next one."
“You have to be sharp the whole game,” Schmidt said. “It’s all about a battle of attrition. At any time, these guys can spin away from you and take it to the net, then all of a sudden it’s chaos. You have to make sure you know where you are on the ice against them.”
Nashville expects star defenseman Ryan Ellis to make his season debut tonight after missing the first 38 games recovering from offseason knee surgery. Unfortunately for the Predators, they will be without Filip Forsberg, who leads the team in goals (15) and points (34).
“The big thing they do is their defensemen can all skate and move the puck, and they’re always up on the rush,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “We have to play a good defensive zone, not give them second and third chances.”
And while the aggressiveness of defensemen like P.K. Subban, Roman Josi and Mattias Ekholm make the Predators dangerous, it can also leave them susceptible to transition offense the other way, which happens to be a specialty of the Golden Knights.
“If we can play a strong defensive zone and catch their defensemen cheating a little bit, then maybe we’ll get some odd-man rushes the other way,” Gallant said.
Prediction : Golden Knights 4, Predators 2
Season record for predictions: 22-13
Puck drops: 7 p.m.
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM
TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink Prism 1760)
Betting line: Golden Knights minus-135, Total 6 minus-120 to the under
Golden Knights (26-9-2) (16-2-1 home)
Coach: Gerard Gallant
Goal leader: William Karlsson (20)
Assist leader: Jonathan Marchessault (22)
Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (7-1-1, 1.96 goals against average)
Nashville Predators (23-10-5) (11-6-3 away)
Coach: Peter Laviolette
Goal leader: Filip Forsberg (15)
Assist leader: P.K. Subban (20)
Expected goalie: Pekka Rinne (19-7-3, 2.47 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, Jon Merrill, Colin Miller, Nate Schmidt and Shea Theodore.
Goalies (2): Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban
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