Season snapshot: One defining moment from every Golden Knights contributor

By Jesse Granger

Saturday, June 2, 2018 | 2 a.m.

Brayden McNabb, #3, Defenseman

The Los Angeles Kings left McNabb exposed in the expansion draft last June, and he ended their season in April. McNabb clinched the Golden Knights’ first-round playoff sweep over the Kings with a second-period goal in a 1-0 Game 4 victory.

Deryk Engelland, #5, Defenseman

Engelland, a Las Vegas resident for more than a decade, had a dream season on the ice while setting career highs in nearly every stat. Still, nothing will top the speech he gave before the October 10 home opener, just nine days after the mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. “To the families and friends of the victims, we’ll do everything we can to help you and our city heal. We are Vegas Strong,” Engelland said.

Colin Miller, #6, Defenseman

Miller has been the Golden Knights’ best offensive defenseman all season. His best performance came on January 21 in a 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, when he scored the game-winning goal with a blistering slapshot and assisted on two other goals.

Jon Merrill, #15, Defenseman

Merrill doesn’t score often, but when he does, they count. Four of his seven career goals have been game-winners, including his only one for the Golden Knights. He beat Pittsburgh’s Matt Murray on December 14 at T-Mobile Arena to give Vegas a 2-1 win over the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Penguins.

James Neal, #18, Left Wing

Neal scored the two goals that started it all for the Golden Knights this season. He netted the first one in franchise history to draw Vegas even with the Dallas Stars in the October 6 season opener, then flipped the puck over goalie Kari Lehtonen while sliding on his knees for the game winner.

Reilly Smith, #19, Right Wing

Most of Smith’s highlight-reel plays this season have been assists, but he took matters into his own hands in his biggest moment. He raced down the ice in a 2-2 tie with Winnipeg in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, and fired shortside, past the goalie’s blocker to give Vegas the win and a 3-1 series lead.

Cody Eakin, #21, Center

Midway through the year, the defensive-minded Eakin had fallen into a major offensive slump. He had registered only one goal and two points in 25 games before busting out with a two-goal, three point performance in a win over the Red Wings on March 8.

Oscar Lindberg, #24, Center

Early in the season, when almost no one believed the Golden Knights were legitimate, Lindberg was a big part of the team’s hot start. The former Ranger scored four goals in a nine-game span in October to help Vegas to its early 8-1 start.

Shea Theodore, #27, Defenseman

On Dec. 20, with the Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning tied 3-3 and the final seconds ticking away, the puck emerged from a scrum behind the Lightning net, right to the stick of Theodore. He blasted the shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy with just 2.3 seconds left to give the Knights a walk-off win over the league’s top team.

William Carrier, #28, Left Wing

Carrier set the tone for the postseason run with 21 hits in Vegas’ first two playoff games, a pair of wins over the Kings. He finished fifth on the Golden Knights with 113 hits this season despite playing in only 37 games.

Marc-Andre Fleury, #29, Goaltender

It’s nearly impossible to whittle Fleury’s season down to one moment. He’s carried the team all year, shattering postseason records in the process. But the back-to-back diving saves he made against the Jets’ Mark Scheifele to preserve a win in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals have been as important as any sequence this season.

Malcolm Subban, #30, Goaltender

Two years after using a first-round pick on Subban, the Boston Bruins waived him from their roster. The Golden Knights claimed him, and he revived his career with a 13-4-2 record for Vegas this season, including a spectacular shootout win December 8 in Nashville (a squad that features his older brother P.K.) in which he made 41 saves and shut the Predators out in six shootout attempts.

Maxime Lagace, #33, Goaltender

After early-season injuries struck Fleury, Subban and Oscar Dansk, fourth-string goalie Lagace was thrust into the first NHL action of his career. The youngster kept the Golden Knights afloat while the others recovered, including a stretch from November 16 to December 9 in which Vegas went 5-1 with Lagace in net

Ryan Carpenter, #40, Left Wing

Like many Golden Knights this season, Carpenter starred against his former team. Waived by the Sharks earlier in the season, Carpenter set up an empty-net goal by Eakin to end San Jose’s playoff run in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, #41, Center

In the middle of the second period during Vegas’ 4-1 win over the Avalanche on March 26, Bellemare was crawling across the ice with blood pouring from his face after taking a slap shot beneath his left eye. He returned to the game without missing a shift. Bellemare’s toughness has been critical for Golden Knights on the ice and in the locker room.

Luca Sbisa, #47, Defenseman

Sbisa spent a large portion of the season on the injured reserve, but early in the year he helped establish the Knights as one of the better defensive teams in the NHL. He was matched up with the opposing team’s best players on a nightly basis and held his own, which has continued into the playoffs.

Erik Haula, #56, Center

As the clock ticked closer to midnight on April 13, Haula finally ended the longest game in Golden Knights’ franchise history. Haula streaked into the Kings’ zone, deked goaltender Jonathan Quick and slid the puck under him for a double-overtime winner to give Vegas a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

David Perron, #57, Right Wing

Perron racked up 66 points and four game-winning goals for Vegas this season, but the numbers pale in comparison to his leadership in the locker room. As he wrote in his piece for The Players Tribune, “Every guy in our room has a chip on his shoulder. And every time we step on the ice it’s a fight to prove our worth. That was clear from first time we put the Knight over our chests.”

William Karlsson, #71, Center

“Wild Bill” had many memorable moments, from his a pair of hat tricks, to a playoff overtime game-winner in San Jose, but his March 31 goal against the Sharks was the stuff of Vegas legend. Karlsson went between the legs before beating Martin Jones with a shorthanded goal to clinch the Pacific Division Title for the Golden Knights.

Ryan Reaves, #75, Right Wing

It took him more than 200 minutes of ice time with Vegas to net his first goal, but he couldn’t have picked a better time for the breakthrough. The Winnipeg native tipped Luca Sbisa’s point shot past Jets’ goalie Connor Hellebuyck to give Vegas a 2-1 win in Game 5, punching the team’s ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.

Brad Hunt, #77, Defenseman

Hunt spent much of the season as a healthy scratch, but that didn’t stop him from bringing a fun-loving attitude and nonstop energy to the locker room. He earned a nomination for the Masterton Trophy, given to the NHL player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

Jonathan Marchessault, #81, Left Wing

Never shy around microphones, Marchessault made it crystal clear the Golden Knights needed to win Game 2 of the conference finals after a loss in Game 1, calling it a “must-win.” He responded with two clutch goals to lead Vegas to victory.

Nate Schmidt, #88, Defenseman

In the Golden Knights’ double-overtime win over the Kings in the first round of the playoffs, Schmidt led all Vegas skaters in ice time. He emerged as a No. 1 defender this season, and proved it once again on April 13, blocking three shots during his 51 shifts that totaled an mammoth 37:18 of time without yielding a single goal while on the ice.

Alex Tuch, #89, Right Wing

From not being in possession of a locker when the season started—and having to sit on a fold-out chair in the Golden Knights locker room—to blossoming into one of the leading scorers in the playoffs. Tuch showed his growth in the crucial Game 5 of against San Jose with two goals, including a gorgeous tip past Martin Jones from just in front of the crease.

Tomas Tatar, #90, Left Wing

He faced pressure as general manager George McPhee’s big trade-deadline acquisition but struggled to find a place in the lineup. After sitting out multiple games, Tatar was given a chance and cashed in with a momentum-swinging goal in Game 2 of the conference finals in Winnipeg.

Tomas Nosek, #92, Left Wing

Nosek is known as one of the Golden Knights’ most trustworthy forwards and one of Gallant’s most trusted penalty killers. He also etched his name into the team’s playoff roll by scoring the winning goal in Game 4 versus Winnipeg, atoning for a penalty moments earlier that set up a tying power-play goal by the Jets.