Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Hunt goes from press-box spectator to game-winning scorer for Golden Knights

Vegas blanks Carolina in brief stop at T-Mobile Arena

VGk vs Carolina

Isaac Brekken / Assocaited Press

Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) congratulates defenseman Brad Hunt (77) after he scored against the Carolina Hurricanes during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, at T-Mobile Arena.

Having racked up far more inactive games than lineup appearances with the Vegas Golden Knights over the last 13 months, Brad Hunt has learned a new way to watch hockey.

The defenseman focuses on minute details when he’s relegated to spectating from the press box.

“When you watch up top, it’s kind of dangerous in a way because you see everything, but at the same time, you get to see tendencies and you get to see plays where you might have had an extra second or where something might be open,” Hunt said. “It’s all just paying attention.”

The diligence Hunt has shown from the highest reaches of T-Mobile Arena translated to the bottom Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Taking a wide-eyed view of the ice from the blue line as a first-period power-play expired for the Golden Knights, Hunt noticed a Hurricanes’ defender cheat towards the boards to leave the space in front of the net open.

Hunt flew in, found a pass from Erik Haula and fired it past Scott Darling for a score.

It ended up as the first game-winning goal of Hunt’s career as the Golden Knights stymied the Hurricanes 3-0 to snap a two-game losing streak in their only home game in more than a two-week span.

“I decided to take a chance and ‘Hauls’ made a great play,” Hunt said.

The goal was only the Golden Knights’ second of the season from a defenseman. Vegas has dealt with a myriad of defensive issues during a disappointing 6-7-1 start to the season, but it’s appeared to minimize them when Hunt is in the lineup.

Fans have long called for Hunt to get more playing time, and so far, he’s justified their cries. The Golden Knights improved to 3-1-1 when Hunt is in the lineup and he’s become one of only four Vegas players — along with Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch and Tomas Hyka — with a positive plus-minus rating on the year.

“He’s ready to play all the time,” Golden Knights Coach Gerard Gallant said. “He’s just a solid guy who plays his role real well when he gets the opportunity.”

It wasn’t exactly a flawless performance defensively, as the Hurricanes lived up to their status as the NHL’s top team in shots on goal. Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury faced a season-high 34 shots, but his teammates mostly kept the Hurricanes out of the areas directly in front of him.

They also pounced on loose pucks and cleared them to limit Fleury’s exposure on repeat chances.

“He played an outstanding game tonight but he did see a lot of the shots and that was key,” Gallant said. “I think our defense did a great job of not letting second, third chances end up in the net.”

The Golden Knights were giddy after Hunt’s big first period. One of the most popular players on the roster, Hunt is known for arriving to practice happy every day and raising the mood of the team.

He lifted the Golden Knights in a different way against the Hurricanes. His goal got Haula, who called out the team after Thursday’s loss to the Blues, into a rhythm that would prove vital.

Haula also started the sequence that led to Vegas’ second goal, a score off of a rebound from fourth-line winger Ryan Reaves. Known more as a bruiser than a scorer, Reaves now sits second on the Golden Knights with four goals on the season.

“Confidence is a real thing, and when you have confidence, you go out there and play hard every game,” Reaves said. “It definitely works.”

The theme of unlikely offensive sources continued in the third period when Reaves’ linemate, William Carrier, got his first goal of the year off of an assist from defenseman Nick Holden.

But no one was as big of a surprise as Hunt, who’s typically secluded from his teammates on game day. Even when he’s not on the bench, though, Hunt is improving.

“I’ve been in the league for a while now, so when I’m sitting out, I’ve just learned to pay attention on the little things on the ice,” Hunt said. “It’s helped me a lot.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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