Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

‘The Vegas Way’: Golden Knights break out in victory against Sabres

William Karlsson, power-play unit score first goals of the season

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Steve Marcus

Vegas Golden Knights fans cheer as the Golden Knights beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018.

Golden Knights Beat Buffalo Sabres 4-1

Vegas Golden Knights left wing William Carrier (28) winds up on top of Buffalo Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton (40) after taking a shot on goal in the third period at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018. Launch slideshow »

The not-insignificant portion of the Vegas Golden Knights’ fan base that came into the season calling for the team to finish what it started last year by winning the Stanley Cup might have felt foolish through six games.

Not anymore. Not after Tuesday night’s 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena to begin a five-game home stand.

For the first time this year, the Golden Knights resembled the team that ran roughshod over the NHL in their inaugural season and reached the Stanley Cup Final.

“Our first 60-minute team performance,” William Karlsson said. “All three zones, we played great. This is the Vegas way. This is how we have to play.”

Vegas fulfilled the same formula it used last year in following the lead of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and moving with a fast pace. Fleury, who had 26 saves, maintained a shutout until the final 36 seconds against the Sabres, and the first line of Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith set the tempo by repeatedly blazing down the ice.

More important than getting back to their basics, however, was the Golden Knights answering nearly every question that surrounded it after a 2-4 start to the season.

What’s the problem with the power-play? Nothing on Tuesday, as the Golden Knights broke an 0-for-16 start 39 seconds into their first opportunity when Karlsson drew the defense away from Marchessault before rifling him a pass for the first score of the night.

When would Karlsson himself ever get off the schneid and score his first goal? Last year’s leading scorer broke the seal in the third period when he redirected a shot from Smith.

How would the Golden Knights eliminate the defensive shortcomings that have plagued them all season? Mental awareness, as coach Gerard Gallant would say, with the Golden Knights on high alert, allowing no breakaways and few dangerous scoring chances.

“We knew it was a huge game,” Gallant said. “The first game off a road trip, sometimes that’s a hard one, but we came ready to play tonight.”

Aside from Karlsson’s goal, offense came from the same sources as the rest of the season. Marchessault complemented his power-play goal with an empty netter in the final seconds, giving him a team-high four goals on the year.

Cody Eakin scored for the third time this year when he pounced on a loose puck in the neutral zone, raced down the side and flung a shot over Carter Hutton’s glove for an unassisted, shorthanded goal.

Not everyone stuck to their defined roles. With Deryk Engelland joining Paul Stastny and Alex Tuch on the injury list and missing his first game, Gallant was forced to reshuffle his lineups across the board.

From defenseman Brad Hunt being active for the first time this season to recent AHL call-up Tomas Hyka spending the entirety of the game on the second line, Gallant praised everyone’s willingness to adjust.

“That’s what they’ve done all last year, all of our players: They excelled in different situations,” Gallant said.

“We had 20 guys play in the game and everybody was important to our team tonight and that’s how we’re going to win games.”

Vegas was even able to turn the performance’s lone negative into a positive. The Golden Knights committed a season-high six penalties, but bore down through all of them to not allow a goal and improve its penalty-kill to 80.9 percent on the year.

It might have been difficult for many to foresee a near-perfect performance like Tuesday’s for a team that hadn’t scored more than two goals in any previous game this season, but not the players. Karlsson said he had a feeling, “the Vegas way,” was going to show itself against the Sabres.

Marchessault wasn’t so sure as to when the Golden Knights would return to last year’s roots but he knew it was coming.

“When we play the right way, we know we get rewarded,” Marchessault said. “Tonight, I thought we played the right way and the game came to us.”

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

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