Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Blog: Marchessault nets hat trick as Golden Knights win high-scoring contest with Penguins

VGK VS PENGUINS2

Wade Vandervort

The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate after scoring against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1st period of an NHL hockey game at T-Mobile arena Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019.

Updated Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019 | 9:45 p.m.

Saturday's game was as high-flying as one could hope between two fast-paced teams like the Golden Knights and Pittsburgh Penguins, and it ended with a 6-3 victory for Vegas in front of 18,511 fans, the second-largest home crowd in T-Mobile Arena regular season history.

Jonathan Marchessault added his third goal of the game against an empty net with 21 seconds left in the game, the Golden Knights' first hat trick of the season. Marc-Andre Fleury had an assist on Marchessault's third goal.

William Karlsson had the third period's lone tally, redirecting a Colin Miller point shot for his second point of the game.

Action slowed significantly in the third period, but the first two periods more than made up for it.

The Golden Knights led 3-1 after the first with goals from Shea Theodore, Max Pacioretty and Oscar Lindberg, then Marchessault added a pair in the second.

Phill Kessel, Dominik Simon and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins. 

Wild second still has Golden Knights on top

If the first period was wild, it was just a warmup for what the second period had in store.

The Penguins were in full control of the period, but a waved off goal turned the tides and Vegas took over to help the Golden Knights to a 5-3 lead after 40 minutes.

The Penguins came out flying in the second period, needing just 16 seconds to trim the Golden Knights' lead to one. Dominik Simon had the goal, but it was a team effort on a tic-tac-toe score, with Brian Dumoulin and Jake Guentzel setting it up.

Then Vegas left one of the best players in the world alone in front of the crease, and the game was tied, 3-3. Guentzel cruised behind the net, and saw Sidney Crosby sneak into the slot, and Crosby one-timed home Pittsburgh's third goal at 5:56 of the second.

The Penguins appeared to score on the power play at the 10:17 mark, but reviews showed Evkeni Malkin kicked it in and it was waved off. Marc-Andre Fleury took it from there, making two spectacular saves to help the Golden Knights kill off the penalty.

Pittsburgh was dominating the period, but hockey has a funny way of not caring too much about that. Pittsburgh goalie came out to play the puck later in the period, but Jonathan Marchessault intercepted the pass and rifled the puck past DeSmith before he could get set back in the crease and just like that it was 4-3 Golden Knights at 12:26.

Marchessault wasn't done. He collected a rebound in front of DeSmith and added just enough hesitation to his shot to pull DeSmith out of position so Marchessault could sneak the puck around him for his team-best 16th goal at 16:16 of the second. It was the 16th assist of the season for both William Karlsson and Colin Miller.

Knights lead after one

The first period started off with all the electricity everyone could have hoped. Each team scored within the first 6:09 of the game, Vegas scored twice in 43 seconds and the Golden Knights led the Penguins 3-1 after a period.

With the scored tied 1-1, Paul Stastny looked for a shot from the slot, but whiffed on the shot and it bounced to the left of Pittsburgh's net, right to Max Pacioretty. Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith was lined up to block Stastny's shot, and Pacioretty fired it home on an open net.

Forty-three seconds later, Oscar Lindberg cashed in on a 2-on-1 with a feed from Ryan Carpenter to make it 3-1.

Phil Kessel got the Penguins on the board at the 3:51 mark, picking up where he left off after his hat trick in the earlier meeting this year. Olli Maatta fed him a perfect pass across the slot, and Kessel was there at the left post to bury it.

Shea Theodore evened the game at 6:09 on the power play. He collected a Nate Schmidt D-to-D pass and one-timed a rocket to make it 1-1. It helped improve a power-play unit that had gone 1 for its previous 31.

The Golden Knights led in shots on goal, 15-12.

Pre-game

When Marc-Andre Fleury looks across the ice and the top-line forward coming at him tonight, he'll see an old friend.

Fleury didn't play when the Golden Knights visited the Pittsburgh Penguins in October, but he'll be in net tonight as Sidney Crosby and his squad comes to town for a 7 p.m. duel at T-Mobile Arena.

"We've practiced together every day almost over the years, but it's a good challenge though because he's the best player in the league," Fleury said. "It's weird. You get thinking more than I'd like to."

The two-time Hart Trophy-winning Crosby leads the Penguins and is fourth in Eastern Conference with 56 points this year, putting him on pace for his sixth-straight year topping the 80-point mark. He has three points in three games against Vegas, including an assist in the Oct. 11 meeting.

The Golden Knights know what Crosby and Evgeni Malkin bring to the ice. Defenseman Shea Theodore said they know they're playing future Hall of Famers, but at some point it becomes just another opponent.

"I definitely think it wears off a little bit. The first one or two times you play him, you're definitely a little starstruck, but you always just have to be ready," Theodore said. "The more times you play those guys, the more aware you of their skill set and I think you do a lot less watching and more being aware of where they are on the ice and the plays they can make."

The Golden Knights catch the Penguins on the tail end of a back-to-back, as Pittsburgh beat the Coyotes in overtime in Arizona last night. Vegas has not played since Tuesday, giving it the edge in the rest department.

It may not matter. The Penguins are 3-2-0 on the second night of a back-to-back.

"It doesn't make a bit of difference," coach Gerard Gallant said. "They don't have a morning skate, they have a little meeting at the hotel usually and get ready for the game all day."

Emerson's Prediction: Golden Knights 4, Penguins 2

Season record for predictions: Keefer 5-4, Emerson 10-6

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

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-140, Penguins plus-130; over/under: 6.5 (minus-108, minus-102)

Golden Knights (28-17-4) (15-4-3 home)

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Points leader: Alex Tuch (37)

Goals leader: William Karlsson, Alex Tuch (15)

Assists leader: Alex Tuch (22)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.48 gaa, .911 save percentage)

Penguins (26-15-6) (13-7-4 road)

Coach: Mike Sullivan (fourth season)

Points leader: Sidney Crosby (56)

Goals leader: Jake Guentzel (24)

Assists leader: Evgeni Malkin (37)

Expected goalie: Casey DeSmith (2.53 gaa, .921 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Brandon Pirri, Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny, Alex Tuch, Oscar Lindberg, Cody Eakin, Ryan Carpenter, Tomas Nosek, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore, Deryk Engelland, Nick Holden, Colin Miller

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Maxime Lagace

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