Golden Knights do ‘the right things all night’ in win over Flames

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019 | 10:44 p.m.

The Golden Knights squandered a two-goal lead earlier in the week against Boston. And in the following game, they were downright awful in an ugly loss at Arizona.

So while Saturday’s 6-2 win against visiting Calgary was far from a perfect outing, it was exactly what the Golden Knights needed. They got some momentum, the benefit of scoring five unanswered goals to close the game, where all four lines seemed to contribute to the onslaught.

More important, after surrendering two goals in the span of 33 seconds early in the second period, the Knights quickly fought back. It wasn’t like the loss to Boston, where they had few quality scoring chances until late in the game. And it certainly wasn’t like to three-goal loss Thursday in Arizona.

“The last two games haven’t been how we wanted to play,” said Ryan Reaves, who scored his first goal of the season in the third period. “Coming back on home ice, getting ready for the back-to-back, (having a good game) was really important.”

Mark Stone, William Carrier and Paul Stastny had goals in the second period scoring outburst, and Max Pacioretty had a pair of assists. Stone scored at the 6:44 mark of the period, or about two minutes after the Flames took the advantage, to put the Golden Knights back on top.

“We forced our way into three goals to finish out the second,” Stone said.

That was also the case in the first period, as Tomas Nosek scored his team-leading third goal 3:24 into the game when he jammed a loose puck into the Flames’ net after goalie David Rittich couldn’t contain a shot. William Carrier and Stone were credited with the assist.

“We did a lot of good things,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “It wasn’t an outstanding game by any means, but we did the right things all night long and we were fortunate to put some pucks in the net.”

The opportune play continued into the third period as Reaves scored an unassisted goal for his first goal of the season, and rookie Cody Glass added the final goal with three minutes remaining.

Marc-André Fleury was solid in goal with 33 saves on 35 shots, including a brilliant sequence at the end of the second period that prompted the home crowd to roar, “Fleu-ry” as he exited the ice.

“Shutting the door there was huge,” Reaves said.

The Knights will quickly turn the page to Sunday’s contest at the Los Angeles Kings in their first back-to-back of the season. All teams have eventually play their share of back-to-back games, and maybe it’s at perfect timing for Vegas. The Knights, after all, seem to have some momentum, as do the Kings, who beat Nashville 7-4 Saturday at home.

“There wasn’t nearly as many mistakes as the last couple of games,” Gallant said.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21