Vegas Golden Knights players celebrate with Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner (90) after their 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. The Golden Knights defeated the Sabres 4-2.
Published Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 | 4 p.m.
Updated Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 | 9:34 p.m.
Last year the Golden Knights reached seven wins in a row. They fell just shy of matching the franchise mark, and when they had another crack at it, they didn't waste their shot.
The Golden Knights pulled away from the Buffalo Sabres in the third period on Friday at T-Mobile Arena, finishing ahead 4-2 for a team-record eighth win in a row. They will have a shot at No. 9 on Sunday against the Los Angeles Kings.
It was also the debut of goalie Robin Lehner, who was acquired in a trade on Monday from the Chicago Blackhawks. He made 32 saves.
The Golden Knights and Sabres traded goals in the first, then played a second period without much to fire up the home crowd. So the Golden Knights decided to come out in the third with guns blazing.
William Karlsson started it at 3:06. He drifted to the front of the net and when Max Pacioretty dished out a centering pass, Karlsson got just enough on his backhanded swipe to beat Carter Hutton and put the puck in the net. It was Pacioretty's 63rd point of the season to tie Mark Stone for the team lead, and Karlsson's fourth goal in three games.
Vegas wasn't done. Just over two minutes later, Reilly Smith circled around behind the net and may not have been intending for a wrap-around try. Hutton was so far out of net, though, that he had no choice. It was slow but it worked, and resulted in a career-high 26th goal of the season for Smith to make it 3-1 Golden Knights at 5:25.
Zach Whitecloud had an assist on Smith's goal for his first point in his 12th career game.
It ended well but the night didn't start off so hot for Vegas. The Sabres scored on their first shot of the game, a Dominik Kahun shot after a Whitecloud turnover, which also happened to be the first shot Lehner faced in his Golden Knights career.
Smith added an empty-net goal with 1:49 left for his 27th of the season, and the Sabres scored with 12 seconds left in the game.
He was good after that, though, pitching a shutout the rest of the way for a win his debut.
The Golden Knights answered the Kahun goal with a Nicolas Roy one of their own later in the first. He deked Hutton out of the way and slid the puck around his skate just inside the post to ti the game at 1-1. Then Karlsson and Smith took over in the third to put the game away.
Buffalo finished with a 34-28 lead in shots on goal.
Golden Knights stay tied with Sabres after two periods
If the lines at the concession stands ran long and you didn't get back to your seats in time for the second period, you didn't miss much.
Neither the Golden Knights nor Sabres generated any sustained offense, and neither side put the puck in the net. The score remained 1-1 after two periods at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.
The second period started at the pace of a crawl, taking 4:40 of game time for either shot to register a shot on goal. And even then it was a Jake McCabe shot that went right to Robin Lehner's chest for an easy save.
The period never really heated up. Alec Martinez continued to show his nose for the net after he had a chance down low at the crease. He had only eight points all season with the Kings, but entered the game with six points in four games with Vegas.
Ryan Reaves took a big hit from Buffalo's Rasmus Ristolainen early in the period, but returned later with a high-danger chance, a redirect just wide of the net.
Buffalo received the first power play of the game but didn't manage much. Robin Lehner mentioned yesterday how the penalty kill is the biggest aspect of the game that he will need to adjust to, and he passed the first test.
Each side had just six shots on goal in the second, so Vegas maintained its edge for the game, 17-15.
Golden Knights concede early goal, end 1st tied with Sabres
It may not have been have been the Golden Knights debut Robin Lehner had been hoping for. The Buffalo Sabres scored on their first shot of the game Friday, but that was all their scoring in the first, as the Golden Knights and Sabres ended the first period at T-Mobile Arena in a 1-1 tie.
It was a rough start to the game for Vegas. Zach Whitecloud coughed up the puck in his own zone, putting two Sabres in striking distance of the goal with the puck and Dominik Kahun found the net at 2:16 for a 1-0 Buffalo lead.
It was the sabres' first shot of the game, also making it the first shot Lehner faced as a Golden Knight.
The Golden Knights didn't stay down for long. They spent the next nine minutes or so coming close to connecting on some nice plays but were just a little off. Then three players with the same first name connected on a goal to even the game.
Nick Holden drove into the zone and flipped it over to Nick Cousins, who threaded to the needle to get the puck to Nicolas Roy. Showing off some nifty stickwork, Roy deked back and forth in front of goalie Carter Hutton before tucking the puck around Hutton's skate on his forehand.
It was a Nic goal from Nick and Nick at 11:12.
Lehner settled in after allowing the initial goal, including making a couple of big saves to keep the Sabres to just a goal in the first.
Vegas led in shots on goal 11-9.
Robin Lehner in, Mark Stone out as Golden Knights host Sabres
Peter DeBoer's gameday press conference came with good news and bad news for Golden Knights fans. The Golden Knights coach announced that forward Mark Stone will miss tonight's game against the Buffalo Sabres and goalie Robin Lehner will make his team debut.
Stone hasn't missed a game this season and leads Vegas in assists and points this season. Losing him for even one game is a tough blow for a team looking to tie a franchise record with its eighth-straight win. The good news is Lehner, who was acquired at the trade deadline on Monday, has been one of the best goalies in the league for two seasons and will look to lift the Golden Knights over the Sabres at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.
"We're going with the big fella tonight," DeBoer said of the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Lehner.
DeBoer said Stone is day-to-day with a lower-body injury but is still being evaluated. Stone has 42 assists and 63 points this year, putting him on pace to break last year's career-high 73 points. Gage Quinney was recalled and will take his place after making his NHL debut last weekend, though the lineup configuration is unknown.
Lehner was a Vezina finalist last season and carried a .918 save percentage with the Chicago Blackhawks before he was traded to Vegas. With Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury, the Golden Knights have created a goalie tandem that matches any in the league. A major benefit of that is even when Fleury is playing well — he had a 29-save shutout of the Oilers on Wednesday — Vegas is able to get him rest and know Lehner can get the job done.
Vegas is taking on an interesting team tonight. Buffalo is 10 points out of a playoff spot with 19 games to play, so the postseason is looking unlikely. Yet the Sabres acquired Wayne Simmonds at the trade deadline, seemingly indicating they were going for it.
It's hard not to try for the playoffs when you have Jack Eichel on your team. The No. 2 overall pick from 2015 went one pick behind Connor McDavid and has blossomed into the true superstar tier this season. He leads the Sabres with 35 goals, 42 assists and 77 points, and if the Sabres were to make a run and reach the playoffs, Eichel would no doubt get some love for the Hart Trophy as league MVP.
Vegas' William Carrier was a teammate of Eichel's for one season and said he's not surprised to see what the Sabres captain has become.
"He came into the league pretty early and he's pretty young, so it's good that Buffalo stuck with it and gave him time, a lot of ice time, to progress," Carrier said. "He's in the category with McDavid and those top guys, so he's really good for them."
Buffalo will counter Lehner, a former Sabre, in goal with Carter Hutton, who has struggled this season but has strong numbers in a small sample against the Golden Knights. He has an .898 save percentage this year but sits at .939 in three career games against Vegas.
The Golden Knights is 3-2 all-time against the Sabres, including 2-0 at home.
TV: AT&T Sports Net (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)
Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM
Betting line: Golden Knights minus-300, Sabres plus-220; over/under: 6 (minus-115, minus-105)
Golden Knights (35-22-8, 78 points) (20-10-4 home), first place, Pacific Division
Coach: Peter DeBoer (first season)
Points leader: Mark Stone (63)
Goals leader: Max Pacioretty (30)
Assists leader: Mark Stone (42)
Expected goalie: Robin Lehner (3.01 GAA, .918 save percentage)
Sabres (29-26-8, 66 points) (10-14-4 road), sixth place, Atlantic Division; seventh place, Wild Card
Coach: Ralph Krueger (first season)
Points leader: Jack Eichel (35)
Goals leader: Jack Eichel (42)
Assists leader: Jack Eichel (77)
Expected goalie: Carter Hutton (3.18 GAA, .898 save percentage)
Golden Knights projected lineup
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault—Paul Stastny—Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty—William Karlsson—Chandler Stephenson
Tomas Nosek—Nick Cousins—Nicolas Roy
William Carrier—Gage Quinney—Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Brayden McNabb—Nate Schmidt
Alec Martinez—Shea Theodore
Nick Holden—Zach Whitecloud
Goalies
Robin Lehner, Marc-Andre Fleury
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