Evan Vucci / Associated Press
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner (90) makes a save against Washington Capitals center Lars Eller (20) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, in Washington. At left is Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Monday, Jan. 24, 2022 | 7:46 p.m.
The Golden Knights entered the night as one of six teams in the NHL without a shutout. Thirty-four saves from Robin Lehner later, the Golden Knights are on the board.
Lehner was terrific for Vegas tonight, shutting down one of the best offenses in the league in the Washington Capitals, and back-stopped the Golden Knights to a 1-0 victory at Capital One Arena.
It was the Golden Knights’ first shutout of the season, and Lehner’s third with Vegas.
“We don’t win tonight unless our goalie’s really good,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “He was our best player tonight.”
It’s tough to pick exactly when Lehner was at his best Monday, and there was no shortage of options.
He had to kill off 1:57 of a Washington 5-on-3 power play in the first period, and made three saves including two on star winger Alex Ovechkin. There was a 2-on-1 short-handed break later in the period where he denied Lars Eller.
And there was the third-period onslaught, where Lehner made 14 saves including from point-blank range on Conor Sheary with just under five minutes to go.
Some shutouts are the product of a poor night by the opposing offense, and Lehner’s was far from that. It wasn’t just the 34 saves: he was worth 4.36 goals saved above expected (GSAx), according to stats site Evolving Hockey, by far his best performance of the season.
“It’s nice when you get a shutout for sure, but it’s just nice to start the road trip with a win,” Lehner said.
Offensively, the Golden Knights did just enough.
The fourth line came through with a goal in the first period, as Brett Howden’s shot trickled through goalie Vitek Vanecek and Michael Amadio was there to finish it off.
And that was all the Golden Knights needed, as this was the first time Washington failed to score this season.
“It was a big character win that we dug deep and got the win there, got the two points,” Amadio said. “I thought as a line we had another good game and we’re just going to try to continue that forward.”
The Golden Knights were —as they’ve been much of the season — short-handed entering the night. Reilly Smith joined Mark Stone in COVID-19 protocol this morning, while Vegas was missing Zach Whitecloud, Max Pacioretty and Jack Eichel to injury.
Nicolas Hague did return after not playing since Dec. 28, and backup goalie Laurent Brossoit returned to the bench for the first time in seven games.
It made for an impressive win, and started the road trip off in the way it needed to be. Monday was the first of a four-game swing where the Golden Knights will face the teams who by total points are ranked first (Florida on Thursday), second (Tampa Bay on Saturday), sixth (Carolina tomorrow) and eighth (Washington tonight).
“We wanted to have a good start to this road trip,” DeBoer said. “Obviously if you drop the first one the next three all look tougher, which is hard to look tougher than they actually are.
“It was nice to start with a win.”
