In Las Vegas the Golden Knights smothered the Montreal Canadiens’ offense and took a 1-0 series lead on Monday night with a 4-1 win in Game 1.
Shea Theodore scored in the opening frame and Alec Martinez struck for a goal in the second period to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
“They came out strong. We didn’t play well in the first 10-15 minutes,” Vegas’ Mark Stone said. “‘Flower’ made a couple of big saves to ease the tension for us.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves to get the win.
“We talked in our prescout meetings that they would be uncomfortable in their structure playing from behind,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “No one made them play from behind for a while. The goal was huge and at the right time with how we were playing.”
The loss ended a seven-game win streak for Montreal.
“For everyone, right now at this stage, you’re playing a team you haven’t played all year,” Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said. “They have their strengths, but we have ours also.”
Cole Caulfield scored a power play marker in the middle frame for Montreal, it was his first postseason strike for the Habs.
“I think we had our chances to get back in the game,” Caufield said. “It was tight there for a while. We got it back to 2-1 and just some bad bounces. There are things we can get better at and work on. We’ll be ready for Wednesday.”
Montreal was 1-for-3 on the power play, Vegas was scoreless in four chances with the extra skater.
“We were excited to play in front of a full barn again,” the Canadiens’ Joel Edmundson said. “It was fun, and we’ll be better next game.”
Game 2 is set for The Strip on Wednesday night.
Mathias Janmark restored the two-goal lead for Vegas with a goal 53 seconds after Caulfield.
Nick Holden scored at 10:06 of the third period to give Vegas the 4-1 final.
“To get deeper in the playoffs, you need scoring from everyone,” Holden said. “If you get guys contributing that aren’t your big guns, you’re going to win games.”
Three Vegas defensemen scored in the win.
Reilly Smith picked up two assists for Vegas.
Carey Price made 26 saves in the loss.
Price was beaten several times by the quick passing from the Golden Knights, and Holden’s goal was made possible by Price being out of position for no apparent reason.
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