The Vegas Golden Knights had an easy time of it in the first period on Thursday night in their match with the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.
The Knights scored four times for a 4-2 lead coming out of the opening frame.
Max Pacioretty struck for two goals on the night as Vegas then had to hold off the Flyers for a 5-4 win.
“It was a roller coaster. You don’t want to put yourself in those situations, but it seemed like we faced every situation tonight, whether it’s power play, penalty kill,” Pacioretty said. “Overall, it’s a good team win. We relied on everyone. Sometimes that makes winning extra special.”
The game was 5-3 heading to the third when Sean Couturier scored his second of the game with 15 seconds of fresh ice used in the third period.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves in the win and needed to be on edge in the final minutes of the game with the Flyers on a 6-on-3 skating advantage.
“It’s busy, just trying to find the pucks through guys and through legs,” Fleury said. “Other guys did a great job, [McNabb] made a nice save, a two-pad stack, and got his stick on another puck to clear the puck out of the zone. It’s great, a good battle at the end to keep that win.”
The Flyers’ Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny bookended the Knights’ four goals in the first period.
“First couple of shifts, we dominated. Then we kind of let them back in,” Konecny said. “It’s not like they dominated us to the point where we couldn’t handle them. We were just looking for offense, trying to get ourselves back in.
Shea Theodore and Jon Merrill also scored in the first period for Vegas.
“Anytime I’m in the lineup, I’ll do anything for this team,” Merrill said. “Whether it’s forward, goalie, defenseman, whatever it is, I’ll do anything for this team.”
Cody Glass scored in the middle frame with what would be the eventual game-winner.
“We need to keep this thing rolling,” Pacioretty said. “We’ve got to keep playing well, probably play a little bit stronger for an entire game, but take the points when they come. Next game (against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday) definitely won’t be easy. We’ve got to put together a more complete effort and keep it rolling.”
[WATCH:Â All Flyers vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Carter Hart made saves in the loss.
“You know they come hard,” Hart said. “That was in our prescout. “They’re a fast team, they don’t like to play a lot of defense. They kind of like to play transition a lot.”
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