In Las Vegas, the Golden Knights’ Nicolas Hague, Mark Stone and Jonathan Marchessault scored before the the game was 11 minutes to take a 3-0 lead over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night.
“I loved our start,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “I loved the fact we got a lead. I’m not sure the scoreboard reflected how we were playing. I thought we had some good moments and some sloppy moments.”
If there had been anyone in the arena, they would have headed for the doorways to find a loose machine somewhere on the strip for more competition.
“For me, it’s just getting confident with defending,” Hague said. “I don’t ever feel intimidated or in awe of other teams’ top lines. I feel I can defend a lot better this year, which is something I’ve tried to work on. That was a focus for me, and I feel a lot better in that area.”
Vegas improved to 6-1-1 coming out of the COVID19 protocol.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves to get the win.
“Veteran group, a lot of maturity,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said of the Golden Knights’ response after not playing for eight days. “When you think about what they’ve been through, with not just COVID protocols and the players missing, but also a lot of your coaching staff has been missing, and the preparation has been put on them … that’s the impressive part that they have the discipline and recognition of knowing how important it is, and they got it done tonight.”
William Karlsson and Cody Glass scored in the second period just to rub salt in the wound.
“It’s a hard league to win in. It wasn’t a perfect game, but we showed up and got the job done,” DeBoer said.
LA dropped to 3-5-2 with the loss.
“Their speed overwhelmed us early, that’s pretty evident,” Los Angeles head coach Todd McLellan said. “The transition from offense to defense and their defensemen jumping into the rush … we did a poor job.”
Austin Wagner and Dustin Brown scored so-what goals for the Kings in the third period after all of the damage had been done.
“[In a 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday] we were very upset — all of us, players and coaches — about the effort we put in,” McLellan said. “Today, we made mistakes, and mistakes are repairable over time. Some of the younger players that saw this speed coming at them, it was tough. Some of the older players that should’ve known better also got caught. We’ll fix it as we go.”
Jonathan Quick surrendered four goals and made just six saves before getting the hook in the middle frame.
Cal Petersen made 25 saves in a mop up role.
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