Every metric examined for how good the Vegas Golden Knights really are end up being checked in the affirmative.
That was the case Thursday night in Tampa Bay where the Knights brushed aside the Lightning in a 4-1 decision.
The two clubs are neck and neck for the NHL’s best record.
“[We] feel pretty good, obviously when you beat a team like Tampa Bay it’s a good confidence booster for us,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. “Hopefully the momentum carries for the next couple of road games.”
David Perron, James Neal, Nate Schmidt, and William Karlsson scored for Vegas in the win.
“Defensively it wasn’t good,” Tampa’s Anton Stralman said. “We’re not a good team if we don’t work. They’re a good team, I don’t think they did anything remarkable. We didn’t put up a fight and that’s on us.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves to pick up the win.
“We were ready. I wouldn’t say it was our best game, but we played a simple, smart game,” Jonathan Marchessault said. “And we got the two points.”
Ondrej Palat scored the lone4 Bolts goal.
“We did look flat and we looked slower than them,” Palat said. “First period was not very good, we were better in the second, but the third period was terrible. We have a tough road trip ahead of us and we’ve got to be better than that.”
[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Lightning highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves in taking the loss.
“I have to be a lot better and set an example. Our line didn’t do that tonight, so I’ll take responsibility for that. We’re behind the eight ball to start games, which has been a trend as of late. It’s too hard of a league to play from behind all the time,” Steven Stamkos said after the loss.
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