In Vancouver Thursday, the Vegas Golden Knights clamped down on the defense and smothered the Canucks’ offense in a 5-2 win.
Maxime Lagace needed to make only 19 saves in the win.
“It’s part of my job to come back after a performance where you probably wanted to have two or three goals back,” Lagace said. “The guys played awesome in front of me, kept the work pretty limited in the second and third. That’s a team win.”
The Vegas defense was exceptional in the third when it allowed only five shots on the goal.
That was coupled with the Knights’ offense sparking with three goals from
Erik Haula, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith.
The Canucks got goals from Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat.
“We weren’t great the whole game, to be honest,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “It’s two teams that play a pretty similar style, and we looked a step behind, if I am being honest. They looked a little quicker than us and I thought our team looked a little tired.”
After an 8-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, the Knights needed to readjust the defense.
“We had to,” Haula said. “You let up eight goals, it’s not what you want. You can’t pin that on the goalie. Our goalies have been great, whoever’s in the net. Give a lot of props to Max.”
David Perron,and William Karlsson scored for Vegas in the opening frame.
“It’s a big game for us,” Perron said. “For us It was a big two points and we can keep building on our season, we don’t want to let it slip away too much.”
[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Canucks highlights]
Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves in the loss.
“I’m sick and tired of losing. We have to string a couple together,” Markstrom said after Vancouver lost its third straight game.
You must be logged in to post a comment.