On The Strip, the Vegas Golden Knights took control of Game 5 on Thursday night and never let go in a 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
The win pushes the Knights into the second round after a 4-1 series win.
“The biggest thing that stands out for me, [Laurent Brossoit ] seems calm and collected,” Vegas forward Chandler Stephenson said. “Whether it’s a weird shot or one that sinks, something like that, he makes it seem effortless. You can see the confidence he’s playing right now. To start [the season in the American Hockey League and] to be where he’s at has been awesome to see.”
Stephenson opened the scoring in the first period to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
“Often times, you just find chemistry with a guy,” Vegas’ Mark Stone said. “We see each other’s game very well. It’s hard to explain. Maybe Chandler’s speed backing guys off kind of gives me time on the walls with the puck and puts them on their heels a bit. Chemistry is weird. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Fortunately, we made it work.”
Brossoit made 29 saves in the Vegas win.
The Golden Knights now await the winner of the Los Angeles Kings-Edmonton Oilers series.
“I’m so disappointed and disgusted right now,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “This series we had no pushback. Their better players were so much better than ours. It’s not even close.”
Apparently he didn’t see the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
Stone scored with 42 seconds of fresh ice used in the middle frame to get the lead up to 2-0 for Vegas.
“It was reactionary. I wasn’t planning on doing any of that,” Stone said. “Happy to get that goal early on.”
William Karlsson ballooned the Vegas advantage to 3-0 at 4:41 of the second.
“It’s always nice to get off to a good start. Not to hunt,” Karlsson said. “It’s better not to hunt. It’s something we talked about. They came out strong the first two games here. We kind of wanted to be that team that gets off strong.”
Stephenson then hit for a double off the power play, in the ninth minute of the frame for a 4-0 lead to Vegas.
“Up until the goalie came out for them, then it got a little hectic for us,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We lost a little bit of our urgency, obviously, and execution in the third after probably the 10-minute mark. We weren’t skating pucks out and making plays. We made it interesting for ‘LB.'”
Kyle Connor scored in the third period to break up the shutout bid.
Winnipeg outshot the Knights, 16-2 in the third.
Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves in the loss.

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