Recap: The 1st period in Nashville was a special teams battle. Each team was awarded multiple power plays but neither could get past the others penalty kill. It was a scoreless tie after the opening 20 minutes.
Chandler Stephenson opened up the scoring with his 10th goal of the season five minutes into the 2nd period. Vegas was awarded two more power plays but couldn’t convert, and the Golden Knights took a 1-0 lead into the second intermission.
Nicolas Roy doubled Vegas’ lead 2-0 with his third goal of the season. The Golden Knights fought off their fifth penalty late in the game, holding on to their two goal lead. Reilly Smith tacked on an empty netter to secure the victory 3-0, and a shutout for Marc-Andre Fleury.
Vegas’ record improves to 27-20-7 and now have 61 points on the season. The team will travel to Florida, for games against the Lightning and the Panthers. Their next game is Tuesday in Tampa, scheduled for 4PM. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: This was one of the most complete games the Golden Knights have put in all year. They controlled the game from the outset only facing trouble because they couldn’t stay out of the box. The penalty kill came through big again and eventually the dam broke and the goals started to go in. They held the Predators to just 19 shots and even that felt high. Overall and awesome game and a big-time pair of wins in a back-to-back. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena
- Carp’s Sunday column
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Brayden McNabb
** Nate Schmidt
* Chandler Stephenson
It's been 31 games (76 days) since the Golden Knights last shutout. This is just their 3rd of the season.
That's a team shutout and a well earned one.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 2, 2020
Something about Bridgestone Arena. The Golden Knights always seem to play well. Big time win both in the Pacific as well as buying the Predators in the wild card a bit.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 2, 2020
I say this in the most positive way possible, Zach Whitecloud has had a very quiet game.
Not an easy spot for him to step into and he's been solid.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 2, 2020
Nate Schmidt caught a lot of crap the first 40 or so games of the year. He's been excellent the last 10 and really good since DeBoer came. Becoming a big part of the VGK transition game again.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) February 2, 2020
D pendable
now THAT is how you play a defensively sound game. you block shots, you check relentlessly, you clear the puck out and chip pucks in, and you kill penalties.
I also like the fact that they went into a neutral zone trap in the last 10 minutes, no forwards caught up ice giving up easy zone entries.
and Whitecloud is calm and cool with the puck and makes a nice outlet pass. he could very well be the longterm Engo replacement
however, the one negative was the penalties. they have to STOP taking dumb penalties. The only one I liked was the Carrier penalty, where he forechecked and hit someone, and it was a borderline call. The others were mostly avoidable.
and of course the Fleury giveaway and the Merrill pass right in front of the net were blunders they need to clean up.
but that was a real good road game type performance.
DeBoer has them cutting way down on shots against, and that is the best way to help the goalies. The Gallant wide open style is not a good fit for this team, and I think that is why the coaching change was made.
Mark
Whitecloud played really good hockey, he’s ready to stay in the show. I loved Roy’s goal, he’s so talented, big and fast. Stephenson is a blur, great goal. These 3 guys we got for very little, Whitecloud wasn’t even drafted. These guys produced tonight. Fluery, he’s still the man !! We dominated a quality team, no doubt, just dominated. It’s great to see !!
Tim
Last nights game reminded me of our first year lots of speed and intensity. If we play like that for the next 28 games w’ll be in good shape. We’ve got a lot of tough games coming up so let’s hope we can keep it up.