October 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Golden Knights center Nicholas Roy (10) celebrates with center Brett Howden (21) after scoring a goal in the third period against the St. Louis Blues at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvani-Imagn Image The Vegas Golden Knights will look to make it three wins in a row to start their third straight season when they take on the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night.
The Golden Knights recorded an 8-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche in their season opener on Wednesday and added a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
“It was good,” Las Vegas center Jack Eichel said of the hot start. “We want to continue to get better.”
The Golden Knights scored a goal of their own in short order after allowing the first goal in both games this season. They led for good by the end of the first period in both games.
Las Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy was especially pleased with how his players held their ground in the third period.
“This season has been really positive,” he said. “Those were the two leads we had in the third period, and in both games we closed them out.”
One of the highlights so far has been the play of Shea Theodore, who recorded a goal and four assists and teamed with fellow defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to seal the back end.
“They did a good job of playing together down the goal line,” Cassidy said of Theodore and Pietrangelo. “They were in sync.”
The Golden Knights plan to start Ilya Samsonov in goal after Adin Hill plays the first two games.
Samsonov signed a one-year contract with the Golden Knights on July 1 after spending the past two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Drafted 22nd overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, Samsonov posted a 102-39-21 save percentage, a .904 save percentage, and a 2.76 goals-against average over five seasons with the Washington Capitals and Maple Leafs.
Against the Ducks, he posted a 2-0-0 record with a 1.44 GAA and a save percentage of .952.
“We wanted to get both goalies involved, so that was the plan the whole time,” Cassidy said. “Adin played two of the first three and happened to play the first two, so Sammy goes in and we’ll see him there again next week.”
The Ducks were the last NHL team to open the season and did so on Saturday night. Anaheim recorded a 2-0 win over the San Jose Sharks behind 30 saves from Lukas Dostal and three goals from Isaac Lundestrom and Trevor Zegras.
Anaheim killed all three power plays it faced, something the Ducks struggled with last season while finishing second-to-last in the NHL (72.4%).
“Compared to last year’s penalty killing, things are going to be a little different this year, so it worked pretty well (Saturday) night,” Lundestrom said. “We have to keep killing every game like this.”
However, Anaheim will look to do better on the power play. The Ducks went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
Ducks coach Greg Cronin told reporters before the game that he wasn’t sure whether Dostal would start back-to-back games against San Jose and Vegas. His other option is James Reimer, who was waived by the Buffalo Sabers on Monday.
Cronin made a good decision by keeping Zegras on the ice in the final minutes of Saturday night, when the Ducks clung to a one-goal lead and San Jose pulled its goalie for an extra attacker.
Zegras, considered a defensive weakness at times during his career, tipped the puck into an empty net near his own goal line to give Anaheim a two-goal cushion.
–Field level media
