VANCOUVER—It should be no surprise that the Vegas Golden Knights have displayed dominance over some of their Pacific Division foes, due to how long they have remained at the top.
While the San Jose Sharks have been well-publicized, an opponent that has gone more under the radar in terms of Vegas dominance is the Vancouver Canucks. Heading into Sunday night, the Golden Knights had put up seven straight wins over the Canucks. However, the Canucks were starting the season hot with 17 goals in three games, and they were hoping the performance would carry over.
The Golden Knights were much more prepared, however, and they pushed their win streak over the Canucks to eight with a 3-2 victory at Rogers Arena.
Despite starting out strong, the parade to the penalty box for both teams would stifle the early rhythm of the Golden Knights. The Canucks would be the first team to take advantage of the jumbled situation, however, thanks to former Golden Knight Paul Cotter tipping the puck on a power play at the end of the first period.
It would do little to deflate the Golden Knights however, who responded in dramatic fashion in the second half.
The ice would begin tilting thanks to Mitch Marner, who waited for Kevin Lankinen to sprawl before firing it into a yawning cage to tie the game at one.
“I liked our line for the last couple games,” said Marner on his line with William Karlsson and Brett Howden.
“It just feels good to be rewarded as a three-man line out there. All three of us really take a lot of pride in how hard we work and how hard we make it for the other team to get through us.”
Shortly after, the Golden Knights would switch back to a five-forward power play setup, swapping Shea Theodore with Victor Olofsson so Mitch Marner could return to the point. The decision worked out, as Olofsson was able to corral a pass from Mark Stone and pull the trigger while Lankinen was out of position, giving Vegas the lead for the first time.
“Just though we’d switch something up, try to give us some different energy on the power play,” said Golden Knights head coach Ryan Craig on the adjustment.
While Jonathan Lekkerimaki would help the Canucks pull even after a shot from a bad angle ended up slipping through Adin Hill and into the net, the Golden Knights would respond just 34 seconds later. The fourth line would do their job and create some energy by crashing the net, allowing Marc Gatcomb to get a point-blank look for his first goal as a Golden Knight.
“I thought our fourth line was really good today,” said Craig on the play of Gatcomb, Nic Dowd and Braedan Bowman.
“They’re starting to form a bit of an identity with that line, knocking down pucks. There’s some trust being built there with each other and, I think, with our team.”
From there, the Golden Knights would rely on their defense and forechecking to lock down the Canucks. Despite Vancouver landing 10 shots in the last 20 minutes, they were unable to find the equalizer, giving Ryan Craig his first road victory as an NHL head coach.
Hill was able to close the door after the second goal was not to his liking, finishing the night with 17 saves on 19 shots.
“I think Hilly would be the first to tell you that he didn’t like that second goal. I think what I liked was our team picked him up and scored right after that,” said Craig about the team rallying around Hill.
“I thought when we needed Hilly to make some saves, he was there. Good win by our team, good win by Hilly and now we move on.”
The Golden Knights will remain in the Pacific Northwest, when they finish the quick road trip against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.