Last week on the Knightly Recap, the Vegas Golden Knights finished off their two game road trip against the Los Angeles Kings followed by a home game the day after against the St. Louis Blues. The Golden Knights also had a much needed two day rest before going back on the road against the Colorado Avalanche.
This week on the Knightly Recap, the Golden Knights come back home to face off against the Kings and the Minnesota Wild in a four game homestand with the second and third games being back-to-back. With that said, welcome to week 12 of the Knightly Recap.
The last time the Golden Knights faced the Kings they were outplayed for the majority of the game which led to the Kings’ gaining their first victory against the Knights this season. The start of this game was no different as Kings forward Matt Roy scored one minute into the first period. Also, the Kings, once again, outshot the Knights in the first period 13-9.
However, the second period came through for the Golden Knights in this game. The Golden Knights scored three unanswered goals from Reilly Smith, Tomas Nosek and Nic Hague in a 13 minute span. Knights defenseman Alec Martinez put the finishing touches as he scored during the third period to record his fifth goal of the season.
if at first you don’t succeed, try again
if you don’t succeed that time, try once more
and if it happens again, let reilly smith have a go!#VegasBorn | @Raising_Canes pic.twitter.com/j0mi6tiOJ1
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 30, 2021
The Golden Knights continue to show home ice dominance as they’ve won six consecutive home games. And they improve their home record to 14-2-1 at T-Mobile arena this season.
Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner has been impressive since coming off his injury. Lehner saved 24 of 25 Kings shots with crucial saves coming during the first and third periods. The star tandem of Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury is starting to come to fruition once again. But the team can’t always rely on both goaltenders to win games now that the season is coming to an end.
Final score: 4-1 VGK
Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo returns to the ice after sustaining an upper-body injury during the March 6 game against the San Jose Sharks. Pietrangelo also missed several games earlier in the season due to having COVID-19 and was placed on the league’s COVID-19 Protocol List.
Welcome back, Alex P!!!! ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/EeMSLTwtAb
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 1, 2021
The Kings knew that they had to push back as they did last week when they won their second home game against the Golden Knights. Also, the Kings scored another early first period goal. This time it came from forward Andreas Athanasiou just under two minutes into the period. Forward Lias Andersson followed up 15 minutes later after Athanasiou’s goal to extend the Kings’ lead to two.
The Golden Knights will not go down without a fight as William Karlsson records his ninth goal of the season 9:41 into the second period. But the Kings struck back with two goals of their own from forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Alex Iafallo. Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore scored the team’s second goal during the third period. But they simply couldn’t maintain any momentum in the last period.
Kings goaltender Cal Petersen continues to be the Golden Knights’ kryptonite as he gets his second victory against Vegas. Petersen saved 40 of 42 Golden Knights shots with 24 of them coming in the second and third period.
Final score: 4-2 LAK
The last time both teams met in Vegas, the Golden Knights got the 5-4 overtime come-from-behind victory. This game went into overtime once again but it would be the shootout that determined the winner of this game. Both teams scored one goal each in the first and third periods with Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb scoring his first goal of the season ending a 66 game goalless drought.
BADA BING. BADA BOOM.#VegasBorn | @Raising_Canes pic.twitter.com/LKuDQczmEf
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 2, 2021
Also, both teams put up the same amount of shots on goal with 37. And Lehner and Wild goaltender Cam Talbot both saved 35 of 37 shots. This is no April Fool’s joke. That’s how close this game really was.
There were two key moments in this game that decided the winner: a power play and shootout goal both coming from the Wild. Wild captain Jared Spurgeon scored on the team’s fourth power play to tie the game at two. And Wild forward Kevin Fiala got a lucky break during the shootout as the puck hit the post and the back of Lehner’s skate to score the game winning goal.
Final score: 3-2 MIN (SO)
Fleury continues to show why he’s still one of the league’s top goaltenders this season. He made key saves during the first fifteen minutes of the first period which eventually led to a Nosek goal 5:33 into the period. As the Wild started to push back, Fleury stood his ground inside his crease and kept the Golden Knights lead.
Tomas N̶o̶s̶e̶k̶ YESek#VegasBorn | @Raising_Canes pic.twitter.com/CUiqvoFxtj
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 4, 2021
The Golden Knights were the more dominant team defensively despite Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov tying the goal during the third period. And that goal may have sparked something in the Wild because forward Joel Eriksson Ek gave the Wild a 2-1 lead 55 seconds after Kaprizov’s goal.
However, the Golden Knights had opportune chances with the biggest one coming from captain Mark Stone on the 6-on-5 man advantage. Stone just missed the puck to tie the game at two with just under 20 seconds left in the game.
What happened to the Golden Knights during the time span we will never know exactly. But that can’t happen with how the standings are looking in the Honda West Division.
Final score 2-1 MIN
The Golden Knights go to St. Louis, MO for the final time this season as they face the Blues in a two game road trip. They finish off the week with a home game against the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes themselves have been improving a bit during the second half of the season so this is, yet again, another big game for the Golden Knights.
Vegas is currently four points away from the top seed in the division with the Avalanche on top with 56 points. Until then, stay tuned for the next Knightly Recap.
