Vegas coach Gerard Gallant has been confident that his team would find its rhythm all season, and it seems like they have.
Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday, extending their impressive run to 13-6-3 since Nov. 17.
“We’re a really good hockey team, I know,” Gallant said. “We don’t play great hockey every night, like every other team in the league, but lately, we’ve been playing really good. Tonight was another solid game.”
The Golden Knights have scored 71 goals during their 22-game surge and now sit in first place in the Pacific Division.
Alex Tuch highlighted the team’s strong overall play: “We’re playing fast as a five-man unit, moving the puck well, causing turnovers, and finishing those chances.”
After a tough start to the season, the Golden Knights have climbed from sixth in the division to the top spot. December has been especially strong for Vegas, finishing the month with a 9-4-2 record and improving to 29-8-6 all-time in December.
Mark Stone, Tuch, and Reilly Smith also scored for the Golden Knights. Fleury, recently named to his fifth All-Star Game, secured his 455th career win, passing Curtis Joseph for sixth on the NHL’s all-time wins list.
For Anaheim, Korbinian Holzer and Jakob Silfverberg scored, and John Gibson made 38 saves, but the Ducks continued to struggle, particularly on the road, where they are 6-12-2 this season. The Ducks have also had difficulty against Vegas, going 2-8-1 in the all-time series, including a 1-3-1 mark at T-Mobile Arena.
“It’s frustrating when we’re not ready to play,” Gibson said. “It feels like some guys are taking it for granted, and that’s unacceptable.”
The game was tightly contested until a costly mistake by Anaheim late in the first period. With the score tied 1-1, Ducks defenseman Josh Manson accidentally tapped the puck over his own goal line, giving Vegas a 2-1 lead on Tuch’s sixth goal of the season.
Turnovers continued to plague Anaheim, as Erik Gudbranson’s giveaway in front of the net led to Stone’s goal, assisted by Max Pacioretty. Stone and Pacioretty have been on the ice for 35% of Vegas’ goals this season.
Smith later capitalized on another turnover, skating around a Ducks defenseman and extending the Golden Knights’ lead to 3-1 with a perfectly placed backhand shot.
Marchessault added his first goal on a penalty shot, and after Silfverberg briefly narrowed the lead, Marchessault sealed the game with an empty-netter for his second goal.
Game Notes:
- These teams won’t meet again until Feb. 23 in Anaheim.
- Anaheim, ranked second in the NHL for penalty minutes, took just three penalties in this game.
- The Ducks ended the decade with the fourth-best record in the Western Conference and eighth-best overall in the NHL, going 426-266-94 since 2010.
- Nate Schmidt recorded his 100th career assist.
- Fleury improved to 15-4-0 all-time against Anaheim.
- Actor Christopher Lloyd, famous for his role as “Doc” Brown in the “Back to the Future” films, cranked the siren between the second and third periods.
Up Next:
- Ducks: Visit Arizona on Thursday.
- Golden Knights: Host Philadelphia on Thursday.