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Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 3:54 PM

Golden Knights Dominant In 5-2 Win Against Coyotes

Vegas Golden Knights set a new best start record in franchise history to 4-0-0, breaking their previous record set in 2017.
Golden Knights Dominant In 5-2 Win Against Coyotes
Golden Knights players Alex Tuch, Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez celebrate after scoring one of the five goals to beat the Coyotes on Jan. 20, 2021.

Author: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The Golden Knights continue to prove why they're one of the most dominant teams in the league today. But the start of this game felt like it was going to be like the first period of their first meeting with the Arizona Coyotes. However, it would be Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury who would make crucial saves during the first period. We'll get back to Fleury in a bit.

Let's first talk about the amount of firsts that happened in this game alone. The first is the obvious 4-0-0 start which is the new best start record in franchise history. "It's good," Fleury said. "You know obviously we want to win. I think the biggest thing about those games though is we got better."

Vegas defensemen Shea Thedore scored his first two goals of the season and Alex Pietrangelo scored his first goal as a Golden Knight. "It was the first game for my kids here and I told them I was going to score," Pietrangelo said. "It's funny how things work out." Pietrangelo's goal looks very similar to how he would score goals during his time with the St. Louis Blues. And that's a good sign because if he can keep finding ways to score goals the same way he did in St. Louis, then he's going to be even more of a threat when he's on the ice.

Another first for the VGK from this game is scoring on the power play. The Golden Knights' power play goal came from forward Alex Tuch in the third period making this goal his first of the season. Vegas was 0-for-7 on the power play heading into this game. And it would've been 0-for12 if Tuch hadn't tucked in that PPG.

Also, this was the first game this season in which the Golden Knights scored at least one goal in all three periods. They scored twice in the first from Theodore and Pietrangelo, once in the second from Captain Mark Stone and twice in the third from Tuch and Theodore. Lastly, not only did the Golden Knights score their first power play goal but they also scored their first 4-on-4 goal this season thanks to Theodore.

Before getting back to Fleury, we have to mention how dominant Vegas was in this game. This was by far their best game this season. They had a near perfect 60 minute game if it weren't for those five penalty calls and little defensive miscues. Goal scoring is an obvious reason why they've won this game and their first four games this season. But also their penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5 this game and has been really efficient overall so far. If you don't want to take our word for it, this is how Stone described the team's penalty kill last game: "...and our penalty kill was great."

However, the Golden Knights have been called for too many penalties these last two games compared to their first two against the Anaheim Ducks. Vegas only committed a combined two penalties against the Ducks but they've committed a combined nine penalties so far in this four game battle against Arizona. But fans shouldn't worry right now as it's still early in the season to determine whether or not the Golden Knights are having penalty issues.

Now, about Fleury. There's a reason why he's a future first ballot hall of famer once he leaves this game. He's 36 years old and the game he had last night was one of his best performances with the Golden Knights. Fleury saved 21-of-23 shots and most of those were crucial saves to keep Vegas' lead intact.

Also, Fleury has been playing really well so far after considering the drama that happened last season. And the drama doesn't stop as he's been linked to trade rumors from this past offseason. The team mostly linked with Fleury is the Buffalo Sabres. In the meantime, Fleury is still a Golden Knight and there's no reason why Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon should trade him at any point this season. It just wouldn't make sense.

The Golden Knights' next game is on Friday against the Coyotes at 6 pm. This will be the VGK's first road game this season along with another game at Arizona this coming Sunday.


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