The Vegas Golden Knights opened a four-game homestand Monday night in a clash against the LA Kings, defeating them 4-1, after an offensive explosion in the second period. The Knights have won four of their first five games against the Kings so far this season.
The game started off with the Kings scoring almost instantly. Defenseman Matt Roy scored his second goal of the season. The two teams even managed to break two sticks within the first five minutes of gameplay.
The Kings continued to dominate early, outshooting Vegas 11-3 for the remainder of the first period. By the end of the frame, the Knights started to slowly wake up, as they started evening the shot attempts.
Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner made up for lost time, after not starting either game against the Colorado Avalanche. He stopped 24 out of 25 shots overall, after giving up the first shot of the game.
Early on in the second period, the Knights popped to life during a power-play with Mark Stone assisting on a goal by Reilly Smith, who broke his eight-game point drought.
"When you have that formula, if your goaltender’s on and your power-play finds a way to get on the board, you’re really giving yourself a good chance to win both home and on the road,” Peter DeBoer said. “It’s a good hockey team, well-coached, and it’s going to be a good test for us.”
With 3:32 left in the second period, Tomas Nosek gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead, after getting the rebound from a Zach Whitecloud shot. Exactly 86 seconds later, they extended the lead, when Nicolas Hague scored. Jonathan Marchessault picked up the assist.
The Knights entered the third period up 3-1, which made room for both teams to play more aggressively. Alec Martinez was quick to follow up a rebound from Keegan Kolesar, as they increased the lead to 4-1.
Martinez’s fifth goal of the season extended his point streak to three straight games. He is now tied with Shea Theodore for the most VGK defensemen goals this season.
"We’re comfortable here,” Theodore said. “We like playing here, and I think we have some of our best games at home.”
Vegas increased their current home winning streak to six, which is their longest home winning streak in two years. The victory also kept the Knights in first place in the West Division by one point.
Both teams return to T-Mobile Arena Wednesday night for a rematch in their series. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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