FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Blues- Game 25

Vegas completed their two game series against the Blues on Saturday evening playing one of their most complete games of the season so far.

The Knights came into The Enterprise Center on Saturday night looking to build off the momentum from Friday night’s comeback win, and they did exactly that. Shea Theodore opened the scoring four minutes into the game beating Blues goaltender Ville Husso and ending his sixteen-game goal-less drought. The defenseman’s goal marked the third time this season where the VGK have scored on their very first shot of the game.

With 11:28 remaining Keegan Kolesar squared up with Dakota Joshua after a big hit was landed on former Blues member Ryan Reeves and both players landed some solid blows before the on-ice officials broke it up. In the ensuing minutes, Marc Andre Fleury showed that the heavy load he has been bearing has not affected him much as he made a pair of great save on Sammy Blais and Marco Scandella.

A player that also stood out in the first period was Brayden McNabb as he was very involved with the play registering two shots and landing a couple of big-time hits. McNabb’s physicality has always been a huge part of his game but when he looks confident in the offensive zone it is always a welcome sight to see. His play seemed to spread throughout the rest of the defense as the best chances in the opening frame were from the VGK blue-liners. The rest of the period played out without any additional scoring though Reilly Smith beat Ville Husso to end the period but was about a second too late on the shot.

The second period was much more in the Blues favor but the Vegas Golden Knights lived up to their reputation of bending but not breaking.

A little over four minutes into the middle frame Max Pacioretty registered a dangerous chance from in close but was denied by Husso, however, it was one of the few high danger chances the VGK would produce. As per usual, Fleury made some outstanding saves of his own best demonstrated by his denial of Jordan Kyrou as he crashed the net with nine minutes left on the clock. Vegas and St. Louis traded opportunities with the man advantage in the ensuing minutes with neither team able to score. As time expired Fleury came up with another huge save as he robbed Blues’ captain Ryan O’Reilly following a mad scramble in front of his net. The Blues led the shot total in the middle frame by a total of 11-5 and held the VGK to no shots in the final four and a half minutes.

The Vegas Golden Knights went into the third period holding a 1-0 lead and were 11-0-0 when leading after two periods.

The game’s goal-less streak did not last long though as Mark Stone gave the Knights their second goal of the game and extended his point streak to seven games. The Vegas captain is second in points scoring in the Honda West Division with 29, sitting behind Anze Kopitar who has 31 points of his own. The Blues were not ready to roll over yet though as Sammy Blais cut the Knights lead in half scoring on his team’s first shot of the period going forehand-backhand to beat Fleury with 15:21 remaining.

Any kind of momentum swing was short-lived however as about three minutes later Max Pacioretty gave the VGK their second two-goal lead of the night while scoring his team-leading thirteenth goal of the season.

The Blues were given a great opportunity to try and mount a comeback as both Patrick Brown and Chandler Stephenson took penalties within a minute of each other, sending the Blues to a 5 on 3 powerplay. St. Louis’ most dangerous chance came from a blistering one-timer from Vladimir Tarasenko in the right circle but Marc Andre Fleury was able to fight it off and the Knights came out of the situation unscathed.

With 7:51 remaining Mark Stone delivered a dagger as he scored on a wraparound shot for his second goal of the night to put the Knights up 4-1. The Blues pulled their goalie with 3:38 remaining to try and pull off a miracle but that ended with Alex Tuch scoring an empty-net goal with thirty seconds remaining to reach his thirteenth goal of the season and tie Max Pacioretty for the team lead. The Knights played one of their most complete games of the season which saw the captain live up to the C on his sweater, the defense activates in an effective manner, and Fleury making huge stops, just like he has done all season.

The Vegas Golden Knights will resume play Monday evening taking on the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be on AT&T Sportsnet and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.

Golden Knights vs Blues                 Golden Knights vs Blues                 Golden Knights vs Blues                 Golden Knights vs Blues                 Golden Knights vs Blues                 Golden Knights vs Blues                 Golden Knights vs Blues               Golden Knights vs Blues                  

-D.J. Wood– Franchise Sports Media

Follow D.J. on Twitter @DJwoody97

Follow The Franchise on social media

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube