Golden Knights Finish Decade With Victory Over Anaheim Ducks Before 18,320 on New Year’s Eve
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Vegas Golden Knights closed the decade of the 2010s with a decisive 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on New Year’s Eve.
Golden Knights management reported attendance at 18,320. The Knights avenged Friday’s loss to the Ducks in Anaheim, where the VGK played lackluster in their first game after the Christmas break and dropped a 4-3 decision to their Pacific Division rival.
The Knights played at 12 noon, an early start so that Las Vegas Metro Police can close the Strip at 5 p.m. for the New Year’s Eve revelry and fireworks that take over to celebrate the dawn of a new decade. The Knights improved to 22-15-6 for 50 points. They play the Flyers at the Big Ice House by the Strip Thursday at 7 p.m.
It was a strange first period, with the Golden Knights dominating play by outshooting the Ducks, 22-5. But VGK led only 2-1, with Mark Stone and Alex Tuch registering goals. The Ducks gave Stone the scoring chance by giving it away to the VGK forward and he buried the shot to knot the score at one. Tuch then tapped in the puck under a pile-up in front of the Anaheim goal with 20 seconds left in the opening stanza.
It was a quiet second period with Reilly Smith notching his 15th goal, an unassisted tally, with the Knights holding a 3-1 lead heading into period three.
The New Year’s Eve Kiss Cam on the jumbotron during period two featured the biggest fireworks.
The Knights had their scoring chances in period three, including a penalty shot awarded to VGK forward Jonathan Marchessault who skated in slowly on Ducks goalie John Gibson and ripped a wrister over the sprawling netminder for his 14th goal to give the Knights a 4-1 lead with 9:05 left. The Ducks responded with a goal with 5:26 left to make it, 4-2.
Marchy scored an empty-netter for his 15th to complete the 5-2 triumph.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26 of 28 shots and moved into sixth place in the NHL for all-time goalie wins. The Knights had 41 shots on goal.
After the game, coach Gerard Gallant offered his post-game thoughts on the win.
Here’s the final Elvis helmet drop during the player intros for 2019.
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