By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Robin Lehner’s Golden Knights’ debut started ominously, but the new goalie settled in nicely and backstopped the VGK to a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabries for the VGK’s eighth straight win Friday night.
Acquired from Chicago Monday, Lehner played solid just two days after Marc-Andre Fleury pitched a brilliant dozen donuts-eating shutout against division rival Edmonton.
Nic Roy, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith (twice) scored for the Knights on a night that did not include VGK forward Mark Stone, hurt in the win over Edmonton Wednesday.
Here’s Smith at his locker.
The Knights said attendance was 18,404. And the Knights have now piled up 80 points, leading second-place Canucks and Oilers by six points each.
They enjoyed Lehner’s performance. The six-foot, four-inch 240-pounder stopped 30 of 32 shots.
Here’s Lehner post-game in the locker room.
But Buffalo scored on the very first shot on Lehner after a VGK turnover by the Knights D combo of Zach Whitecloud and Nick Holden less than three minutes into the game.
Roy with assists from Nick Holden and Nick Cousins — a Nic hat trick — scored his fourth of the season to knot the game at one apiece in period one.
Here’s Roy post-game:
Karlsson, with a feed from Max Pacioretty, broke the 1-1 deadlock in period three. Then Smith, off a deft pass from linemate Paul Stastny, went around the Buffalo net for a wrap-around goal to give the VGK a 3-1 lead.
Smith added an empty-netter, his 27th, to close the deal with 1:48 left in the game. Buffalo scored with 11.8 seconds left to complete the scoring.
VGK coach Pete DeBoer praised Lehner for handling the pressure of stepping in to the goal after Fleury’s best game of the year only two nights earlier. Here’s the DeBoer post-game comments.
The game marked the return of Buffalo defenseman Colin Miller, an original VGKer who was instrumental in helping the Knights reach the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural 2017-18 season.
It’s a big crowd Friday and fans came ready.
The little ones were at the game, too.
Lehner led the Golden Knights out on the ice.
Marc-Andre Fleury with the night off tonight.
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