Golden Knights’ Third Period Delivers 5-1 Win Over St. Louis Blues To End Road Trip Saturday
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By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Golden Knights forward Mark Stone scored a wrap-around goal to give Vegas a tidy 4-1 lead in period three in St. Louis Saturday night and the fans at the Red Rock Resort sportsbook let loose with a holler.
Stone’s second goal in the period helped the Vegas Golden Knights sweep the two-game series in St. Louis as the VGK completed a 4-2 record on the six-game road trip that included two losses in Minnesota against fellow division contender Minnesota Wild.
The road trip had a few bumps in the road like the Knights getting kicked out of their hotel in San Jose and dealing with a false-positive COVID-19 test result for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in St. Louis.
“We weren’t happy about the way we played in Minnesota,” Max Pacioretty said after the game. Pacioretty also scored in the third period, his 13th on the season, as the Knights scored four in the final stanza to solidify the 5-1 win against the division contender Blues.
The Knights are 18-6-1 after 25 games and return to Las Vegas for games against the San Jose Sharks Monday and Wednesday. Monday’s game will have more fans at T-Mobile Arena as fan capacity of the building increases to 20 percent from 15 percent, meaning attendance goes up to 3,473 from 2,605 — or 868 more fans in the venue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Knights jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period when winger Jonathan Marchessault fed defenseman Shea Theodore, who fired home a goal to give the VGK the lead. It was Theodore’s first goal since January.
VGK coach Pete DeBoer called the victory a gritty win.
Here’s Pacioretty after the game:
I asked Fleury about his workload as he started 15 of the last 16 Vegas Golden Knights games. He said he’s holding up as fellow VGK goalie Robin Lehner is conditioning with the Henderson Silver Knights.
After Theodore’s goal was the lone score after two periods, forward Stone scored early in the third period to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
The Blues shattered Fleury’s shutout bid when Sammy Blais scored to make it a 2-1 game.
Then Pacioretty scored to restore the two-goal lead before the Knights killed a St. Louis 5-on-3 advantage for 53 seconds midway through the final period. Stone notched his second goal of the game before forward Alex Tuch added an empty-netter for the final 5-1 score.
