Golden Knights Start Busy Week In Vegas With 4-1 Win Over LA Kings Monday

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 Alan Snel Alec Martinez, Jonathan Quick, Matt Roy, Nic Hague, Pete DeBoer, Reilly Smith, Robin Lehner, Tomas Nosek

ADVERTISEMENT

Story by Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell of LVSportsBiz.com

It’s going to be a busy week at the Big Ice House by the Strip. The Vegas Golden Knights began a six-day stint that will include four games, including Monday’s showdown with the Los Angeles Kings.

The Knights looked sluggish in the first 20 minutes, yielding a goal to the Kings’ Matt Roy a mere 60 seconds into the match.

The VGK didn’t play with a lot of juice in period one after a two-game set in Denver, which resulted in a split and the Knights holding onto first place after the Battle of the Rockies.

“I thought the second half of the first period, we started to get our legs and started skating. In the second and third, we really found our game,” VGK coach Pete DeBoer said after the game.

The Knights trailed after one period before picking up the pace in period two tonight.

Reilly Smith knotted the score at one before Tomas Nosek put the puck past Kings netminder Jonathan Quick thanks to a nice puck bounce off the boards behind Quick to give the Knights a 2-1 lead. Nosek said after the game: “Right now we’re getting some bounces and some tips and it feels good to help the team win a game.”

Then VGK defenseman Nic Hague notched the third goal of the period, and his fourth of the season, to give Vegas a two-goal lead heading into the third period.

LVSportsBiz.com photographer J. Tyge O’Donnell was on the scene tonight and delivered these images.

In the third period, the Golden Knights salted the game away when former LA Kings defenseman Alec Martinez fired in a goal with 7:25 left to give the Knights a 4-1 lead.

“It was a good feeling, but I was more concerned about just really trying to close it out in the third,” Martinez said during the media zoom session..

The four-year-old NHL franchise plans on asking state and county officials for increased capacity in the venue for games later in April. The team said attendance was 3,950 Monday night, a bit over 20 percent capacity. Since allowing fans back in T-Mobile Arena, the VGK are 6-0 in the arena since March 1.

Lehner saved 24 of 25 Kings shots and the Knights came away with the 4-1 victory. The two teams return to T-Mobile Arena Wednesday. The Knights are 24-8-1. Vegas plays Minnesota, currently in third place in the West, at home Thursday and Saturday.