Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Just the facts: Vegas Golden Knights 3 Columbus Blue Jackets 2
VGK goal scorers: Keegan Kolesar (first of season), Reilly Smith (shorthanded, 7th of the season, second shorty) , Mattias Janmark (first of the season)
Record: 11-7, final game of six-game homestand (11 of 18 games have been home); VGK win 10 of 13 after 1-4 start; amazing 5-1 on the homestand
Attendance: 18,313
Special Knight: Hockey Fights Cancer
Quote: “We’re pretty resilient.” — Reilly Smith
Our mask-free fan of the game:
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The Blue Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead after period one.
Gustav Nyquist and Alexandre Texier scored the goals and Columbus brought a 2-0 lead into period two.
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In period two, the Golden Knights cut into the Blue Jackets lead.
The VGK sliced the Columbus advantage in half with Keegan Kolesar scored his first of the season in the team’s 18th game.
After two periods, it was Blue Jackets 2 Golden Knights 1
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The Knights may have some big names like Max Pacioretty, Alec Martinez, William Karlsson and Jack Eichel unavailable, but they have played a gritty style to squeeze out wins.
It happened again in the third period.
Reilly Smith scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game at two.
And the game-winner for the Golden Knights came off the stick of Mattias Janmark with just more than six minutes to go in the third period. It’s was Janmark’s first goal of the season.
VGK goaltender Laurent Brossoit secured the win, giving a break for starter Robin Lehner.