Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The Vegas Golden Knights enjoyed a 5-2 lead heading into the final period.
The Knights were not going to blow this lead against the Ottawa Senators.
Vegas broke a 2-2 deadlock in the second period with breakaway goals by Nic Roy (fifth of season) and Chandler Stephenson (sixth of season) and goal by Ivan Barbashev when the puck bounced off the arena’s lively boards and Barbashev fired the puck past Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
The only setback for the Golden Knights was that starting goalie Adin Hill appeared to injure himself on an Ottawa goal in the first period after VGK center Jack Eichel scored on the game’s first shot.
VGK goalie Logan Thompson replaced Hill in the first period. Thompson appeared to perhaps tweak an injury, but he played through the pain and the emergency backup goalie did not need to be summoned.
In the third period, William Karlsson scored his 14th as the Knights took a 6-2 lead and were overpowering an Ottawa squad that had won only 11 of 25 games and occupied last place in the league’s Atlantic Division heading into Sunday’s game.
The game had a Christmas feel because it’s the last home game for the Knights before Christmas.
S. Claus even cranked the siren to get the third period off and running.
Stephenson has a bad turnover, making a bad pass and Brady Tkachuk scored an easy one to complete the scoring.
Final: Vegas 6 Ottawa 3.
After the game, VGK coach Bruce Cassidy was pleased that the Knights put their foot to the gas to extend their second period and did not allow Ottawa to stage a comeback like San Jose and Calgary did last week.
He also liked Eichel stepping up to be more vociferous to motivate the team during the game.