Golden Knights Defeat Old Pal Fleury And Wild, 7-2, To Clinch Playoff Spot For Sixth Time In Seven Years; Big Crowd Reported At 18,415
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Losers of three straight games, the Vegas Golden Knights Friday were stumbling toward claiming the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference playoffs.
Tonight the VGK hosted old buddy Marc-Andre Fleury and the Minnesota Wild to start a four-game homestand to wrap up the 82-game season.
Bummed-out VGK fans, though, transformed into elated backers as the Knights easily handled Minnesota with a 7-2 win tonight, while the St. Louis Blues lost to the Carolina Hurricanes.
The result at the end of the night: the Vegas Golden Knights clinched their six postseason spot during their seven years.
Just the facts: Vegas Golden Knights 7 Minnesota Wild 2
Golden Knights goal scorers: Nic Roy scored a shortie for his 12th goal of the season off a three-on-one break with Jack Eichel getting the assist. Then Pavel “Alf” Dorofeyev took a nice pass from Shea Theodore off a Wild giveaway and fired the puck past Fleury for his 13th. Eichel then completed the first period scoring by firing a goal from the left circle on the power play for his 30th off assists from Noah Hanifin and Chandler Stephenson.
Jonathan Marchessault scored his 42nd on the power play against his old pal, Fleury, in period two. The VGK took a commanding 5-1 lead in the third period on Tomas Hertl’s first goal as a VGK player. William Karlsson (28th) and Keegan Kolesar (8th) polished off the scoring for the 7-2 playoff-clinching win.
Turning point: The Knights ambushed Fleury and the Wild for three goals in the first period. It was sad to see the way Minnesota played in front of Fleury as the future Hall-of-Famer could not leave the ice fast enough following the decisive VGK win.
Attendance: 18,415
Playoff opponent: If the Dallas Stars have best record in Western Conference, it will likely be Vegas against the Stars and their coach, former VGK coach Pete DeBoer, if the Knights occupy the second wild card.
Nice fan reaction: Cheering for Hertl’s first goal as a Golden Knight player in the third period.
Coach Bruce Cassidy postgame quote: “They’re a resilient group.”
More Cassidy observations: He knows there has been inconsistent, uneven play. Injured team captain Mark Stone adds a lot of energy around the team. Hertl is a “puck recovery guy.” During last three games, coaching job is to “get ’em focused mentally.” “Keep ’em on top of their toes.” “Maybe line tinkering.”
Cassidy on possibility of playing Dallas, Vancouver or Edmonton in the first round: Vegas is familiar with all three teams.”
Arena conversion: Workers began transforming T-Mobile Arena for UFC300 event Saturday, then will have to convert venue back for VGK vs Colorado on Sunday for a 12:30PM matinee.
The team sent out a press release on tickets for the playoffs:
Sean ticket holders automatically retain their season ticket locations for every home playoff game played at T-Mobile Arena. Season ticket holders will receive detailed information on first-round playoff ticket pricing, additional first-round ticket purchase options and parking this evening via email from their Membership Services Account Executive.
Season ticket holders in good standing under their ticket deals will “enjoy the ‘Cheer Now, Pay Later’ arrangement whereby members will make their payment at the conclusion of each round for the games played.”
Following a series of full and partial member presale opportunities, a limited number of single-game tickets for the first-round playoff series will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, April 16, at 10 a.m. PT at vegasgoldenknights.com. Please note that purchases made for any games not played will be refunded within 10-14 business days.
