After sweeping a two-game road trip to Anaheim and Utah, the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights return home to Las Vegas for a quick pit stop where they face the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
It’s the lone home game during a 15-day stretch that has Bruce Cassidy’s squad playing seven of eight games on the road. After their game Sunday, the Golden Knights head to Canada for games in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and follow that with contests in Philadelphia and Colorado before returning home to face the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 29.
Vegas is 8-1-0 at T-Mobile Arena this season but lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in its last home game on Monday, snapping a franchise-record-tying eight-game home win streak.
The Golden Knights bounced back with a 3-2 win at Anaheim on Wednesday and a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Utah on Friday in Salt Lake City.
Utah jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 27 minutes against the Golden Knights, but Vegas rebounded to tie it on two power-play goals by Tomas Hertl. William Karlsson scored the game-winner with just 1:18 remaining on a redirection of Kaedan Korczak’s point shot and then sealed the win with an empty-netter.
“We stuck with it and eventually we got rewarded,” Karlsson said. “We don’t like to give up in here, and then when you have a good goalie, too, that helps a lot.”
Adin Hill finished with 32 saves, including 15 in the first period when Utah had a 16-9 advantage in shots on goal, including a handful of grade-A opportunities.
“First of all, (Hill) really kept us in the game, especially in the first there,” Karlsson said. “He stood on his head. A lot of credit to him, and obviously Tomas, too, for burying the two on the power play.”
Washington will be playing the second of a three-game road trip that began with an impressive 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday and concludes with a back-to-back set against the Golden Knights and Utah.
Connor McMichael scored twice to give him a team-leading 12 goals and Alex Ovechkin had an assist to hit the 20-point mark (10 goals, 10 assists) for Washington. According to the NHL, Ovechkin joined Gordie Howe (six goals, 18 assists, 24 points in 1968-69) as the only two players 39 years old or older in league history to score 20 points through the first 16 games of a season.
The Capitals held Colorado to a season-low 19 shots on goal, including none for reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon, who led the league entering Saturday with 33 points. It marked the first time in 79 games dating back to Nov. 27 last season against Tampa Bay that MacKinnon was held without a shot in a game.
“I thought we did a phenomenal job against their top players,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “It wasn’t just one line. It was our entire lineup that had to play against those guys and did a phenomenal job.”
Carbery singled out the play of forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, who had two assists, for his play in the win, including playing a good chunk of the contest defensively against MacKinnon’s line.
“It’s not easy playing here on the road against this team,” Dubois said. “We knew before the game that you don’t always choose your matchups, and it was going to take a great effort from the six (defensemen) and all four lines, and I think that’s what we really did well.”
