Game 1 Ends With a Victory for Vegas

By Nick Gendreau

The entertainment capital of the world sure lived up to its name on Monday night. Puck drop was set for 8 p.m. Eastern time and due to the whacky introduction conducted by the Vegas Golden Knights organization play didn’t get underway until 8:27. Seemed like an NBA start didn’t it? I thought so. Anyways, the game itself was far more entertaining than the introduction as fans stood on their feet for the first minute or so as the players flew around the ice. I am sure tons of NHL fans around the world believed Alex Ovechkin would get his first Stanley Cup Final goal to start the game but he didn’t, instead former Boston Bruin, Colin Miller, ignited the fans with an absolute blast on the powerplay (ugh). Ovechkin did take an errant puck to the mouth though during the game and all he did was just shrug it off, typical hockey player. Here is a double-ugh for ya, another former Bruin, Brett Connolly, scored the equalizer to tie the game at one with a spectacular tip-in goal. Yup, I just LOVE witnessing former Boston Bruins players scoring Stanley Cup Finals goals. The Bruins chose to keep the wrong man with the last name Miller (Kevan).

Following the Connolly goal, Washington took the lead just a mere 42 seconds later after T.J. Oshie tried a wrap around shot but lost the puck, which ended up on the backhand of Nicklas Backstrom to score his first Stanley Cup Final goal. There was no way Vegas was going to go into the first intermission down a goal and so what happened? William Karlsson just did his thing scoring a goal short side on Brayden Holtby. Aside from the four goals scored combined, Marc-Andre Fleury made eight saves while Holtby made nine. The atmosphere was insane in the first period, and the hits kept on coming too on the ice. It was noticeable too, many of the players had a hard time staying on their skates in the first due to the warm desert climate. It will be interesting to see how the ice surface holds up during the games in Vegas, perhaps a bouncing puck ends up in the net because of it.

As the second period started you could tell the two teams felt each other out in how they were going to play in this series opener. A lot of offensive zone time with smart and responsible neutral zone play. Vegas took the lead just under four minutes into the second by ANOTHER former Bruin, Reilly Smith (triple ugh), to regain the lead but it didn’t last too long. Oshie was back at it making plays with a beautiful pass to John Carlson who backhanded the puck in to tie it up 3-3. As the second went on both teams had great looks at the net, Fleury had his buddy, the post, help him out a few times while Holtby was able to control his rebounds a little better than he did in game seven against Tampa. Yet again, both teams entered the intermission tied up, this time at three.

I fully expected the third period to be the most entertaining one of the night and it definitely was as both teams fought to earn the first victory to inch closer to hoisting the Cup. Tom Wilson got the Caps the lead just a hair over a minute into the period, but you know what happens next right? Vegas answers AGAIN! Ryan Reaves scored one right in front of the net after cross-checking John Carlson to create the space for himself. Can you feel the seesaw going up and down? Yes, it should have been a penalty but scrums like that happen in front of the net in every single hockey game. Carlson had a right to be pissed but that’s hockey, as dangerous as cross-checking is it happens all the time. Tom Wilson of course stirred the pot by nailing Jonathan Marchessault from the side at least three seconds after Marchessault moved the puck down the boards. Ultimately, both teams got two minutes each, two for Wilson’s hit and two for David Perron’s cross check to Alex Ovechkin. It seemed like the call on Perron was a make-up call for not initially blowing the whistle for Wilson’s blindside hit that sent the Vegas playmaker to the locker room for concussion protocol. If Wilson is already pulling this stuff he is going to have to answer to Ryan Reaves and get his bell rung in what would be an epic fight.

After the penalties expired the Vegas fourth line scored again after a gorgeous pass from Shea Theodore to Tomas Nosek who buried the one timer and eventually scored the empty net goal to give the final score of 6-4. Devante Smith-Pelly failed to clear the puck while covering Theodore and lost his skate guard during the play from Theodore’s initial shot, Smith-Pelly was pissed and understandably so. Four lead changes, a whacky introduction, and some insane offense were the storylines for game one. The Vegas Golden Knights are now three wins away from winning the Stanley Cup. While both goalies didn’t play great, both made timely saves when they needed to. I don’t expect this series to be this high scoring but it certainly makes for some great drama. Game two is Wednesday night, buckle up, it’s going to be a fun ride to Cup.