The team at Adam Kutner Cares gave away two tickets and a Zamboni ride to the Vegas Golden Knights’ game against the Chicago Blackhawks last night. For more pics of our winner, head to our Facebook page.
For the second time this season, the Golden Knights faced the Chicago Blackhawks. In their first matchup the Golden Knights blew out the Blackhawks 8-3 on their home ice in Chicago. Vegas looked to continue their offensive success against the Blackhawks last night.
Vegas fans didn’t have to wait long as the Golden Knights took advantage, scoring on an early power play by Reilly Smith. Smith scored his fifth goal of the season on a play reminiscent of Bobby Orr’s famous 1970 Stanley Cup acrobatic airborne goal. Vegas took a 1-0 lead 1:28 into the game.
Midway through the period, Vegas defenseman Deryk Engelland scored his first of the season doubling the Golden Knights lead. The first period ended 2-0 in favor of the home team.
“Good work by that line, down low, and gave me lots of time to get it through a couple screens and it found its way.” – Deryk Engelland
The second frame was slow to pick up as the Golden Knights continued to possess the puck and maintain a two-goal lead. Four minutes in, Chicago got on the board when Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews tucked one past Marc-Andre Fleury.
Chicago added one more goal in the second, tying the game 2-2, and picked up another seven minutes into the third period to take a 3-2 lead. The Golden Knights found themselves in a hole for the first time of the night.
After the Blackhawks scored three straight goals, the Golden Knights gathered themselves and attacked the Chicago zone. Top line forward Jonathan Marchessault equalized the game 3-3 with his eleventh goal of the season. Marchessault tied the game 41 seconds after the Blackhawks took the lead.
“Yeah, I think we were disappointed with our second period. We really left out Fleury there, and he made some big save and kept us in the game. We came back in the third period, we were good and were able to get a big two points there.” – Jonathan Marchessault
Before the public address announcer could announce Marchessault’s goal, Alex Tuch drilled one past heavy traffic in front of the net for the game-winning goal. Fans would have to wait for an official review to celebrate, but Vegas would be awarded a good goal to go ahead 4-3. Tuch scored 12 seconds after Marchessault’s tying goal. It was a wild 53 seconds of hockey.
The game saw two goalie interference reviews. The Golden Knights had one goal taken away, and one awarded. Each official review was a turning point of the game.
“From what I looked at is there was three guys going to the front of the net: their defenseman, Nosek, and one of their other players coming behind Nosek. And what I thought I saw was the third guy’s stick and that Nosek had hit their guys skates and that’s why he went into the goalie. I don’t know if there was any contact from Nosek. I didn’t see it but that was sort of the call and, anyway, you live with the calls. They’re tough calls.” – Gerard Gallant
Vegas went on to win 4-3, for their second straight victory. The Golden Knights improve their record to (16-13-1) and are currently tied with San Jose at 33 points. Vegas heads out of town for a quick game in LA on Saturday afternoon, and back to Las Vegas on Sunday to face the Dallas Stars.