The last three games that the Vegas Golden Knights have met the Toronto Maple Leafs have been must-see television. A lot has been made of the fact that the announced attendance for Thursday's Golden Knights home game was nearly 1,400 tickets short of a sellout. It's a shame, really, because the people who might've sat in those 1,390 unsold seats missed one heck of a hockey game.
Tonight's matchup had everything you could ask for. Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill had an in-game redemption arc, allowing three goals on the first seven he faced before stopping the next 18. Former Maple Leaf Mitch Marner made a great play that led to the Golden Knights' second goal of the game. Jack Eichel even converted on the honest-to-god penalty shot that he was awarded.
But that's not all. There was also a thrilling full five minutes of overtime. And in the ensuing shootout, a young Golden Knight got his first taste of how great it can feel to play hero in an NHL game.
Of course, none of this would be the case if not for the Golden Knights' first successful multi-goal comeback of the season.
This team knows how to take a punch, and although falling behind 3-0 just 8:37 into the first period is one hell of an uppercut, the Golden Knights are nothing if not resilient. They simply tightened things up, put their heads down, and began to chip away at Toronto's lead.
"Obviously not the start we wanted to have," said Mitch Marner following the 4-3 shootout win. "But like last year, we're a resilient team. We stay with it. We have a lot of confidence in our game throughout 60 minutes, and I thought we did a great job of that."
"I like that we picked each other up," agreed head coach Ryan Craig. "I like that we stayed with it, individually and as a team. I don't like going down 3-0, but there's something to be said for how we stuck together."
Things didn't look great for Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill when Jack Roslovic scored on the Maple Leafs' first shot of the game just 34 seconds into the first period. The outlook didn't look any better when Easton Cowan doubled Toronto's lead on their fifth shot, and it looked pretty bleak when Nick Paul made it 3-0 on the Maple Leafs' seventh shot.
After that, Hill looked pretty exceptional. He didn't allow another goal and went all-out to stop the next 18 shots he faced.
"I loved everybody's response, including Adin Hill's," said head coach Ryan Craig following the 4-3 win. "I thought as our team got better, Hilly got better. He made some big saves in the second period there as we were pushing, and then allowed us to get it to overtime and then the shootout."
Hill also stopped four of the five shots he faced in the shootout en route to his second win of the season.
"Hiller's so calm and confident in himself, regardless of what happens before," said Mitch Marner. "You saw that tonight; he just stayed with it. We have a lot of trust in either of our goalies, and when we needed him, he made some big saves."
Despite having a roster chock-full of some of the league's best offensive talent, Golden Knights head coach Ryan Craig sent 23-year-old Braeden Bowman over the boards first in his first NHL shootout. Three shooters later, Craig deployed 20-year-old Trevor Connelly.
They were the only two Golden Knights to convert, with Connelly's goal standing as the game-winner.
"Oh, it's awesome. It's super cool for us. I think he kind of knows our ins and outs from Henderson, so I think it was super cool for him to put us both out there," said Connelly of the opportunity following the win. "It just kind of shows the confidence that the group and the coaching staff has in us. This is such a tight group, and we all have each other's backs, and all have trust in each other."
"I'm comfortable enough [putting Bowman and Connelly out in the shootout] when we have NHL games on the line," said head coach Ryan Craig following the 4-3 win. "There's a lot of trust in all of our players… We saw Bowman do it in the preseason, and Trevor as well. I've seen them do that at the American Hockey League level. And at that point, it's a one-on-one with the goalie. I thought those guys did a real good job… Nice for those guys to contribute."
Despite what the box score might suggest, the Golden Knights' second line of William Karlsson, Mitch Marner, and Brett Howden has been pretty dangerous offensively. In 38 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time, Howden-Karlsson-Marner have generated 1.9 expected goals while allowing only 1.2 expected goals against.
Up until now, however, they've struggled to capitalize on those scoring chances.
"I'm sure everyone just looks at the score sheet and thinks that because we're not scoring or doing anything," said Marner following Thursday's 4-3 shootout win. "But I think our line has done a lot of good things in these games. We haven't been rewarded for it. We were tonight, which is great, and hopefully it gets things going for us a little more."
The second line struggled at the start of tonight's game, as did most of the team, and were on the ice for the first two Maple Leafs goals. After that, they were off to the races, holding a 17-12 edge in shots and scoring Vegas' second goal of the night.
"They scored a real big goal for us tonight off a nice rush entry," said head coach Ryan Craig. "They've done a lot of good things through the first five games… The message to them is to stay with it. Everything gets magnified at the start of the year. When you look at the stat sheet, and you're four games in, that's what happens at this time of year. If this is January, and they're going through something like that, we're probably not talking about it or looking at it in the same way.
"My message to those guys is, you're helping us win hockey games," Craig finished. "Stay with it. Your time will come."
