LAS VEGAS -- The Western Conference-leading Vegas Golden Knights are about the run the gauntlet, but they almost tripped themselves up before they got there.
Up 4-1 with 10 minutes left last night, Vegas allowed the Buffalo Sabres to tie the game with nine seconds on the clock. A David Perron OT strike, however, rescued the Golden Knights.
The true test for Vegas -- the first expansion team since the 1917-18 Canadiens to start the season 5-1 -- rolls into town on Saturday in the form of the St. Louis Blues, followed Tuesday by the Chicago Blackhawks. They're certainly a step up on the combined 6-15-3 record posted by the squads which the Golden Knights have bested so far.
Winning Play
A Vegas power play which came into the night as the league's third-worst came up big late in the middle frame. As usual, it was a clean zone entry which put the power play in position to score. In this case, it was Brad Hunt's timing:
It's a subtle play, but Hunt's dropback pass to William Karlsson coincides with Benoit Pouliot and the rest of the Sabres penalty killers setting their feet. This allows Karlsson to essentially skate through traffic cones to gain the zone.
"You want to suck that one guy back, just far enough. You get them to turn a little bit," revealed Hunt. "That's when you send it back and it gives your guy more time with all their speed."
Seconds later, Reilly Smith would put the Golden Knights up 3-1.
Pluses
Besides his goal, Smith played impact hockey in three zones last night.
His first period assist to Oscar Lindberg was prettier, but it was also Smith who forced Rasmus Ristolainen into the pass that Karlsson intercepted at center ice which started the 2-on-1:
Smith does nice job here angling Ristolainen into trying pass through Karlsson at center boards pic.twitter.com/XDrSsf89oi
Smith essentially cut off half of Ristolainen's ice with his angling.
"It's just something most teams have in their system, you try to force the puck up one side of the ice," noted Smith. "Karl did a great job picking that one off the wall. I'm sure [Ristolainen] would like to have that play back because usually that's a routine chip [out]."
On the PK, he also prevented a dangerous Kyle Okposo chance with a good stick:
Smith is usually among Gerard Gallant's most-used forwards, so the Vegas bench boss is certainly a big fan, "We rely on him on the penalty kill, we rely on him for last minute of every game defensively or offensively."
Gallant also coached Smith in Florida. He counted on the 25-year-old winger to have a comeback season after a rough campaign.
"There was no doubt in my mind, once we selected him and the guys asked me about [Smith] before the expansion draft," said Gallant. "I don’t blame Reilly Smith, he had a tough year, the [Panthers] had a tough year last year. He’s a character kid, he’s always in top shape."
Minuses
It was a hard night for a Vegas PK which entered the game as the league's third-best, as they surrendered three goals.
However, both Ryan O'Reilly man advantage markers had extenuating circumstances -- one was a seeing-eye shot from the top of the left circle, whereas the other was on a 5v3.
Sam Reinhart being left alone for a power play deflection past Subban probably wasn't the plan though.
You can credit the Sabres' quick puck movement there, as nobody was able to rotate on Reinhart fast enough.
Hunt noted, "It's all scenario based. Everything moves so fast, everything's different."
This might be in contrast to Buffalo's strategy, which saw them apparently stay away from engaging 6'5" Alex Tuch.
McCabe lets Tuch roam in front of Johnson on Tuch deflection goal, #VGK 2-1, abt 12 mins left in 2nd pic.twitter.com/C0pz3ezHWA
BUF strategy to not engage Tuch in front, make screen worse than it already is. Smith takes advantage of house screening Johnson, VGK 3-1 pic.twitter.com/no7Zc8d5qP
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