Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone (61) celebrates after Alex Pietrangelos goal in overtime of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins at T-Mobile Arena Thursday, Jan 11, 2024. The Golden Knights defeated the Bruins 2-1.
Published Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024 | 9:43 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024 | 11:45 p.m.
There’s 3:09 left in the second period of a goalless game. Brayden McNabb is called for high-sticking and goes to the penalty box.
On the surface, the Golden Knights are going to be down one of their best penalty-killing defensemen. But it’s not just McNabb that’s not on the ice.
Jack Eichel and Mark Stone are in the locker room. Both are injured. Status unknown. What’s already been a trying time for the Golden Knights due to a growing injury list reaches its apex with their two superstars out.
The Golden Knights have killed just 60% of their penalties over the last 10 games, and just gave up two power-play goals 24 hours ago in a 3-0 loss to Colorado.
Oh, and the Boston Bruins have the fifth-best power play in the league. It’s a recipe for Boston to get on the board first.
But the much-maligned penalty kill returned to its old, dominant form. Not only did it kill that particular penalty, but the Golden Knights killed all three Boston power plays in a game where goals were hard to come by.
Eichel and Stone also returned for the third period, and they were the reasons why the Golden Knights gutted out a 2-1 overtime win over the Bruins at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.
Eichel opened the scoring with a power-play goal 7:01 into the third period, and Stone found Alex Pietrangelo for the game-winner 46 seconds into the extra frame to give Vegas (24-13-5) a much-needed win on the second night of a back-to-back.
“Special teams, it’s always a factor,” Eichel said. “It was last night, and we were on the wrong end of it, but it was good to be on the right side of it.”
The Golden Knights are already down a number of regulars. William Karlsson (lower body) remains week-to-week. William Carrier (upper body) was placed on injured reserve Thursday morning. Defensemen Shea Theodore and Ben Hutton (upper body) are still a ways out from returning. Goalie Adin Hill, who was supposed to start one of these two games in his return from a lower-body injury, is still not 100% ready to return.
All of that is a toll on the Golden Knights, who entered Thursday losers of seven of their last nine. Losing Stone and Eichel was the latest in a myriad of disaster.
Eichel left at 4:24 of the second period with what looked like an issue with his skate blade. He had to be pushed and helped to the bench. But it turned out to be more severe; the broadcast showed Eichel being helped down the tunnel by the training staff.
Eichel said he had skate issues, but he “felt something” as he headed toward the bench. He said postgame that he’s feeling fine.
Less than six minutes later, Stone took a puck to the wrist during one of the Golden Knights’ five power plays and immediately went down the tunnel, hunched in pain.
Eichel returned for the final couple of minutes in the second period, while Stone returned to start the third.
“When they went down, part of it goes through everyone’s head is probably like, ‘what’s next?’” coach Bruce Cassidy said.
Seven days ago the Golden Knights faced a team, the Florida Panthers, who played two-plus periods without two top-line forwards. The Panthers benefitted from dominating the special teams aspect in a 4-1 win.
Vegas didn’t have to endure that long, but got enough contribution from others in the final 10 minutes of the second period to keep the game tied.
Jonas Rondbjerg, recalled from AHL Henderson earlier in the day, played eight shifts in the second period along with 1:17 in shorthanded ice time. He had seven in the other two periods combined. Linemate Brett Howden had nine shifts in the middle frame.
“You’re not going to replace high-end players, but they have an opportunity. That’s the way you look at it in-game, too,” Cassidy said. “All of a sudden, Ronny is out there a little bit more and guys are getting regular turns than they would otherwise. Good for them.”
Logan Thompson had his best game in over a month, making key saves throughout the night to the tune of a 32-save performance. He was within seven minutes of a shutout before Matt Grzelcyk’s goal tied it 1-1 late in the third.
Thompson did not travel to Colorado on Wednesday due to an illness; Jiri Patera got the start with Isaiah Saville serving as the backup. Saville was the backup to Thompson on Thursday, with Patera out due to an undisclosed injury.
Those performances kept the Golden Knights hanging around long enough for Eichel to score his 19th goal of the season. Vegas’ power play, which came into the game 3 of 27 in the last nine games, went 1 for 5 on Thursday.
On a rare night when nothing seemed to go their way, the Golden Knights’ special teams did its part.
“Sometimes, unfortunately it’s bled in negatively. We give up a goal on the PK or we don’t get momentum for our team on the power play,” Eichel said. “I thought we stayed pretty even-keeled tonight, even though we didn’t capitalize. We stuck with it, found a way to get one late, and our penalty kill came up big.”
It might be premature to say this could be the start of something. The Golden Knights thought they had that on Saturday in a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders, only to fall flat in Denver the other night. They have four more home games on this stretch before an east-coast road trip heading into the All-Star break.
But a win over the Bruins means more. It’s notable for Eichel, a Massachusetts native, to contribute on both goals. It’s notable for Cassidy, the former Bruins coach from 2017-22, to get the win over his former team. It’s also two points against the third best team in the NHL.
Thursday could have been another edition of “what could go wrong, will go wrong” for the Golden Knights. They dodged two catastrophic moments and played one of their best games in weeks.
Positives are at a premium. The Golden Knights will take any at this point.
“We’re going through some downs right now, there’s no doubt about it,” Cassidy said. “This is a good win against a really good hockey team, but I liked the way we won. We gutted it out. Playoff-style hockey out there, and we didn’t buckle.”
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on X at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
