Vegas Golden Knights right wing Jonathan Marchessault (81) scores against New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) during the first period of an NHL hockey game at T-Mobile Arena Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024.
Published Friday, Jan. 26, 2024 | 6:47 p.m.
Updated 12 minutes ago
Before Jonathan Marchessault started to heat up, he was ice cold.
There was an eight-game stretch that started after Christmas where Marchessault couldn’t find the back of the net. It might have been the closest parallel to how the Golden Knights were playing at that time.
They went 3-5-0 in that run.
Since then, Marchessault has turned up the heat. His teammates have followed suit.
Marchessault recorded his second hat trick of the season and extended his point streak to six games in a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday.
“Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t,” Marchessault said. “When you’re hot, you try to stay hot as long as you can.”
Right now, he’s the hottest skater on the roster.
Marchessault has 11 points (eight goals, three assists) during this six-game run, during which the Golden Knights (29-14-6) have found their game and have earned points in each of them (5-0-1).
Maybe that’s by coincidence, or maybe that’s by design with Marchessault taking over the scoring load with Vegas still operating with many key players on injured reserve.
But it’s working for the Golden Knights, and they can close out strong with a win Saturday night in Detroit, the final game before the All-Star break.
Sheldon Rempal scored for the second straight game, and Keegan Kolesar scored for the second time in five games to provide the offense. Adin Hill made 36 saves in his second consecutive start since returning from a lower-body injury that kept him out for nearly two months.
“I thought we didn’t do anything special. We just played a structured game. Forecheck, recover pucks,” Marchessault said. “We got lucky a couple of times, and we played a good game overall.”
Marchessault, himself, didn’t think he did anything special in this game. Though he put three goals on the board for the first time since Nov. 2, it wasn’t as if his goals were indicative of his shooting.
The first, which came at 4:04 of the second period, was a deflection off his skate from a shot by Ivan Barbashev. The goal came 46 seconds after Kolesar broke a 1-1 tie with a wrist shot that beat Igor Shesterkin glove side.
Goal No. 2 was because Marchessault forced a turnover at the red line that sprung a rush. Barbashev’s initial shot was kicked away by Shesterkin, only for Marchessault to finish the rebound 2:01 into the third.
Marchessault completed the hat trick by scoring in an empty net with 28.4 seconds remaining, giving him 25 goals on the season. That’s five away from the third 30-goal season of his career.
“One thing about our team: When guys were out, our guys could look around and say, ‘we need a little more,'” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Marchy’s a big part of it.”
So are his linemates.
Barbashev had assists on all of Marchessault’s goals, and Nicolas Roy had two assists to give them each points in five of their last six games. Barbashev extended his point streak to five games (three goals, seven assists), while Roy (two goals, eight assists) recorded his third straight multipoint game.
Marchessault said the three are trying to play a simple game right now.
“We’re just trying to play close to each other,” he said. “We’re not the three fastest guys or anything special with us. We’re just trying to support each other and make the right plays at the right time.”
The Golden Knights have been trying to find some semblance of consistent offense with the likes of Jack Eichel and William Karlsson out, and they may have found it with this line.
The timing couldn’t have been better. When things seemed to be haywire three weeks ago, the Golden Knights have found their stride with one more game before a much-needed two-week break.
Maybe a break would be counter-productive to Marchessault with the heater he’s on. Funny how it all started with an empty-net goal against Nashville 11 days ago. One person will take the credit for that.
“The old coach got him going,” a joking Cassidy said. “Got him a freebie.”
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on X at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
