Eichel Scores Two As Golden Knights Fly Past Jets
Jack Eichel scored two first period goals for the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday evening at T-Mobile Arena as they soared past the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 5-2.
After dropping a close game in Calgary against the Flames Tuesday night in Alberta, Canada, in which the Knights jumped out to a two goal lead in the first period, it was good to see the team come out flying against the Jets on Thursday at home.
Eichel scored the games first goal on a nice feed from line mate Reilly Smith. The scoring play started with a clearing pass by Alex Pietroangelo from in front of the Vegas Golden Knights net which turned into a three-on-one rush. Eichel scored over the glove of Winnipeg Jets goalie, David Rittich.
The Knights second goal came less than two minutes later. Coach Bruce Cassidy inserted forward Michael Amadio into the lineup for this game to play on a line with William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, and the move paid off as Amadio made use his body to keep the puck behind the Jets’ net, and then made a sweet dish out front to Karlsson who slipped it right past Rittich.
The Vegas Golden Knights kept their foot on the gas and scored another tally less than four minutes later as Chandler Stephenson scored his first goal of the season by flying down the left side of the ice into Winnipeg’s zone and passed it towards the front of the net where it deflected off Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon’s skate and into the net.
The onslaught continued when the Knights pressured Winnipeg’s defense to pass the puck back to their goalie. Rittich panicked and made a huge mistake trying to pass it up the middle of the ice. Jack Eichel was skating right through the center of the zone, corralled the errant pass, and put it in top shelf to score the fourth goal of the period.
The Jets fought back, scoring one goal in the second from Pierre-Luc Dubois, and one halfway through the third by defenseman Neal Pionk. However, the Knights clamped down the rest of the way and Marchessault scored a last-minute empty net goal to secure the victory for Vegas goalie, Adin Hill, who stopped 26 of 28 shots on net to get the win.
The Vegas Golden Knights are now 4-1 and lead the Pacific Division as they get ready to welcome the Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche to T-Mobile Arena this Saturday night for their toughest test to date in this young season. Go Knights Go!
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Larry Martino is the long-time Afternoon Drive personality on 96.3 KKLZ. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of Larry Martino and not necessarily those of Beasley Media Group, LLC.
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