The Vegas Golden Knights secured the NHL’s Pacific Division Championship with a 3-1 victory in the final game of the regular season against the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Thursday night. Vegas also claims the number one seed in the Western Conference playoffs, set to begin on Monday, April 17th.
The Golden Knights never trailed in this game, although they were outshot 31-19. Goaltender Laurent Brossoit made several incredible saves throughout the game in order to keep the Kraken from scoring in the final two periods.
Reilly Smith scored his 26th goal of the season in the first period by deflecting a Seattle pass off of his skate and through the Kraken’s goalie’s pads to put Vegas in the lead in the first period. Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz would tie the score at one a little over six minutes later with a one-timer over Brossoit’s shoulder. In the second, Alec Martinez went hard to the net during a delayed penalty against the Kraken, got a hold of a rebound off of Seattle goalie Philip Grubauer, and snuck it home to put the Golden Knights back in the lead.
The score would remain 2-1 until the final minute of the game. The Kraken pulled their goalie and Vegas’ Chandler Stephenson deflected a Seattle pass all the way down the ice and into the empty net to secure the victory and the Pacific Division crown.
There is still some question as to whether the Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche will win the Central Division title, as Colorado has one more game to play against Nashville on Friday night. But, by virtue of Thursday’s victory in Seattle, the Vegas Golden Knights know that they will be playing the eighth seeded Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the NHL Playoffs. The first two games will be played at T-Mobile Arena here in Las Vegas on Tuesday, April 18th, and Thursday, April 20th.
Now that the 2022-2023 regular season has been completed, let’s check the stats and see which Golden Knights led the team to the top spot in the Western Conference in points, goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes, power play goals, short-handed goals, and for the goalies; goals against average and save percentage. Scroll through all of the team leaders below.
Most Points: Jack Eichel #9
Jack Eichel earned his money this season, leading the team in scoring with 66 points. He had 27 goals and 39 assists to win the Vegas scoring crown. Chandler Stephenson gets honorable mention right behind Eichel with 65 points.
Most Goals: Jonathan Marchessault #81
Winger Jonathan Marchessault led the team with 28 goals. He added 29 assists to his scoresheet for a total of 57 points this season. Jack Eichel gets honorable mention in this category, right behind Marchessault with 27 goals.
Most Assists: Chandler Stephenson #20
Center Chandler Stephenson, one of the most underrated players in the NHL, led Vegas in the assist category with 49 on the season. He also potted 16 goals. Alex Pietrangelo gets honorable mention in this category with 43 assists, coming in second to Stephenson on the team, and leading all Golden Knights defensemen in scoring with 54 points on the season.
Best Plus/Minus: Alec Martinez #23
If you are unfamiliar with the Plus/Minus statistic, it works like this. If a player is on the ice when his team scores at even strength or while short-handed, he gets a plus. If a player is on the ice when his team gets scored on by the opposition at even strength, or while the other team is short-handed, he gets a minus. Defenseman Alec Martinez led all Vegas Golden Knights in this category at a plus-30. Jack Eichel earns honorable mention in second place with a plus-26.
Most Penalty Minutes: Keegan Kolesar #55
When Ryan Reaves left the Golden Knights, Keegan Kolesar picked up the role of protector and enforcer for Vegas. He led the team with 68 penalty minutes on the season. He also did a lot of great work on the forecheck and along the boards for the team. For a fourth-line player, he did very well on the stat sheet, adding 8 goals and 10 assists for 18 points, and was a plus-6 for the season.
Most Power Play Goals: Jonathan Marchessault #81
Not only did Jonathan Marchessault lead the Vegas Golden Knights in goals scored, he also led the team in power play goals with 9. He added 7 assists on the power play for 16 total power play points. Chandler Stephenson gets honorable mention in this category with 6 power play goals and a total of 15 power play points overall.
Most Short-Handed Goals: Reilly Smith #19
The Vegas Golden Knights scored 10 power play goals during the 2022-23 season, and winger Reilly Smith scored four of those to lead the team. William Karlsson and captain Mark Stone each added two short-handed tallies during the regular season to share honorable mentions.
Goaltending - Best Save Percentage: Laurent Brossoit #39
Although goaltender Laurent Brossoit only started 10 games during the regular season, he played very well down the stretch for the Vegas Golden Knights while both Logan Thompson (.915 sv%) and Adin Hill (.915 sv%) have been injured. Brossoit led all goalies on the team with a .927 save percentage, and did not lose any games during regulation time. He did lose three games in overtime or in shoot-outs for a sparkling 7-0-0-3 overall record. It’s a good bet he’ll start for Vegas in net when the first round of the playoffs begin.
Goaltending - Best Goals Against Average: Laurent Brossoit #39
For those Vegas goalies who started more than 25 games during the 2022-23 regular season, Adin Hill had the best goals against average at 2.50 tallies allowed per game. But in the ten games that Laurent Brossoit started, plus the one in which he came on in relief, he accumulated the best goals against average at 2.17.
