Las Vegas Sun

By Justin Emerson

Published Thu, Jan 14, 2021 (3 p.m.)

Updated Thu, Jan 14, 2021 (9:38 p.m.)

For the third time in four years, the Golden Knights started the season 1-0.

Two early goals in the first, two late points from Mark Stone and an empty-net goal proved enough to beat the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, as the Golden Knights opened the 2021 season with a 5-2 victory at T-Mobile Arena.

Entering the third period in a 2-2 tie, Vegas needed less than a minute to untie the game, courtesy of a shot from the new captain. Alex Pietrangelo fired wide, Chandler Stephenson provided the feed from behind the net and Stone gave the Knights the lead at the 49-second mark of the third. 

It was the second year in a row Stone scored on opening night, and it was the first point of Pietrangelo's Vegas tenure.

The next goal that Stone set up was even prettier. He chipped a pass to himself coming down the right wing, drew a penalty, and still managed to get the puck over to Max Pacioretty, who was all alone with the goalie. He doesn't miss those often, and buried Vegas' fourth goal of the game at 10:59 of the third.

Alex Tuch scored on an empty Anaheim net with 14 seconds left to finish it off.

The Golden Knights didn't allow an answer to their third-period two goals, which wasn't the case in the first. Jonathan Marchessault scored just 67 seconds into the new season, and Tomas Nosek added another not long after that. Just over two minutes into the game, Vegas led 2-0.

But the Ducks also came to play early. Max Comtois scored two goals within 3:36 of each other on the Ducks' first four shots, and Anaheim was right back in business, for a bit. The second period came and went without much fanfare, and Vegas ran away in the third, capped by Tuch's empty-netter.

The Golden Knights led in shots on goal for the game 29-22.

Golden Knights, Ducks enter third period tied

Things slowed way down in the second period, as did the flood of goals. Neither the Golden Knights nor Ducks netted one in the period, and they entered the second intermission in a 2-2 tie at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Through the midway point of the frame, there were just five combined shots on goal, and one from Vegas. And that one didn't come until the 7:25 mark of the period.

The Golden Knights' first good look of the period came just past the 11-minute mark, when Max Pacioretty and Chandler Stephenson both got behind the Anaheim defense. Pacioretty took it himself, and Ducks goalie John Gibson denied him with the pad. Moments later Gibson robbed Shea Theodore with a nifty windmill glove save.

The Ducks hit a post later in the period and had some sustained time in the Vegas zone, but nothing overly dangerous. Vegas led 18-15 in shots on goal after two periods.

Fast start has Golden Knights, Ducks tied after 1

The first few minutes of the 2021 were spectacular for the Golden Knights. They came down to Earth after that though.

Vegas scored twice in just over two minutes of action, but allowed two goals soon after and ended the first period in a 2-2 tie with the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Jonathan Marchessault and Tomas Nosek got things going early for Vegas, with Marchessault lighting the lamp 67 seconds into the season. He went high-glove on Anaheim goalie John Gibson, the same place Nosek went 66 seconds later.

Nosek took a pretty feed from behind the net by Ryan Reaves and buried it at 2:13 of the first. Vegas was riding high, but watched things slip shortly after.

The Ducks came to play too, straightening out their play and answering both Vegas goals with tallies from Max Comtois, one at 4:22 and the other at 7:58.

The Golden Knights' unusual lineup of 13 forwards and five defensemen got off to a rocky start, Keegan Kolesar was the designated 13th forward for Vegas, and both of the Ducks' goals came with him on the ice in his first two shifts of the period.

Vegas led in shots on goal in the first 12-7.

Pregame

It's an unusual year to be sure, but there's still a certain buzz in the air on the first night of hockey season.

The Golden Knights last played in the postseason bubble in Edmonton last fall and return home tonight for their first game at T-Mobile Arena since March 3 — 317 days. They'll take on the Anaheim Ducks at 7 p.m. to kick off what promises to be one of the strangest NHL seasons in memory.

"It's kind of like Christmas Day for us," Vegas forward Cody Glass said. "It's very exciting for us to have opening day. Obviously, there's going to be no fans. But it's a good day overall."

Indeed, it will be the first home game the Golden Knights have played without a packed arena.

A state restriction on large gatherings has closed the doors to spectators for the start of the season, one of many changes in a season impacted by COVID-19. Other changes include an all-intradivision schedule and multiple games in a row against the same opponent — Vegas also hosts the Ducks on Saturday.

Tonight is extra special for Glass, who will be playing in his first game with Vegas since Feb. 17 because of an injury. He did not attend the postseason bubble and will be playing in his first game against someone other than his teammates in nearly 11 months.

Oddly, the Ducks are in a similar situation. While the Golden Knights and 23 other teams took part in the postseason hubs in Edmonton and Toronto, the Ducks did not qualify. Forget not playing just a home game since March — the Ducks haven't stepped on the ice for a competitive game since March 11, the day before the NHL season was canceled.

"Them not playing for that long gives them plenty of time to train, to skate, so they're well-rested and ready to get after it," Glass said.

The Golden Knights will also be experimenting with an unusual lineup tonight, opting for 13 forwards and five defensemen instead of the usual 12-6 configuration. It's a product of the salary cap and a desire to not expose forward Keegan Kolesar to waivers, which would have made it necessary to assign him to the taxi squad or the AHL.

Kolesar is expected to skate as the extra forward tonight, with five defensemen managing an extra workload.

"You play games, a guy will go down and you'll have five 'D' for the rest of the game, so we've got a lot of workhorses on the back end," defenseman Brayden McNabb said. "It's not a huge deal looking at it for us. It's obviously nice to have six and have your pairing and it might be a little bit of juggling around, but it is what it is. It's what we're dealing with, and everyone's on board."

Whether the Golden Knights have 13 forwards or 12 or even nine like we saw at the recent World Junior Championships, the Golden Knights are just excited to have hockey back. The NHL season kicked off Wednesday with five games, allowing those of us in the Pacific Time Zone to watch games from midday to late at night.

That's just how Knights coach Pete DeBoer likes it.

"Well, hockey's back in my house. I think I started with the Eastern games at 4 and watched hockey until 11 o'clock," DeBoer said. "I don't know how happy my wife is to see the NHL package live and back in our house, but it was great to be able to see live, competitive hockey again. It gets the juices flowing for today."

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-230, Ducks plus-200; over/under: 6 (minus-110, minus-110)

Golden Knights (0-0-0, 0 points; t-2nd place, West Division)

Coach: Peter DeBoer (second season)

Points leader (last season): Max Pacioretty (66)

Goals leader (last season): Max Pacioretty (32)

Assists leader (last season): Mark Stone (42)

Expected goalie (last season stats): Marc-Andre Fleury (2.77 GAA, .905 save percentage)

Ducks (0-0-0, 0 points; t-2nd place, West Division)

Coach: Dallas Eakins (second season)

Points leader (last season): Adam Henrique (43)

Goals leader (last season): Adam Henrique (26)

Assists leader (last season): Ryan Getzlaf (29)

Expected goalie (last season stats): John Gibson (3.00 GAA, .904 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Max Pacioretty—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Nicolas Roy—Cody Glass—Alex Tuch

William Carrier—Tomas Nosek—Ryan Reaves

Keegan Kolesar

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb—Alex Pietrangelo

Alec Martinez—Shea Theodore

Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Marc-André Fleury, Robin Lehner

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