Max Pacioretty Nets #300 as Golden Knights Complete Comeback

Max Pacioretty scored his 300th career goal as the Vegas Golden Knights scored four unanswered goals in a come-from-behind victory over the LA Kings Monday night.

Pacioretty became just the 21st American-born player in NHL history to hit the 300 goal mark.

Nic Roy, Mark Stone and Alex Tuch also scored for the Golden Knights in the win. Robin Lehner made saves for the victory.

Golden Grades

Goaltending: B

Lehner didn’t have to be anything but good in this game, and that’s a credit to his teammates as much as anything. Even when the VGK were shorthanded the Kings failed to generate any real major chances for most of the game. Another good game for Lehner to put in the win column.

Defense: A-

The defense was all over the shot-blocking tonight, as they got in front of pretty much everything they could. Offensively not quite the typical VGK game but that’s ok as the forwards took care of the scoring.

Forwards: A

I really liked the game tonight up front. The big names found the scoresheet with the exception of Chandler Stephenson who failed to score on three breakaways. Otherwise it felt much more like a “typical” Golden Knights game and has more of the look and feel we’ve come to expect.

Special Teams: A

Another aspect not to be overlooked tonight. The penalty kill was outstanding, generating several dangerous chances on breakaways and even scoring on one (Mark Stone). The power play cashed in as well (Pacioretty) and overall, a great game for special teams.

The Takeaways

• Nice to see Tomas Jurco see some time out there with injuries to Ryan Reaves and Keegan Kolesar. He finished with an assist and a plus-1 rating tonight, and this is exactly the kind of situation I lauded the signing for when it happened.
• The milestone goal for Max Pacioretty was his 20th of the season and 300th of his career. Congratulations to Max on the milestone.
• Mark Stone (10 games) and Alex Tuch (14 games) broke personal goal-scoring droughts.
• It really looks good that the Golden Knights were able to come back from being two goals down against a team that they should beat. Games like this will be incredibly important down the stretch as every two points is massive.