Pacioretty Returns, Lehner Bounces Back, Golden Knights Defeat Predators 5-2

The Vegas Golden Knights (12-8) defeated the Nashville Predators (10-8-1) on Wednesday night 5-2. Both Max Pacioretty and William Carrier returned to the lineup, Adam Brooks scored his first with the team, and Robin Lehner stopped 26 of 28 shots.

The Golden Knights finish their two-game road trip with a 1-1 record. They are temporarily third in the pacific division standings with 24 points and do not play until Saturday with Thanksgiving tomorrow.

The first period contained a whole lot of structured play from both teams. The Golden Knights and Predators both forced each other to the outside and gave away limited quality chances. This was a theme for the Golden Knights defensive structure all night.

Alex Pietrangelo had a shift where he registered good four-to-five shot attempts but Juuse Saros and the Nashville defense stopped his chances. Mark Stone also had a good bit of chances in the first as well.

After a brief four-on-four and then a Predators powerplay, Chandler Stephenson came out of the box and scored on the following shift. The goal came with just 47 seconds left in the first period.

In the second, Jonas Rondbjerg, who remained in the lineup despite two forwards coming back, scored. He stripped the puck from Roman Josi, went in alone, and sniped a shot on Saros to make it 2-0.

Later on, Mattias Janmark threw a puck towards the net and Adam Brooks found the rebound and scored his first goal as a Golden Knight.

Late in the second period, the scorekeeper at Bridgestone Arena must have fallen asleep because the clock was wrong towards the end of the period. Zach Whitecloud took a penalty and was in the box for more than two minutes.

In his first game back Filip Forsberg scored a nifty goal to cut the Golden Knights lead. However, there was an extended halt to the game as the referees and scorekeepers had to discuss the aforementioned score clock issues.

I just went back and timed it. The clock was stopped for 36 seconds while the Golden Knights were killing the penalty.

The goal came 1 second after the penalty clock hit zero, but VGK really killed 2:35 before they conceded technically at even-strength.

— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 25, 2021

There was even more of a holdup as Peter DeBoer and the Golden Knights challenged the play for goaltender interference. Thomas Novak was in the crease when the goal was scored and he made unintentional contact with Lehner. By the rulebook, this is goaltender interference and the goal was called back.

Later on, Forsberg ended up scoring in the end however as Matt Duchene found him with a stretch pass and he scored on the ensuing breakaway. The Predators gained momentum off of this goal and had the perfect opportunity to make it a one-goal game as Nicolas Roy took a penalty. 

But the Golden Knights scored their third shorthanded goal of the year this time not coming from Reilly Smith. Alex Pietrangelo buried home a shot after a two-on-one with Stephenson and made the score 4-1.

But the bad discipline for the Golden Knights continued in the third as Shea Theodore took a penalty for delay of game. On the Predator’s sixth powerplay of the game, Forsberg scored his second goal of the night just six seconds into the man-advantage.

The Predators pressured the Golden Knights towards the end of the game but Stone added an empty-netter for his first goal of the season to ice things at 5-2.

The Golden Knights will be off for two days until returning to play at the Fortress Saturday night. They will take on Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers at 4:00 pm.