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Roy Scores Two, Golden Knights Find Their Offense, Defeat Ducks

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2 years ago

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Nicolas Roy Vegas Golden Knights (Photo- AHL via Twitter)

The Vegas Golden Knights (31-21-4, 66 points) and Anaheim Ducks (26-22-9, 61 points) met Friday night at Honda Center for an important playoff positioning matchup. With a four-goal second period, the Golden Knights finally found their offensive game and won 5-4.

Entering the game the Golden Knights had lost six of their last eight games. Head coach Peter DeBoer called out some of his depth players after Thursday night’s loss stating that without Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty, they could not have players in 10+ game goal droughts.

Line combinations were shifted to try and get the offense going. Nicolas Roy moved to the first line, Chandler Stephenson returned to center and Brett Howden did not play in favor of Jake Leschyshyn.

Also, Brayden McNabb injured his hand against the Bruins and was out Friday. McNabb was the last member of the team to appear in every game of the season. So for the first time in franchise history, the Golden Knights will not have any players on their roster play in every game of the regular season.

The start of the game is one that the Golden Knights learned quickly to forget. They shot themselves in the foot with a strange goal from Jakub Silfverberg. After Shea Theodore blew a tire, Silfverberg scored on Laurent Brossoit without Brossoit even flinching.

Hockey rinks are in the shape of an oval, so there are no 90-degree angles. But for Silfverberg, he got as close as what you would call the “corner” of the rink and simply threw it towards the net.

It was a stinger of a goal against a team that had been struggling overall in the last eight games. But the Golden Knights fought back and tied the game up at one. Jack Eichel almost single-handedly created an offensive zone chance for the Golden Knights which resulted in a goal from Ben Hutton.

Eichel did not get a point on the play with assists instead going to Michael Amadio and Evgenii Dadonov to end their scoring droughts. The goal came just 2:13 after Silfverberg’s goal and for Hutton, it was his 100th career NHL point. This was also the first goal from a Golden Knights defenseman in eight games.

It was a great response from the Golden Knights after a misfortunate bounce. They maintained pressure all throughout the first period and led in shots 9-5 after twenty minutes. In the second period, they would put the game home with four goals in the frame.

Just 18 second into the second period the Golden Knights got their first lead. Jonathan Marchessault scored his 23rd goal of the year with William Karlsson setting him up perfectly from behind the net.

But the Ducks responded with a goal from Nicolas Deslauriers after some solid sustained pressure in the offensive zone. The Golden Knights played with fire as Derek Grant rang a shot off the crossbar and just seconds later Deslauriers tied the game with a slapshot from the blue line.

The two teams continued to trade goals in the second period with the Golden Knights scoring to re-take the lead just 1:16 later.

The Eichel line once again set up in front of John Gibson and after a shot from Shea Theodore off the end boards, Nicolas Roy scored.

Like Dadonov and Amadio, Roy ended a scoring drought with his first goal in 16 games. But the French-Canadian did not have to wait 16 games for his next goal as he scored on his next shift. After winning a faceoff in the offensive zone, Roy buried home a rebound point shot from Alex Pietrangelo.

The Golden Knights, for the first time in forever, broke free offensively and just a few shifts later scored to make it 5-2. Stephenson set up Amadio right in the slot and for his third point of the game.

The Ducks wanted in on the scoring in the second period and got a powerplay goal of their own. Theodore went off for tripping and Trevor Zegras scored his 15th goal of the season on the ensuing penalty.

They made it a one-goal game with a goal on an abbreviated powerplay from Troy Terry. Just like that, things got interesting at Honda Center on Friday night.

It was a nail-bitter ending with the Ducks operating on a six-on-four powerplay with 16 seconds left. But Brossoit and the Golden Knights were able to fend off the flock of Ducks and close things out with a 5-4 win.

This is only the third win for the Golden Knights since the arrival of Jack Eichel and the placing of captain Mark Stone on LTIR. They will look to start a winning streak Sunday afternoon against the Ottawa Senators as they come to play at T-Mobile Arena at 5:00 pm.

Vegas Hockey Now’s Player of the Game: Nicolas Roy

Once you get one they all start to come. Roy shattered his 16-game goal drought with two important goals on the top line with Eichel and Dadonov Friday night.

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