Golden Knights Takeaways: Rondbjerg Impresses, Go Backhand of Driedger

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-0 Wednesday night with Logan Thompson posting his first-career NHL shutout, Shea Theodore scoring out of the box, Michael Amadio scoring, and Jonathan Marchessault adding an empty-netter.

Keegan Kolesar, who fought Jamie Oleksiak in the first period, left the game after taking a hit from Riley Sheahan. Stay tuned with Vegas Hockey Now on updates for Kolesar and his status.

Let’s get into the takeaways from Wednesday night’s victory which puts the Golden Knights back in a Stanley Cup Playoff spot as they continue to flip-flop with the Dallas Stars for the second Wild Card position in the Western Conference.

1- All Smiles for Thompson

Let’s start with the obvious one. 25-year old goaltender Logan Thompson has earned his first-career NHL shutout stopping 23 saves against the Seattle Kraken. He was all smiles in the postgame press scrum.

“It’s getting better every day. I feel really comfortable in net and it’s something I want to keep building off. The guys did a really good job today making my life really easy so a lot of credit goes to them,” said Thompson.

The Kraken’s best chances seemed to come early in every period, especially in the first where LT had to make some solid pad saves. Of course, Thompson will be buying on video coach Tommy Cruz a drink for preserving his shutout with the coach’s challenge that denied Jordan Eberle a late goal.

“I was really sad and then really happy,” said LT on the disallowed goal.

2- A Strong Game From Jonas Rondbjerg

Another Henderson Silver Knights callup that impressed Wednesday night was Jonas Rondbjerg who stepped up with the VGK only having ten forwards after Keegan Kolesar left the game. He helped draw the game’s first two penalties, looked good offensively, and set up Shea Theodore for the game-winning goal with Theodore coming out of the penalty box.

This is the kind of play the Golden Knights will need from these Henderson guys as they continue to get NHL games in as the team remains banged up.

3- Getting Back the Veteran D

The forward corps for the Golden Knights is still relying on Silver Knights guys to fill out of the bottom-six. But for the defense, things are (almost) back to normal as Brayden McNabb returned against the Kraken. With Alec Martinez back as well, the Golden Knights went with seven defensemen on the night, a decision with DeBoer justified in saying that Dylan Coghlan plays on the second powerplay unit.

While the Golden Knights didn’t make any trades at the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline, these additions with players coming back from injury can serve as huge additions in themselves. The re-introduction of both Martinez and McNabb over the last handful of games has only strengthened the Golden Knights.

4- Go Backhand on Chris Driedger

Simple takeaway here but William Karlsson got a break shorthanded against Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger, went to the forehand, and was stopped. Moments later Shea Theodore came out of the box, faked going forehand, and then went to the backhand. Take of that what you will.

5- Marchessault’s Helmet Strap

Lastly, here’s a bonus fun one. Right off the opening faceoff, Jonathan Marchessault was quite literally not ready for the game to start. And I’m not saying this as a jab. I specifically watched him struggle to put his helmet strap back on after warmups and he took a couple of seconds to fix it.

I imagine the mind of Marchessault had a quick “oh sh*t” moment before he strapped on his bucket and got back in the play. Just something stupid I noticed.