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Golden Knights Preseason

Golden Knights Preseason Takeaways: Goals Galore, Thompson Solid

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Vegas Golden Knights preseason v Colorado Avalanche (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter)
Vegas Golden Knights preseason v Colorado Avalanche (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter)

The Colorado Avalanche iced just two NHL regulars when they played the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night; Logan O’Connor and Alexander Georgiev.

With veterans William Karlsson, Zach Whitecloud, and Chandler Stephenson in the lineup, the Golden Knights took care of business and won 7-1 for their first preseason win of the season.

William Karlsson, Gage Quinney, Michael Amadio, Paul Cotter, Keegan Kolesar, Kaedan Korczak, and Chandler Stephenson all scored for the Golden Knights. Alexander Georgiev was pulled after two. Logan Thompson stopped 23 of 24. Zach Whitecloud had four assists.

Here’s who specifically stood out for the Golden Knights.

Golden Knights Takeaways

Thompson Time

The seven goals scored by the Golden Knights were the main show on the strip Wednesday night. But at the other end of the ice, Logan Thompson made 23 saves for his first win of the preseason.

He made some solid saves through traffic and played the puck well behind his net when needed. He’s the first goalie to play a full game for the VGK this preseason and has a prime opportunity to become the team’s starter with Robin Lehner out. Jiri Patera was the backup.

Karlsson’s Confidence

William Karlsson finished the night with two points. As a player who has had his point totals decrease year after year since his first season in Las Vegas, it was nice to see Karlsson tally a couple of points.

Maybe it can get his confidence going for the regular season. It will be interesting to see what his role will be in Bruce Cassidy’s system. He played on the second line with Brett Howden and Michael Amadio.

Wily Whitecloud

If you tuned into tonight’s game and knew nothing about the Golden Knights, you would be mistaken if you thought Zach Whitecloud was a longtime veteran defenseman. As essentially the team’s top defender and wearing an alternate captain ‘a’, Whitecloud had four assists and was stellar.

His development continues to be a bright spot in the Golden Knights organization as he is already helping young defensemen like Lukas Cormier and Kaedan Korczak grow.

Cool Cotter

Lastly, Paul Cotter looked great again in his third-straight preseason game. He’s a top candidate to make the team out of camp. He has two goals and one assist for three points this preseason.

Expect to see even more out of Cotter as Cassidy will be forced to make some tough roster decisions.

Up Next

The Golden Knights will continue their preseason schedule on Friday against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena at 7:00 pm. The game can be found on PT KTNV Channel 13. Mark Stone and Alec Martinez have both not yet played in the preseason.

Here were the lines for Wednesday night.

43 Paul Cotter- 20 Chandler Stephenson- 55 Keegan Kolesar

21 Brett Howden- 71 William Karlsson- 22 Michael Amadio

15 Jake Leschyshyn- 12 Jakub Brabanec- 46 Jonas Rondbjerg

72 Gage Quinney- 11 Ivan Morozov- 24 Brendan Brisson

40 Lukas Cormier- 2 Zach Whitecloud

17 Ben Hutton- 94 Brayden Pachal

6 Kaedan Korczak- 45 Jake Biscoff

36 Logan Thompson/30 Jiri Patera