Golden Knights Takeaways: Phil Chants in San Jose, Fortune Teller Cassidy

Chants of “Phil, Phil, Phil” were heard from the Vegas Golden Knight’s road locker room at SAP Center in San Jose after the team’s 4-2 win over the Sharks.

Forward Phil Kessel is now the NHL’s sole ironman, in possession of the longest active regular season games played streak in NHL history with 990 straight.

The fan and locker room favorite is making a name for himself in Las Vegas with his new team.

Here are Vegas Hockey Now’s takeaways from the Golden Knight’s win. The Golden Knights are now 19-1-4 all-time against the San Jose Sharks in the regular season.

Cassidy Predicts Kessel

Monday night, it looked like Kessel scored his 400th career goal in his record-tying game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. But after a coach’s challenge, the play was called back for being offsides.

After the game, Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy took a positive approach when asked about the call, as he foreshadowed tonight’s game

“It’s unfortunate it didn’t stand, but maybe it is setting the stage for tomorrow,” said Cassidy.

A True Test of Hill

Adin Hill is undefeated so far in his first three games as a Golden Knight. Granted, he has played weaker teams in the Sharks, Seattle Kraken, and Winnipeg Jets, but he has been good when needed.

Cassidy’s defensive systems have helped both goaltenders thrive early on this season. Both Hill and Logan Thompson currently have save percentages above .930%. Perhaps it is time to play Hill against a stronger opponent. The VGK have the Anaheim Ducks, Jets, and Washington Capitals upcoming.

Tuesday night was a revenge game for Hill, who stopped 29 of 31 against the team he played 25 games for last season, the San Jose Sharks.

Marty McBlockedshots

Alec Martinez continues to block shots like a champ and be one of the more reliable players on the backend for the VGK. Against the Sharks Tuesday, he had four blocked shots.

He is currently leading the NHL in this department with 36 on the season, three ahead of Montreal’s David Savard and 14 ahead of the man in third place, fellow Golden Knight Brayden McNabb.

Slumping Sharks Stars

I hadn’t realized it until they mentioned it on the broadcast, but Timo Meier is still without a goal this season for the Sharks. Their top scorer from last season has zero goals despite over 40 shot attempts.

Another one of their star players, Tomas Hertl, has just four points in nine games.

Frustration is starting to kick in for the two-win Sharks, who started the season earlier than 30 other teams in the league with the NHL Global Series in Czechia.

Hertl summarizes his feelings about this game with repeated usage of words “shitty” and “sucks”

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 26, 2022