Golden Game Gist: Knights Win, But Lose Eichel Against Red Wings

The Vegas Golden Knights (18-7-1, 37 points) cleaned up their defensive game, played better in the second period, and won 4-1 against the Detroit Red Wings (11-7-5, 27 points). Forward Jack Eichel left the Golden Knights in the third period with an apparent left leg injury.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS LINEUP

With Alex Pietrangelo still out due to personal reasons, the Golden Knights shook up their defense and inserted Daniil Miromanov into the lineup. He replaced Ben Hutton on the team's third pair. Zach Whitecloud was bumped up to play with Alec Martinez. Adin Hill got the start in goal.

Chandler Stephenson – Jack Eichel – Mark Stone (c)

Reilly Smith – William Karlsson – Jonathan Marchessault

Paul Cotter – Nicolas Roy – Phil Kessel

Will Carrier – Jake Leschyshyn – Keegan Kolesar

Alec Martinez- Zach Whitecloud

Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague- Daniil Miromanov

Adin Hill/Logan Thompson

Out: Alex Pietrangelo/Brett Howden/Ben Hutton, Michael Amadio

FIRST PERIOD

• 1-0 VGK GOAL- The Golden Knight's top line scored right off the bat. Chandler Stephenson simply threw a puck on the net, and Jack Eichel cleaned up the rebound for his second game-opening goal in as many games.

• Both teams then went back and forth with some run-and-gun hockey.
• Daniil Miromanv looked strong, springing the Golden Knight's fourth line for some chances and firing some shots himself.
• Will Carrier had a good chance after Jake Leschyshyn made a nice power move to the net to pass it to his linemate.
• The Golden Knights failed to register a shot in the final eight minutes of the first period.
• Zach Whitecloud left the game after taking a hit from Michael Rasmussen. His right leg appeared to be in pain.

SECOND PERIOD

• Daniil Miromanov and the Golden Knights fourth line continued to work well together, generating offensive chances.
• Brayden McNabb made a good defensive play, blocking a pass to Jonathan Berggren, who was in a prime scoring position.
• VGK PP- Jordan Oesterle cross-checked Nicolas Roy from behind after some good battling by the third line.
• 2-0 VGK GOAL- Jonathan Marchessault scored on the powerplay off an assist from Shea Theodore. Dylan Larkin and Oskar Sundqvist had some shorthanded chances but then got caught backchecking and changing as the Golden Knights went the other way.

• DET PP- Zach Whitecloud muscled David Perron a little too much and went off for roughing.
• 2-1 DET GOAL- After a couple of wacks in the blue paint, Oskar Sundqvist scored for the Red Wings on the powerplay. This goal snapped the Red Wings' 0/10 powerplay drought.
• DET PP- Phil Kessel went off for hooking. Put a pin in this.
• Brayden McNabb made yet another goal-saving stick check and prevented Dominik Kubalik from scoring on the powerplay.
• 3-2 VGK GOAL- Nicolas Roy found Phil Kessel coming out of the box for the breakaway chance, and with his patented wrist shot, Kessel scored.

THIRD PERIOD

• The Golden Knights were under a bit of pressure to start the third, making frequent turnovers to the forechecking Red Wings.
• Adin Hill repeatedly bailed out the Golden Knights as they made defensive mistakes and stayed in their own zone.
• Jack Eichel left the game, appearing to have issues with his left leg. Stay tuned for updates in the postgame story.
• Paul Cotter took a shift with Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson with Jack Eichel out. They immediately got a scoring chance as Shea Theodore looked for a pass deflection off of Stone's stick. Ville Husso made the pad save.
• DET PP- Alec Martinez's stick went in the skates of Dylan Larkin, causing a tripping penalty but the Golden Knights came up with a big kill.
• Ville Husso was pulled by Derek Lalonde and the Red Wings bench with about three and a half minutes left in the game.
• 4-1 VGK GOAL- Reilly Smith sealed the deal for the Golden Knights with an empty net goal.

VHN's Player of the Game: Brayden McNabb

No offensive players truly stood out for us tonight, so we're going with Brayden McNabb, who had another strong defensive game.

Up Next: Bruce Cassidy will make his return to Boston Monday night as the Golden Knights play the Bruins at 4:00 p.m.