3 takeaways from Knights’ win: Special teams step up vs. Ducks
The clock was under 10 seconds when Jack Eichel received the puck. It was in the Anaheim Ducks’ net at 1.3.
The Golden Knights center did what he could to jump-start the team’s power play Saturday. Even if it meant doing almost all the heavy lifting himself.
Eichel, after getting a pass from defenseman Shea Theodore in the neutral zone, went through defenseman Radko Gudas, around goaltender John Gibson and scored to put the Knights up just before the opening frame was about to expire.
The team never looked back in a 4-1 win — its third straight by that same score — in front of an announced crowd of 18,033 at T-Mobile Arena.
The Knights got a boost from both special teams units to become the second reigning Stanley Cup champion in the last 23 years with a season-opening winning streak of at least three games. Eichel’s goal was one of two they scored on the power play, and the penalty kill continued its perfect start by going 3-for-3.
“I mean, sick,” Theodore said. “The patience. I saw the clock was running down. To have that patience, really take it to the paint. I would have shot it about six seconds before that. It was a great play.”
The Knights knew they had a clear path to improvement this season despite their status as defending champs.
Their dominance was mostly a result of their five-on-five game. The Knights’ power play ranked 18th last season. Their penalty kill was 19th.
The Knights took a step in the right direction against the Ducks.
Both sides took plenty of penalties. Anaheim had eight and the Knights had seven. Tensions flared fast. Anaheim center Sam Carrick hit Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb in the head with 3:15 left in the first period. Carrick was given a five-minute elbowing penalty. McNabb, who was on one knee trying to play the puck, got up and was given a two-minute roughing minor himself in the subsequent scrum.
Eichel got the Knights’ first goal on the man advantage on the following power play.
“Just trying to get another attack in,” Eichel said. “Just trying to get to the net knowing there’s not a ton of time.”
The chances didn’t stop there.
The Knights got four more power-play opportunities, scoring on their second-to-last. Theodore wired a wrister past Gibson 6:16 into the third period to put his team up 3-0.
The Knights, with a huge assist from the penalty kill, never let the Ducks get close to erasing the deficit.
Anaheim finished 0-for-3 on the man advantage. It was an impressive short-handed performance by the Knights, who were without three of their top four penalty-killing defensemen in Alec Martinez, Alex Pietrangelo and Zach Whitecloud.
They haven’t allowed a power-play goal in 11 straight games dating back to the Western Conference Final.
The Ducks did score once 6:45 into the third period on a five-on-five goal by center Mason McTavish. It wasn’t enough to put the result in doubt. Left wing Jonas Rondbjerg finished off the win by scoring an empty-net goal with 2:28 remaining.
“That’s been really nice to start how we have and hopefully we can just keep rolling on this, building on it,” center Chandler Stephenson said.
Here are three takeaways from the win:
1. Hill looms large
The Ducks’ leading scorer last season, center Trevor Zegras, got a look only 10 feet from the net on the power play in the second period.
It didn’t matter. There wasn’t much Anaheim could do to get a puck past Adin Hill on Saturday.
The 27-year-old continued his spectacular run by making 22 saves against the Ducks. Hill improved to 2-0 this season and 6-0-1 in his career against Anaheim.
The Knights couldn’t have asked much more from their goaltender after giving him a two-year, $9.8 million extension this summer. Hill has stopped 54 of the 56 shots he’s faced so far.
2. Stephenson stays hot
The Knights’ lone even-strength goal came from Stephenson.
He finished off a pretty passing play with left wing Paul Cotter for his second tally of the season. The 29-year-old leads all Knights skaters with five points through three games.
Stephenson is in an interesting spot this season as a pending unrestricted free agent. He said during training camp he’s going to focus on hockey rather than his contract status. His approach seems to be working so far.
3. Banged-up blue line
Pietrangelo sat out the game after taking a puck to the face in Thursday’s 4-1 win against the San Jose Sharks.
That left the Knights without three of their top six defensemen by their third game of the season. Martinez and Whitecloud are both on injured reserve with upper-body injuries.
Kaedan Korczak made his season debut in Pietrangelo’s place. The 2019 second-round pick played 14:37 and had a shot on goal playing next to Nic Hague.
“I think guys have come in and stepped up and played well,” Theodore said. “It’s definitely good to see our depth come in like that.”
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.