Golden Knights report: Vegas unable to contain Predators’ Forsberg
Golden Knights vs. Predators
Predators win 3-2
RJ’s three stars
3. Knights goalie Logan Thompson — A little run support would have been nice for the rookie making his first NHL start with Laurent Brossoit (upper body) listed as day to day. Thompson finished with 23 stops.
2. Predators goalie Juuse Saros — Came up with 41 saves to frustrate the Knights’ offense. Saros seemed to find every puck that was fired through traffic before his shutout bid ended in the third period when he turned away 19 of 21 shots.
1. Predators winger Filip Forsberg — Had his fifth game-winning goal, tied for second in the league, and added a second with a spectacular move around Alex Pietrangelo in the third period.
Key play
Forsberg’s first goal.
The Predators put the Knights on their heels from the opening faceoff, and the breakthrough came 2:41 into the second period on a quick transition after Shea Theodore’s pass didn’t connect with Keegan Kolesar at the far blue line.
Mikael Granlund entered the zone and left a drop pass for Forsberg, who opened his hips and fired from the left faceoff circle to beat Thompson on the stick side. It was Forsberg’s team-leading 16th goal.
Key stat
8 — The number of icing infractions committed by the Knights in the first period. Nashville’s forecheck didn’t allow the Knights room, and their only way to relieve the pressure was to send the puck the length of the ice.
Martinez returns
Injured defenseman Alec Martinez participated in Tuesday’s morning skate at City National Arena wearing a red, noncontact jersey.
Martinez has been sidelined since Nov. 11 when he was kicked in the face by Minnesota Wild left wing Brandon Duhaime and suffered a severe facial laceration that required more than 50 stitches, according to coach Pete DeBoer. He also sustained a head injury on the play and has missed the past 22 games.
DeBoer cautioned that even though Martinez was on the ice, he isn’t ready to return to game action.
“Nice step for any of these guys to be rejoining our group at some type of the practices we’ve had or the optional skates that we’ve had,” DeBoer said. “It’s a positive step, but he’s not back yet.”
Missing Glass
The Knights didn’t see former first-round pick Cody Glass, who was traded to the Predators during the offseason for forward Nolan Patrick and is in the American Hockey League.
Glass has 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) in 23 appearances for the Milwaukee Admirals, including three multipoint games. The 22-year-old center last appeared in the NHL on Dec. 17 and doesn’t have a point in four games with Nashville.
“I’d like to see him get a chance up with Nashville,” said Kolesar, one of Glass’ closest friends with the Knights. “But for now it’s just about him getting his game where it needs to be and then when he gets the chance to get called up, he’ll make good of it.”
Knights’ next 10
Vs. New York Rangers, 7 p.m. Thursday
Vs. Chicago, 7 p.m. Saturday
Vs. Toronto, 7 p.m. Tuesday
Vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. Jan. 17
Vs. Montreal, 7 p.m. Jan. 20
At Washington, 4 p.m. Jan. 24
At Carolina, 4 p.m. Jan. 25
At Florida, 4 p.m. Jan. 27
At Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. Jan. 29
Vs. Buffalo, 7 p.m. Feb. 1
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
