3 takeaways from Knights’ win: Cassidy hits big milestone against Ducks
A coach’s success comes from their team’s success. Individual accomplishments aren’t at the forefront of their mind.
That’s always been the case for Bruce Cassidy, especially since he arrived in Las Vegas more than two years ago to take over the Golden Knights.
Still, it hasn’t even taken three full seasons for the 59-year-old to etch himself into franchise lore.
Cassidy became the winningest coach in Knights history Monday after his team’s 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena. That improved his record with the franchise to 119-59-20 in 198 games. Cassidy, who celebrated his 400th NHL win earlier this year, surpassed Gerard Gallant (118-75-20) for the milestone. Gallant was the Knights’ first coach before being fired Jan. 15, 2020.
Cassidy’s predecessor, Pete DeBoer, was 98-50-12 with the team.
Cassidy doesn’t often reflect on his accomplishments. But he’s proud of this one.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for (Gallant), a great coach in this league. Pete and I are good friends. Another great coach in this league,” Cassidy said. “Happy to be considered in the same company as those two, to be completely honest.”
It’s no surprise that Cassidy has been a success with the Knights.
He was 245-108-46 his previous stop with the Boston Bruins, taking the team all the way to Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
He then built a standard of winning with the Knights that culminated with the franchise’s first championship in 2023. He’s kept the team consistent each year despite injuries testing the organization’s depth.
“I came here with an intention to help this team win and win a Stanley Cup. We were able to do that the first year,” Cassidy said. “I’d like to do that again.”
Center Tomas Hertl and right wing Keegan Kolesar each had a goal and an assist to help Cassidy get the record Monday. Left wing Tanner Pearson added a short-handed goal to help the Knights (23-8-3) pick up their eighth win in nine games. Goaltender Adin Hill made 31 saves.
Hertl broke a 1-1 tie 9:36 into the third period with his 10th goal of the season. Kolesar finished things off with an insurance goal with 4:10 remaining.
“(Cassidy) holds us to a high standard. It’s every day, and that’s what we need as a group,” Kolesar said. “I think we have a very good group here. Maybe sometimes complacency can sneak in, and he does a good job of keeping that out of our game.”
The Knights now head into their three-day holiday break with a five-point lead in the Pacific Division. They’re two points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot in the Western Conference with two games in hand.
They’ll pick play back up Friday against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center, where it’ll be business as usual for Cassidy and his coaching staff. In short, it’s on to the next one.
“It’s a nice individual accomplishment that most of these ones you appreciate when you’re done, when you look back,” Cassidy said. “But I’m proud of the work we’ve done here, we’ve all done. We’ve got to keep it going.”
Here are three takeaways from the win:
1. Dostal replaces Gibson
The Ducks (13-16-4) played the second night of a back-to-back after coming from behind to beat the Utah Hockey Club 5-4 in overtime Sunday.
Anaheim goaltender John Gibson stopped the first 11 shots he faced, but left the game late in the first period after taking a stick to the eye from Knights center Tanner Laczynski. Lukas Dostal, who started Sunday for the Ducks, came on in relief.
Laczynski was called for interference on the inadvertent poke to the eye, but the Knights’ penalty kill came through. Pearson received a pass from Kolesar and beat Dostal with 41 seconds left in the first period to give his team a 1-0 lead.
The Knights swept the four-game season series with the Ducks, outscoring Anaheim 13-5 in the process.
2. Year of Kolesar continues
Kolesar, 27, keeps building on his best season to date. His goal was his ninth of the season, a new career high.
Kolesar has typically been a physical fourth-line forward, but he’s shown enough of a scoring touch to earn opportunities in an elevated role. He got that Monday, spending time on the second line with Hertl and William Karlsson.
Kolesar added an assist on Pearson’s goal to give him 15 points, nine shy of his career-high of 24 set in 2021-22. He was a huge part of why the Knights got off to a fast start and were able to score first for the first time in six games.
“We addressed (the fact that) our starts haven’t been good enough,” Kolesar said. “Tonight, it was nice to play with the lead. We let our foot off the gas there in the third, but we were able to come back and push through.”
3. Hertl preparing for San Jose
Hertl’s goal came at a good time.
The Knights’ next game Friday will be Hertl’s first trip back to San Jose since being traded in March. He played 712 games with the Sharks and was a two-time All-Star.
“Last time I was there, I got traded,” Hertl said. “I can’t really tell the feeling. It’ll be weird being on the other side.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
