Thompson, power play terrific against Winnipeg, as the Golden Knights improve to 5-0-0 on the season.
The Vegas Golden Knights improved to 5-0-0 with a 5-3 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at Canada Life Centre. They became the first team since the 1985-86 Edmonton Oilers to start a Stanley Cup defense with five wins. It is also the best start in franchise history.
Jack Eichel scored the game-winner, while Jonathan Marchessault, Brett Howden, Alec Martinez and Nicolas Roy also scored. Shea Theodore had three assists, while Stone had two.
“Probably not our best game, but you find a way,” Stone said. “You're not always going to win pretty, but you do have to find a way in some of these awkward games.”
Logan Thompson was spectacular in net, making 35 saves to earn his second win of the season.
Here are the three takeaways:
Terrific Thompson
Thompson was amazing in net, making timely saves and stopped a season-high in shots.
The Golden Knights have only allowed eight goals in the first five games, which can be attributed to good team defense and getting that key save in a critical moment.
"The team did a good job letting me a lot of pucks tonight and made my life a little easy,” Thompson said. "I'm just proud of the win. Two points at the end of the day is all that matters. It's hard to come in here and win games. I'm just happy with the result."
Thompson, who was an All-Star last season, has really started coming into his own again in the early season. He will continue to push for more starts as his play continues to grow.
Power-play production
The Golden Knights scored two goals, including the game-winner on the man advantage.
The power play has been a point of emphasis in the early season for the Golden Knights and to get two goals can only further the confidence in how the team is adapting on the power play.
“We really did a good job at exposing the areas that we needed to expose,” Stone said. “The first goal, get to the middle of the ice. Second goal, get to the middle of the ice and make plays. Couple of good shots from the passes."
In other special teams news, the Golden Knights also gave up their first goal on the penalty kill when Alex Iafallo scored on the man advantage in the third period. It broke a string of 12 consecutive successful penalty kills to start the season.
"Not going to be 100 percent on the penalty kill, but we like we're at," Stone said.
Shifting lines
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy once again switched up the lines, swapping Paul Cotter and Brett Howden on the second and third lines.
He was immediately rewarded with Howden scoring his first goal of the regular season off of a pass from Mark Stone.
Cassidy said before the game that he isn’t one to stick with lines and will make switches when needed.
He continued to show that against the Jets, and it’s useful for the Golden Knights. They have so many interchangeable pieces that they can switch up lines at a moment’s notice and not miss a step.