Golden Knights Radio
Full Game Highs: Golden Knights Open Season X With 5-2 Win Over Blackhawks
The Vegas Golden Knights posted a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Opening Knight of Season X on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena. Victor Olofsson opened the scoring 9:30 into the first period, converting a power play off a feed from Jack Eichel to give Vegas a 1-0 lead. In his NHL debut, Trevor Connelly doubled the advantage with 4:48 remaining in the opening frame, deflecting a Brayden McNabb shot for his first-career NHL goal. Chicago cut the deficit to 2-1 when Jordan Greenway scored with 7:37 left in the second period, but Eichel answered less than three minutes later. Taking a centering pass from Ivan Barbashev, Eichel tapped home his first goal of the season, giving him three points on the night and the 700th point of his NHL career. Patrick Kane brought Chicago within one at 4:04 of the third, but Noah Hanifin restored Vegas' two-goal lead just 39 seconds later, scoring at 4:43 after Nic Dowd's backhand pass found him in the right circle. Mark Stone added an empty-net goal with less than three minutes remaining to seal the 5-2 victory. Carter Hart stopped 24 of 26 shots (.923 save percentage) to earn the win as Vegas opened the regular season with a victory. The Golden Knights improved their season-opening point streak to eight games (7-0-1), the longest active streak in NHL history. Eichel finished with 1 goal and 2 assists, while Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and Ivan Barbashev each recorded 2 assists. Connelly became the fourth Golden Knight and second-youngest player in franchise history to score in his NHL debut. Marc Gatcomb led all players with 8 hits, and Ryan Craig earned his first NHL win as a head coach.
