Given Markstrom was a late scratch, the team was unable to recall Dustin Wolf. Instead, former Mount Royal Cougars goalie Dusty Nickel was signed to an amateur tryout agreement and served as the EBUG. He found out around 5:30 p.m., just a few hours before puck drop.
And, perhaps not surprisngly, there was an interesting moment early in the tilt that provided a bit of drama.
Just 2:35 in, William Carrier was sent to the box for goaltender interference after he drove the net, spun backwards and drove his backside through Vladar sending both crashing into the cage.
The Calgary netminder took a bit to get back on his feet, laying on the ice while the medical staff came out to check on him leading to a collective holding of breath by the C of Red.
Greer and Nikita Zadorov sandwiched Carrier into the boards in the Flames zone with a big hit later on, the former trying to get the Golden Knight to drop the gloves but the visitor declined.
Weegar made a long stretch feed to Nazem Kadri, who smacked a clap pass to Andrew Mangiapane but his quick backhand attempt was stopped by Hill.
At the other end of the ice, Vladar stuck to his post and denied Jack Eichel who held on a 2-on-1 break.
Vegas would get on the board at 13:53 when William Karlsson put in a backdoor rebound on a Golden Knights powerplay.
The Flames went to an early powerplay 57 seconds into the middle stanza but the best save came courtesy of Vladar, who stopped a shorthanded breakaway attempt by Eichel.
Later in the frame, he made an absolute 10-beller on Nicolas Roy by robbing him on a 2-on-1 cross-ice tip attempt, getting his left toe on the puck to deny what looked like a sure goal.
