The Vegas Golden Knights (22-10-5) defeated the Los Angeles Kings (20-8-4) in a 3-2 contest on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena in their last game of the 2023 calendar year.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
The Golden Knights struck first as Jack Eichel ripped the puck off the post and in on Kings' goaltender Cam Talbot at the 7:38 mark of the first period. Streaking out of the defensive zone with Pavel Dorofeyev, VGK forward Michael Amadio capitalized on an odd-man rush 2:27 into the middle frame for the 2-0 tally. The Kings cut the Vegas lead in half at 13:07 of the second as Anze Kopitar tipped a deflection past netminder Logan Thompson. Just 1:35 later, a well-placed pass from below the goal line found William Karlsson open in the slot where he slid one under the pads of Talbot to regain the two-goal lead. Los Angeles netted a 6-on-5 goal with 1:59 left in regualation to make it 3-2, but their comeback bid fell short as time expired.
TOP PERFORMERS
Logan Thompson: Thompson stopped 30 of 32 shots on goal.
Jack Eichel: Eichel tallied his 40th point of the season with his goal in the first period.
Michael Amadio: Amadio scored his sixth goal of the season in the second period.
VGK STATS OF THE KNIGHT
Jack Eichel became the third player in in Golden Knights franchise history to record 40 points in fewer than 40 games (16G, 24A in 37 GP). The others: Mark Stone (32 GP in 2020-21) and Jonathan Marchessault (38 GP in 2017-18). Eichel also joined Joanthan Marchessault (34 in 2021 & 31 in 2023), William Karlsson (38 in 2018) and Max Pacioretty (36 in 2021) as the fourth player in franchise history to record 30 goals in a calendar year.
Mark Stone tallied an assist in the first period to extend his point streak to six games (2G, 6A).
William Karlsson scored his 19th game-winning goal with the Golden Knights to tie Reilly Smith for the third most in franchise history.
BECAUSE VGK WON...
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ATTENDANCE: 18,595
LOOKING AHEAD
The Vegas Golden Knights head to Seattle for the 2024 Winter Classic to face off against the Kraken outdoors at T-Mobile Park at 12 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 1. Tune in on TNT or listen live on the Vegas Golden Knights Radio Network on 98.9/1340.
