The Vegas Golden Knights extended their season-high winning streak to six games by rallying for an impressive 6-5 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
To continue their good fortune on Saturday night, coach Bruce Cassidy’s Vegas squad will have to get by one of the league’s hottest teams, the Nashville Predators, in Las Vegas.
Nashville had the league’s worst record (6-12-4, 16 points) after an 8-3 home shellacking by Florida on Nov. 24. The Predators have won 17 of 25 games since, including a 7-3 victory over the high-octane Colorado Avalanche on Friday night in Denver.
Ryan O’Reilly recorded his seventh career hat trick and also had an assist as Nashville became the first team to hand the Avalanche a regulation loss on their home ice in 23 games this season (19-1-3).
“Obviously, a great win for us,” O’Reilly said. “To give that team their first regulation loss is something to be proud of. We can compete and play with any team, beat any team in this league, when we’re working together.”
It was Colorado’s first regulation loss, home or away, to a Western Conference opponent.
“This just shows that we can play with anybody when we’re playing our game,” forward Michael Bunting, who had a goal and an assist, said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in our group right now, and we’ve just got to keep this thing going.”
Filip Forsberg scored once and set up two goals, captain Roman Josi had three assists, and Steven Stamkos and Michael McCarron also tallied for the Predators.
Now, Nashville, which has won three straight games, will try to complete a sweep of a difficult road back-to-back against the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights.
“We’ve got a tough one tomorrow that we have to kind of shift the focus,” O’Reilly said Friday. “But, I know the group, you can kind of tell it’s a confidence-building win there. That’s something we can lean on.”
Vegas had a day off Friday to savor its come-from-behind win over the Maple Leafs. The Golden Knights scored the final three goals, including a 6-on-5 goal by Tomas Hertl with seven seconds left in regulation.
Jack Eichel scored at 2:44 of overtime to win it. He took a pass from captain Mark Stone while driving down the slot and deked Toronto goalie Joseph Woll before lifting a backhand shot into the left side of the net.
“Resilient,” Cassidy said describing his team afterward. “As the stakes go up, they get more competitive. … They don’t like losing. You’re going to have some games, and tonight it looked like it was heading in that direction for us, and they kept pushing back.”
Vegas’ Mitch Marner, who each time he touched the puck heard boos from Maple Leaf fans who had traveled to Sin City, had two assists in his first game against his former team.
“We know how much it means to him, and because it means that much to him, it means that much to us as well,” Eichel said. “It was a great win for our group.”
This will be the second matchup of three regular-season meetings between Vegas and Nashville. The Predators, with Stamkos scoring his 600th career goal, posted a 4-2 win on New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas.
–Field Level Media
