The Vegas Golden Knights will try to build on one of the best home ice records in the NHL when they host the Ottawa Senators in a Nevada Day matinee on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Vegas improved to 4-0-0 at T-Mobile Arena with a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday to kick off a four-game homestand. The Golden Knights, Dallas and Winnipeg are all tied for the best home mark in the NHL at 4-0-0.
Vegas has a chance to move past the Stars and the Jets in that regard with three home games over a four-day span. The Golden Knights host San Jose on Saturday night and conclude the homestand with a Monday night contest against Pacific Division-leading Calgary.
Tomas Hertl had his fourth career four-point night in Tuesday’s win over the Kings, scoring two goals to go along with two assists, while Mark Stone chipped in with a goal and two assists and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo finished with three assists.
Vegas, returning from a 0-2-1 road trip, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and pulled away with three more goals in the third period.
“Great performance for everybody, four lines, big win,” Hertl said. “It’s nice to start a homestand like this.”
Hertl had three points in the first period alone, including a power-play goal midway through the period to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.
“It definitely feels nice,” Hertl said. “I can’t lie about it. When you have three points in the first (period) it’s really good. (But) I’m more happy about a great win and a great performance by our team.”
Ottawa, tied for second in the Atlantic Division with Tampa Bay and Toronto with eight points, opened a three-game road swing Tuesday in Salt Lake City with a 4-0 shutout over the Utah Hockey Club.
Goaltender Anton Forsberg made his fourth consecutive start with Linus Ullmark day-to-day with a muscle strain suffered Oct. 12 against Montreal, and he finished with 31 saves for his sixth career shutout. Drake Batherson, Claude Giroux, Ridly Greig and Brady Tkachuk all scored goals over an 8:09 span at the end of the opening period.
“It was one of those road wins that was super nice to get,” Forsberg said.
Ottawa went just 16-23-2 on the road en route to a seventh-place finish in the Atlantic last season. Only Columbus (10), Montreal (14) and Pittsburgh (15) had fewer road wins in the Eastern Conference.
The Senators are hoping the win over Utah will set the tone for better road fortunes this season. After Friday afternoon’s contest with the Golden Knights, they’ll travel to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
“We all saw last year that we weren’t the best on the road,” defenseman Thomas Chabot said. “So we wanted to get off to a good start (this season). Obviously, there’s a lot of big teams that we are facing on this trip. It’s always nice to start the trip with a win.”
“The mood in the locker room is obviously great so we’ve just to keep it rolling here,” Forsberg added. “We’ve got a few more really good teams on the road here. We’ve just got to do the same work again.”
–Field Level Media