Photo: @Capitals
The Vegas Golden Knights blew out the Washington Capitals by a score of 6-2 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. Washington has never won a regular-season game in Las Vegas (0-4-1).
Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was pulled at 12:05 of the second after allowing four goals on 18 shots (.778 save percentage) and Charlie Lindgren made seven saves on nine shots (.778) in relief.
Washington is three points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins (who have four games in hand) for the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and one point behind the New York Rangers (three) for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Capitals line up in Vegas
Anthony Mantha — Dylan Strome — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Sonny Milano — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Conor Sheary — Eller — TJ Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Dmitri Orlov — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alekseev – Martin Feharveri
Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: D Matt Irwin, C Aliaksei Protus
Injuries: LW Alex Ovechkin (lower-body, missed first game, day-to-day out); D John Carlson (upper-body, 13th, unspecified); RW Connor Brown (ACL, 45th, unspecified); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 49th, unspecified); C Nic Dowd (lower-body, third, unspecified)
The only lineup change in Washington’s 4-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday was Mantha, who has been a healthy scratch for Ovechkin for the last two games.
The line to Vegas
Chandler Stephenson – Jack Eichel – Phil Kessel
Riley Smith – William Carlson – Jonathan Marchessault
Paul Cotter – Nick Roy – Keegan Kolesar
Michael Amadio — Byron Froese — Jonas Rondberg
Nick Hague — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Kaidan Korczak
Alec Martinez – Ben Hutton
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Scratched: D Daniil Miromanov
Injured: G Robin Lehner (hip, 47th, full season); C Brett Howden (lower-body, 26th, unspecified); C Nolan Patrick (upper-body, 47th, full season); D Zach Whitecloud (lower-body, 17th, month-to-month); D Shea Theodore (leg, 18th, week-to-week); RW Mark Stone (upper-body, fourth, week-to-week); LW William Carrier (Upper Body, Third, Daily)
First period
Scoring
2:18, 1-0 Vegas: Martinez taps into a wide-open net from a sharp angle after Stephenson’s low shot rattles the left post.
Alec Martinez gets and keeps his first goal of the season @GoldenKnights 1-0 up 🚨 pic.twitter.com/E0oWuKDUto
— AT&T SportsNet™ | RM West (@ATTSportsNetRMW) January 22, 2023
7:36, 2-0: Roy Marchessault tipped a cross-ice feed that went over Jensen with Kuemper’s right pad after receiving the puck in the defensive zone.
Nicholas Ray Nirvana @GoldenKnights His 9th goal of the season is 2-0! 🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/EdmSF6XiDS
— AT&T SportsNet™ | RM West (@ATTSportsNetRMW) January 22, 2023
Shots: 10-6 Vegas
Other notable stats: Vegas, which had no giveaways when Washington was number three, won 57% of draws and is 5-2 in takeaways. Washington led 19-9 but both teams failed to score on a full power-play opportunity.
Second period
Scoring
2:15, 3-0: After Stephenson picked off a Jensen turnover off the left half-wall, Amadio moved in front of Kuemper’s glove and fed Amadio alone in the slot.
Michael Amadio extended the lead to 3-0 to start the 2nd period @GoldenKnights pic.twitter.com/bP1nCs5rU1
— AT&T SportsNet™ | RM West (@ATTSportsNetRMW) January 22, 2023
12:05, 4-0: Froese wrists past Kuemper’s blocker from the left point from Rush. Lindgren replaced Kuemper after the goal, Froese’s first in the NHL since February 9, 2021.
Byron, baby. Byron pic.twitter.com/AVQ7lUu9f5
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) January 22, 2023
13:39, 5-0: Cotter runs behind the defense after Roy pushes away from Mantha at the blueline, picks up the puck, decks and puts one under Lindgren’s pads.
Vegas is playing with the Caps right now ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/dUHAGip3zs
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 22, 2023
18:21, 5-1: Oshie tipped in a wrist shot by Gustafsson, who reached the 20-assist mark for the third time in his NHL career (2018-19: 43, 2019-20: 20) in the play, over Thompson’s blocker in the slot. Oshie became the sixth Capital to reach the 10-goal mark this season (Ovechkin: 30; Strome: 11; Sheary: 11; Johansson: 11; Dowd: 10).
Osh gets Caps on board pic.twitter.com/GDCIVH5zFc
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 22, 2023
Shots: 21-14 Vegas (including 11-8 in the second)
Other notable stats: Washington, which had two power play chances shut down, led 33-20 in the Heat. Vegas led 10-7 in blocked shots and had just one margin when Washington had seven.
Third period
Scoring
4:00, 6-1: Kotter once again gets a loose puck, decked and backhand shot to the feet of Lindgren for his second of the game after a board battle behind the net.
Paul Kotter scores against the Washington Capitals to make it 6-1 #VGKvsWSH #vegasborn # all caps pic.twitter.com/bULp65XI0a
— nopClips (@nopClips) January 22, 2023
10:42: 6-2: Johansson tips Van Riemsdyk’s point shot past Thompson’s blocker from the slot. The 32-year-old’s 12 goals are second-most in Washington this season, including two against Vegas.
Marcus Johansson tip-in to bring the Capitals within 4!# all caps pic.twitter.com/DMcmyn0rwr
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) January 22, 2023
Shots: 27-22 Vegas (8-6 Washington in third)
Other notable stats: Washington, which went scoreless on three power plays, led the Heat 40-28. Vegas, who turned the puck over just three times compared to Washington’s eight and won 57% of faceoffs, led 17-9 in blocked shots and 15-7 in takeaways.
Next game: Tuesday at Colorado Avalanche (9 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)
By Harrison Brown
