Vegas Golden Knights Make NHL Playoffs
On Monday night, the Vegas Golden Knights became the first expansion team to reach the NHL playoffs since 1968. It secured it’s playoff spot with a 4 – 1 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
Alex Tuch, Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore and Karlsson each scored for the Golden Knights. Goaltender Fleury stopped 28 shots as he improved to 28-11-4 for the season.
Leading scorer William Karlsson scored the fourth goal into an empty net. It was his 40th goal this season.
On the night, the Vegas players and staff remembered the mass shooting on October 1 which killed 58 people. It was coach Gerard Gallants’ 200th career victory, although he wasn’t putting his team’s achievement into a personal context.
“I’m really happy about making the playoffs, the 200th win doesn’t mean a whole lot,” Gallant said. “We always go back to our first home game. It wasn’t about our team winning, it wasn’t about nothing – it was about the first responders and the tragedy that happened the week before that.
“It was a tough way to start our season, but I think the guys and everybody supported it well. They all came out and played an unbelievable game that first night and I just think it carried over.”
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Team Owner Bill Foley expressed his prive over his team of whom nothing was expected this season:
“It was a disaster that night, it was a terrible massacre, we changed our initial opening night ceremonies, I thought we really connected with the town – I’m so proud of the whole team. From then on, it was pretty unbelievable. We got off to that fast start. We’ve survived a lot of challenges this year, besides being an expansion team who nobody picked to do anything.”
