The Vegas Golden Knights thumped the Vancouver Canucks 5-0 in the first game of their Western Conference play-off on Sunday.
Alex Tuch, Reilly Smith, and Mark Stone each enjoyed a goal and an assist, while Shea Theodore bagged two assists of his own. Golden Knights Goaltender Robin Lehner enjoyed a standout performance, making 26 saves to mark his first NHL postseason shutout.
Following the game, Lehner had this to say, “It was really nice to get the win. I thought we played a [heck] of game … a really good team game. Everyone was working hard, blocking shots and backchecking. Doing all the small things, and it was nice to come out strong and start the series strong.”
Teammate Reilly Smith agreed with Lehner’s sentiment, explaining, “These series can be long, but the feeling in the first game is important and doing it the way we did tonight shows what we have in our locker room when we have every guy coming in, stepping up, and having an impact like they had. We’re a hard team to beat when we’re able to control the puck in the offensive zone, and we did that tonight.”
Game 2 will take place on Tuesday in Edmonton, the hub city of the NHL Western Conference.
