The scoreboard didn’t reflect it early, but the game told the truth by the end.
The Vegas Golden Knights absorbed an early Nashville punch, tilted the ice with pressure and pace, and then blew the doors off T-Mobile Arena with a five-goal third period to bury the Predators 7-2 on Saturday night. The win was Vegas’ seventh straight and another reminder of what this group looks like when it plays north, fast, and heavy.
“We wanted to force them to skate,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Once we got traffic and started putting pucks on net, the game opened up.”
A calm crease and a patient start
Vegas controlled large stretches of the first period but fell behind at 14:10 when Luke Evangelista deflected a Roman Josi point shot past Akira Schmid. It was one of the few times Nashville found clean space all night.
Schmid made sure it didn’t snowball.
“The first goal went off a body,” Cassidy said. “After that, he was solid. He held us in it.”
Schmid stopped 27 of 29 shots and calmly weathered Nashville’s best push midway through the second, allowing Vegas to stay patient instead of chasing offense.
“I just focus on competing,” Schmid said. “Being set for shots gives me the best chance.”
Traffic changes everything
Vegas’ breakthrough came late in the second, and it came exactly how Cassidy drew it up.
Alexander Holtz tied the game at 2:43 by blasting a point shot that changed direction in traffic before slipping under the goaltender’s arm. Just 65 seconds later, Shea Theodore, playing in his 600th NHL game, jumped into space and snapped home the go-ahead goal with bodies stacked in front.
“Holtz’s goal was greasy,” Cassidy said. “That’s what we needed. Pucks on net, traffic, second chances.”
The sequence flipped the game. Nashville never recovered.
The third-period avalanche
Once the dam broke, Vegas poured it on.
Pavel Dorofeyev finished a 2-on-1 early in the third. Mark Stone followed minutes later, extending his career-high point streak to 11 games. Then the floodgates opened, as goals from Cole Reinhardt, Mitch Marner, and Keegan Kolesar turned a tight game into a rout in under eight minutes.
“It felt like every announcement was another goal,” Schmid said.
The scoring surge showcased Vegas’ depth as much as its stars. Seven different Golden Knights found the net, and five players recorded multi-point nights.
“When everyone contributes, it changes the dynamic,” Kolesar said. “It keeps pressure off the top guys.”
Numbers that mattered
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Seven unanswered goals turned a 1–0 deficit into a runaway win
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Seven different goal scorers highlighted Vegas’ depth
- Vegas is one of only two teams in the Pacific Division with a positive goal differential at +15, joined by Edmonton at +4
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27 saves from Schmid steadied the game early, and he added the first assist of his NHL career on Marner’s third-period goal
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Stone’s point streak reached a career-best 11 games
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Vegas won the physical battle and killed all three Nashville power plays
The Golden Knights didn’t just beat the Predators. They wore them down, sped them up, and buried them when they cracked. It was exactly the formula Cassidy keeps preaching, and it is clearly taking hold.
And when it does, the results look exactly like this.
Up next for the Golden Knights:
The Vegas Golden Knights remain at home Sunday, Jan. 19, welcoming the Philadelphia Flyers for a 5 p.m. PT start at T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights sit at 24-11-12 with 60 points and atop the Pacific Division.
The Golden Knights then hit the road to face the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, Jan. 22, with puck drop scheduled for 4 p.m. PT at TD Garden.
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