Jack Eichel opened the season with three points, Trevor Connelly scored in his NHL debut and Ryan Craig earned his first win as an NHL head coach Tuesday as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas scored twice in the first period and never trailed. Five different Golden Knights found the net, while Carter Hart stopped 24 of 26 shots.
“We’ve won Game 1. That’s what we set out to accomplish,” Craig said. “I told our guys we were proud of our training camp. I thought our training camp reflected how we played tonight.”
Connelly gets his moment
Victor Olofsson opened the scoring midway through the first period on the power play. Eichel and Shea Theodore picked up the assists.
Connelly then made his first NHL game one to remember.
The rookie scored at 15:22 of the first period, giving Vegas a 2-0 lead. Brayden McNabb and Theodore assisted.
Craig said Connelly’s willingness to attack difficult areas around the net showed up immediately.
“He’s a brave kid in the sense of getting to the hard areas,” Craig said. “We saw it on the forecheck. We saw it on his goal. He plays around the net.”
The reaction on the Vegas bench told the rest of the story.
“Just a real special moment for Trevor and his family,” Craig said.
Eichel had predicted before the game that he wanted to see a Connelly goal.
“Called the shot,” Eichel said. “That’s incredible. You see his family here before the game. It’s his first NHL game.”
“He’s obviously a special player. So happy to see him get his first, and definitely a night and a moment he’ll never forget.”
Eichel answers Chicago
Chicago cut the lead to 2-1 in the second period when Jordan Greenway scored at 12:23.
Vegas responded before the period ended.
Eichel scored his first goal of the season at 15:12, finishing a play from Ivan Barbashev and McNabb to restore the two-goal advantage.
Craig liked the response after Chicago began pushing back.
“We had some of those shifts where we had to, I call them reset shifts, or scenarios where the game could turn,” Craig said. “We had some good shifts from the lines that went out after certain scenarios.”
Vegas answers again
Patrick Kane made it 3-2 at 4:04 of the third period, but the Golden Knights answered only 39 seconds later.
Noah Hanifin scored from Nic Dowd and Marc Gatcomb to make it 4-2.
Mark Stone added an empty-net goal at 17:27, with Eichel and Barbashev assisting. Eichel finished with a goal and two assists, while Theodore and McNabb each added two helpers.
Vegas also received five points from its defensemen.
“We were jumping in at the right times,” McNabb said. “Hanny’s goal is a perfect example. A good opportunity, and he was able to finish, which is awesome.”
The Golden Knights outshot Chicago 37-26, won 56.9 percent of the faceoffs and finished 1-for-3 on the power play.
For Craig, the victory provided another first on a night already full of them.
“It’s nice to have my family here to witness the first win,” Craig said. “Proud of our guys and our effort, and we’ll get back to work.”
Eichel said the result mattered most, even with room for improvement.
“At the end of the day, it’s important to get off to a good start at the beginning of the season and find ways to win hockey games,” Eichel said. “By no means was it our prettiest effort, but we’re going to get better.”
Related stories
Welcome to Dice City Sports — where we provide premium, exclusive, up-to-date news and analysis surrounding the Las Vegas sports scene. Follow along on social media, and check back for new articles daily!
Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
