Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy was pleased at the way his team "dug in" at times during their 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena. Cassidy worked with VGK over a couple of days on pace and execution and special teams. And the Golden Knights responded by playing its best 60-minute game.
The Golden Knights (10-0-1) have now earned 21 of a possible 22 points to begin the season.
VGK's Jonathan Marchessault scored his fourth career hat trick, and first such three-goal game since Dec. 19, 2019. One goal came on goalie Logan Thompson's first career assist. Thompson sent a stretch pass to the Winnipeg blue line and Mark Stone's cross-ice pass found Marchessault who finished the play. Marchessault now leads the team with six goals. He doubled his season goal total Thursday night.
William Karlsson potted his fourth goal of the season to open the scoring. And Ivan Barbeshev scored on a rebound of a Alex Pietrangelo shot for the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights played the game without William Carrier, who Cassidy said is ill. Nic Hague also is still out with a lower body injury.
VGK plays its second back-to-back this season as they host Colorado Saturday night and will travel to Anaheim Sunday. The Avs started off 6-0, but were shutout twice at Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Alexander Georgiev has started eight games already in net for Colorado. Mikko Rantanen leads the Avalanche with 14 points, including eight goals. The Ducks Troy Terry is on a tear. He had a hat trick in Anaheim's OT win over the Coyotes earlier this week. Anaheim has won five straight games beating the Bruins, Blue Jackets, Flyers, Penguins and Coyotes.