Brossoit, Golden Knights top Ducks 3-1 in Pacific battle
Dec 31, 2021, 12:51 AM | Updated: 3:38 pm
Vegas Golden Knights center Mattias Janmark (26) celebrates his goal against the Anaheim Ducks during the second period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Dec. 31, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
(AP Photo/David Becker)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Laurent Brossoit stopped 15 shots and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Friday to increase their Pacific Division lead.
Mattias Janmark, Adam Brooks and Nic Roy scored for the Golden Knights. They improved to 4-0 at home on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day since entering the league in 2017.
Ryan Getzlaf scored for Anaheim, with 12 seconds left in the game to spoil Brossoit’s attempt at his third career shutout. John Gibson made 42 saves for the Ducks.
“I’m not too worried about (a shutout), the main goal is the win, and so that feels good,” said Brossoit, who is 1-0 with a career .950 save percentage and 1.04 GAA in three appearances against Anaheim. “Of course, a shutout would have been nice, a little bit of a bonus but it’s not going to worry my night.”
Vegas won for the 10th time in 12 games and to move three points in front of Anaheim, sitting in first place in the Pacific Division with 44 points.
“I think the team’s been feeling really good in the last month or so, and to cap off the month and the year in the fashion like that, it couldn’t feel any better,” Brossoit said.
Since opening the season 10-4-3, the Ducks are 7-6-4. Anaheim’s 16 shots were a season low.
“I don’t think we played with any energy or passion to start the game,” Getzlaf said. “We came into a building that’s pretty electric and their team likes to play here. We didn’t accomplish a lot in that first period and throughout most of the game.”
Vegas jumped out early with a 2-0 first-period lead after Roy opened the scoring with his career-high seventh goal by deflecting home Ben Hutton’s shot past Gibson midway through the first period.
Brooks made it 2-0 late in the first with a bit of a mystery goal, as his one-timer by Gibson was lodged into the back of the net and goal frame, and hadn’t been discovered for several moments.
Janmark, who also had a missed penalty shot opportunity, put Vegas ahead 3-0 after he fed Keegan Kolesar for a beautiful doorstep one-timer that failed. The puck trickled back to the top of the left circle, where Janmark fired through traffic for his fourth goal of the season.
“The trend we’ve had lately is good and now we just got to keep building off it,” Janmark said. “We’ve got a couple of home games here so we can really gain ground here.”
Outweighing what’s become an annual New Year’s party inside T-Mobile with the Golden Knights, was overflowing tension between the division rivals, as the two brawls broke out.
Getzlaf took exception to an earlier sequence and came out of the penalty box looking to drop the gloves and found Vegas enforcer Keegan Kolesar. Both were sent to the box for fighting.
Moments later Ducks wing Nicolas Deslauriers was whacking at Vegas’ young forward Michael Amadio’s stick at the faceoff circle and referee Trevor Hanson sent him off the ice for the rest of the period.
With the Ducks clearly frustrated, Anaheim’s Derek Grant cross-checked Vegas defenseman Dylan Coghlan, triggering two more fights and seven penalties to four players.
A second free-for-all broke out near the end of the game after Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb laid one of his patented hits into Anaheim’s Sam Carrick. Both Carrick and Buddy Robinson jumped on McNabb, igniting another fracas.
Vegas and Anaheim finished the game with 62 penalty minutes.
NOTES: Vegas assistant captain Reilly Smith is one game shy of his 300th with the Golden Knights. Smith has played in 664 games with four teams. … Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins remains one win shy of his 100th victory as an NHL coach. … Getlaf’s goal was on the power play. The Ducks are fourth in the NHL on the man advantage (24-for-91, 26.4%), the lone club to rank in the top five on both special teams units.
UP NEXT
Anaheim: At Colorado on Sunday
Vegas: Hosts Winnipeg on Sunday.
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