Vegas beats the Bruins
Alex Tuch and Vadim Shipachyov made the most of their debuts with the Vegas Golden Knights, as they each scored a goal in a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
It was just the seventh career game for Tuch, who played in six games with Minnesota last season, while Shipachyov was making his NHL debut. Both players were recalled from Chicago of the AHL to fill roster spots for the suddenly banged-up Golden Knights.
“I always want to make a statement. I gotta try to prove myself in this league. I understand the situation management was in. It wasn’t performance based so that made me feel a little bit better,” said Tuch, who had four goals and an assist in three AHL games. “I tried to go down there and prove I was one of the high-end guys in the AHL, and now I’m trying to prove that I can make this league.”
Also making his Vegas debut was goalie Malcolm Subban, who stopped 21 shots for the win against his former team.
“The biggest thing was just not thinking, staying focused, staying in the moment. It feels really good to get the first win in your first game,” said Subban, who had started only two NHL games, both for Boston. “My first shot I got good control on it and that got me in the game a lot. You never know how the game is going to go in the NHL. It’s really technical. Sometimes you don’t get a lot of shots, so you gotta stay focused, and I felt I did that tonight.”
Subban, who was claimed off waivers Oct. 3 from the Bruins, got the nod when No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day. He spent most of his time in Providence, where he played in 127 minor league games over four seasons. His best year statistically was the 2014-15 season, when he finished with a .921 save percentage. In his only two previous NHL starts, Subban had a .727 save percentage for the Bruins.
“We know Malcolm well. He’s a good first-shot goaltender. We wanted to put some stress on him, make him uncomfortable in those second ones, and I don’t think we did a very good job with that,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said.