Lehner’s first playoff shutout keys Game 1 rout of Vancouver
Ryan Reaves incessantly clucked at Antoine Roussel from the Golden Knights’ bench, calling the Vancouver Canucks forward a chicken.
Jonathan Marchessault clobbered Elias Pettersson in the glass in the first period, sending a message to last season’s rookie of the year.
The Knights walked into Rogers Place on Sunday, bullied the Canucks and stole their money during a 5-0 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
The best-of-seven series continues Tuesday in Edmonton, Alberta.
Goaltender Robin Lehner played through the distraction caused by an incendiary social media post from the agent of backup Marc-andre Fleury on Saturday to post his first career playoff shutout.
Lehner finished with 26 saves and improved to 7-1 this postseason, as the Knights quieted Vancouver’s potent duo of Pettersson and rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes and held them without a shot on goal.
“It was really nice to get the win,” Lehner said. “I thought we played a really good team game. Everybody was working hard, blocking shots, back-checking, all the small things.”
Reilly Smith, Mark Stone and Alex Tuch each finished with a goal and an assist. Defenseman Shea Theodore added two assists.
Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty also scored as the Knights moved to 9-0-2 all time against Vancouver in the regular season and playoffs.
Reaves set the tone physically with 11 hits, and the Knights outhit the Canucks 54-45.
The Knights imposed their will on the Canucks in the second period, scoring
three times to take a 4-0 lead.
Smith cleaned up a rebound on a power play less than three minutes into the period for his fourth goal before Stone briefly took over the team lead in goals with his fifth of the postseason.
Stone took away the sight lines of Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom and deflected Nate Schmidt’s shot from the point with 8:25 left in the second.
Tuch matched Stone with his fifth at 16:34 when he blew past defenseman Christopher Tanev and forward J.T. Miller and scored on a breakaway for a 4-0 lead.
Pacioretty scored midway through the third to chase Markstrom, who stopped 29 of 34 shots after he entered with a .929 save percentage in the postseason.
The Knights outshot Vancouver 39-26.
“I thought we were play
ing good hockey,” Stone said. “We got contributions physically up and down the lineup. Our big boys really set the tone early, backed off their defensemen to get some offensive zone opportunities.”
The Canucks are fresh off a six-game series victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues and advanced to the second round for the first time since 2011, but were steamrolled by the bigger, stronger Knights.
The Knights hadn’t played since they finished off Chicago on Tuesday, but got off to a frisky start in their first-ever postseason meeting with Vancouver after being triggered by Roussel.
Lehner and Roussel, a third-line antagonist for the Canucks, jawed during warmups before Reaves stepped in. The Knights goaltender sent another message early in the first period when he slashed Roussel in the leg.
Led by Reaves and the fourth line, the Knights dished out several hard checks and battered the Canucks in the first 20 minutes, finishing with a 21-11 advantage in hits.
Marchessault took advantage of the extra room that resulted from the Knights’ physical play to open the scoring at 11:37 of the first period.
Smith worked the puck behind the net and sent a centering pass that appeared to bounce off Tanev to Marchessault. He made a quick move around Bo Horvat and stuffed in his third goal of the playoffs from the side of the net with none of the Canucks making him pay.