Marchessault heard, loud and clear
Yelp on ice creates diversion, opening for Karlsson’s goal
William Karlsson’s second-period goal for the Golden Knights in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks took spectacular individual efforts from two people.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo needed to make a perfect pass from below the faceoff dots in the defensive zone to hit Karlsson in stride on the edge of the offensive blue line. Karlsson had to outrace three Ducks defenders and stay poised enough to lift the puck past goaltender John Gibson.
Both players said there was a third man involved, however. They each credited left wing Jonathan Marchessault for calling for the puck and drawing enough attention to leave Karlsson open.
“It was actually Marchy that was yelling and I heard him call,” Pietrangelo said. “I don’t think I’m making the play unless they’re calling for it. Great finish for (Karlsson), that’s for sure.”
Marchessault has never been the quiet sort.
He’s quick to chirp the Knights’ goalies in practice. He’s always ragging on teammates for their efforts in drills. And he was cited by many as one of the loudest people on the team’s bench last postseason.
His voice carries on the ice, too. Marchessault was just beyond the defensive blue line when he called for the puck Saturday, but it caught the defense’s attention. That was enough for Karlsson to catch the Ducks flatfooted and give the Knights a 2-1 lead.
Karlsson said he later thanked Marchessault for the “phantom assist” on the bench. He wasn’t sure how many times he’s received that kind of help in their four seasons playing together.
“Probably more than I know,” Karlsson said. “He’s very good at
drawing attention to himself. … He’s a good guy to have around for that particular reason. He’s obviously a good player too. If he could keep yelling, that’d be great.”
Here are three other takeaways from the win:
1. Mr. 100
Knights goaltender Marc-andre Fleury earned his 100th win with the franchise in his 168th game.
Fleury became the second-fastest goalie in history to be the first to reach 100 wins with a franchise. It took Tiny Thompson 158 games to do so in Boston.
Fleury admitted he wasn’t sure he was going to be piling up wins when he was acquired in the 2017 expansion draft.
“It was lots of unknowns coming to Vegas,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun, and hopefully there’s a lot more coming up.”
Fleury also became the 15th goaltender
to have 100 wins with two teams. He won 375 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is nine wins from tying Ed Belfour for the fourthmost all time and 14 from tying third-place Roberto Luongo.
2. Karlsson strikes twice
Knights center William Karlsson scored twice — in the second period and overtime — for his first two-goal game this season.
Karlsson hadn’t scored in his previous eight games. The last time he scored at least twice was Feb. 23, 2020, when he had a hat trick against the Ducks.
“It was nice to get the first one,” said Karlsson, a second-round pick by Anaheim in 2011. “It’s been a couple games. And after that, you get even more hungry. Almost greedy.”
Karlsson has 14 points in 17 games, giving him his highest points-per-game average (0.82)
since the Knights’ inaugural season (0.95).
3. Fourth line steps up
Right wing Ryan Reaves admitted Saturday morning he wasn’t happy with his line’s play.
The group took a step toward rectifying that against the Ducks. Reaves, center Keegan Kolesar and left wing William Carrier were on the ice for four scoring chances at five-on-five and none against.
They were also out for Pietrangelo’s goal, with Carrier providing a screen on Ducks goaltender John Gibson. Pietrangelo credited Carrier for his help. Deboer went out of his way to mention the fourth line.
“I thought our fourth line was great tonight right from the opening shift of the game,” he said.