LAS VEGAS \u2014 For a change, the Vegas Golden Knights weren\u2019t late getting to their game.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the return of defenseman Noah Hanifin helped the Knights start on time. Or maybe the fact Tuesday\u2019s opponent, the Detroit Red Wings, were a more formidable foe than they had been in recent years, forcing the Knights to elevate their game from puck drop all the way through.<\/p>\n
Whatever it was, it worked.<\/p>\n
With Akira Schmid performing stoutly in goal, the defense in front of him playing well and enough offense to get by, the Knights, behind Ivan Barbashev’s second-period goal, bested Detroit 1-0 at T-Mobile Arena and returned to the top of the Pacific Division with 17 points. Vegas and Anaheim are tied for the division lead and the Ducks come to T-Mobile on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The big news was the return of Hanifin, the veteran defenseman who was injured in the first period of the season opener back on Oct. 8 and hasn\u2019t played since due to a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n
Not only did Hanifin not appear to show much rust in his game, he appeared to be moving well and coach Bruce Cassidy didn\u2019t baby his minutes. Hanifin wound up playing 21:52 Tuesday night and if he was bit winded afterward, who could blame him?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was good,\u201d Hanifin said. \u201cIt was nice to be back in the lineup with the guys. It\u2019s tough watching and not being part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to keep it simple early, get my feet under me and the team had a good game tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cassidy said he could see the difference in his team with Hanifin on the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was excited to play and it showed,\u201d he said. \u201cHe made us better. We\u2019re grateful to have him back.<\/p>\n
The Knights also welcomed back Colton Sissons to the lineup after the center had missed the previous two games. They\u2019re still without Mark Stone and Adin Hill. But with Schmid continuing to play well and Carl Lindbom not looking out of place in an NHL game, the Knights seem to be getting by without Hill, their $6.25 million-a-year goaltender. Don\u2019t forget, Carter Hart will be eligible to play in a little over three weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just try and go out there and play your game,\u201d Schmid said after he recorded his first shutout as a Golden Knight and improved to 6-1. \u201cTight games like that, it\u2019s always fun as a goalie. I think emotions are a little higher, there\u2019s more pressure than in other games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schmid said having Hanifin in front of him didn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe helps out a lot,\u201d Schmid said. \u201cHe\u2019s a great player. Having him out there helps your confidence a lot. He has a lot of poise and he sees the ice really well.”<\/p>\n
But in stopping all 24 shots he faced and out dueling veteran John Gibson, Schmid saw how a game like Tuesday\u2019s can help his confidence and that of his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been very good,\u201d Cassidy said of Schmid. He gives us a chance to win whenever he\u2019s in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI though both goalies did a real good job. Our guy was one shot better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 For a change, the Vegas Golden Knights weren\u2019t late getting to their game. Perhaps the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[2831,762,149,5317,5,1259,40,4,2833,4972,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-285510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-akira-schmid","9":"tag-bruce-cassidy","10":"tag-golden-knights","11":"tag-goldenknights","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-ivan-barbashev","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-noah-hanifin","17":"tag-tst-las-vegas","18":"tag-vegas","19":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","20":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115496316395516276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}