Ilya Samsonov stopped 31 shots to earn his 14th career NHL shutout in a Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 victory against the Calgary Flames at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
“I want to say ‘Thank you’ to the team,” Samsonov said. “Guys block a lot of shots. We play a simple game with less mistakes. Sometimes, we get a shutout. It’s good, but I don’t think about this too much.”
Tanner Pearson had a goal and an assist. Brett Howden and Victor Oloffson also scored for Vegas (25-8-3), which is 10-1-0 in December and has won six straight.
Here are a few more takeaways from the game:
Golden Knights kill off critical penalties
The Golden Knights fended off a critical 5-on-3 penalty late in the first and early in the second period thanks to penalties by Tanner Laczynski (tripping) and Howden (double minor for high sticking.
Samsonov stopped all five shots during that stretch, and the Golden Knights bunkered down defensively to kill off the infractions and keep the game 0-0.
“That was huge,” Howden said. “Obviously, we don’t like being on that side of it. … I thought they did a great job of keeping them to the outside and not really allowing much.”
Howden Gets Lucky Bounce
Howden’s goal was initially awarded to Alex Pietrangelo, but the official scorers changed their minds when they saw Howden tip the puck into the net.
Howden wasn’t sure whether it hit his stick, but it’s those types of bounces that have given Howden his career-high 15th goal of the season. He tied Ivan Barbashev for the team lead.
“I’m getting some bounces going my way a little bit more from previous years,” Howden said. “I’m finding more confidence as I play here.”
When asked if Pietrangelo gave him a hard time about it,
“Not at all,” Howden said, smirking.
300th Career Point for Pearson
With his two-point night, Pearson scored his 300th career NHL point. Forward Cole Schiwidnt gave the puck of point 300 to Pearson after the game.
“Well, that’s pretty cool. I’ll take it,” Pearson said.
It was one of three milestones the Golden Knights reached Sunday.
Forward Jack Eichel and coach Bruce Cassidy each tallied their 200th career game with the organization.
Paul Delos Santos is the Las Vegas sports insider for Dice City Sports. Follow him on X at @PaulDelos_.
