For this last match of the year 2024, the Montreal Canadian was in Vegas.
We wondered if the Canadian would be able to build on his success in the last two games. After all, the Florida portion of the holiday trip, as you know, went well.
Unsurprisingly, Michael Pezzetta and Jayden Struble were in the stands.
Quickly into the match, the Vegas players took the lead. Kirby Dach gave the puck to the opponents and the club took the opportunity to cross the ice from the start of the match.
But did the CH let it happen? Not necessarily.
Even though Vegas was shooting a lot at the net at the start of the match, Martin St-Louis’ men regained momentum. We felt a certain opposition and the CH was not downgraded.
That said, in the last minute of the first, the Knights’ forecheck paid off. The club played well and made it 2-0 just before returning to the locker room. That hurt.
In the second period, the Golden Knights buzzed more than the CH. But the Knights’ lack of opportunism ended up opening the door for the Canadian to begin a comeback.
Cole Caufield found the back of the net. It was his 100th career.
The Golden Knights thought they had broken through Montembeault’s wall late in the second, but the puck crossed the red line before the end of the second period. It would have been hard for CH to allow another goal at the end of the period, like in the first.
In the middle of the third, Emil Heineman took advantage of his club’s forecheck to tie the game. Getting hit in the face earlier in the match wouldn’t have hurt him too much.
And it wasn’t over.
Kirby Dach chose not to pass the puck to Patrik Laine (which wouldn’t have been a bad decision) and he found a way to give his team the lead for the first time in the game.
The Canadian’s challenge, at this point, was to find a way to maintain the lead – especially thanks to Samuel Montembeault late in the match. And that’s ultimately what happened since the Canadian won 3-2.
That’s a good end to the year.
Prolongation
– CH’s next match will take place on January 3 in Chicago.
– This morning, my colleague Marc-Olivier Cook said that CH had not yet won a regular match in Vegas. The club managed to change the situation on December 31.
– Samuel Montembeault and Adin Hill, it was a duel between two goalkeepers who will fight for playing time in February, at the four nations tournament.
– The club trip is still going well, eh? #InTheMix
