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Reilly Smith Scores in OT, Golden Knights Keep Winning Streak Alive at 8

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1 year ago

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Reilly Smith and William Karlsson Vegas Golden Knights (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter)
Reilly Smith and William Karlsson (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter)

The Toronto Maple Leafs (7-4-3, 17 points) were unable to snap an opposing team’s seven-game winning streak for the second time this season. They lost to the Vegas Golden Knights (12-2-0, 24 points) in overtime 4-3 Tuesday afternoon, with Reilly Smith scoring the overtime game-winning goal.

This marks the first-ever Golden Knights victory at Scotiabank Arena. It was also the last game of the season series between the Leafs and Golden Knights. The VGK win the season series 2-0.

No lineup changes were made for the Golden Knights. Logan Thompson got the start and faced off against Maple Leaf’s third-string goaltender Erik Kallgren. Both Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov remain injured for the Leafs.

With their first shifts in the game, both Smith and Alec Martinez played in their 700th career NHL games.

Just 45 seconds in, the Golden Knight’s fourth line scored the game’s first goal. Rasmus Sandin fumbled the puck at the blue line, and Will Carrier picked it up with speed. He made a drive to the net, and Nicolas Roy found the loose puck.

The Maple Leafs’ own fourth line evened up the game as they hemmed in the VGK in their own zone. After some puck possession, Timothy Liljegren joined the play and scored from the blue line.

The Golden Knights nearly challenged the play as Mark Stone thought the play was offside. Bruce Cassidy used his timeout to get an extra look at the play, but they opted not to challenge.

After both teams failed to score on their first powerplay chances of the night, the Golden Knights first line scored at five-on-five.

Jack Eichel forced Liljegren to turnover the puck in his defensive zone. Eichel then found his linemates Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone, who went tic-tac-toe back to him for the goal. With the goal, Eichel’s point streak is now at six games.

The second period was controlled mostly by the Maple Leafs, who won the period 2-0. Kallgren had to make three breakaway saves in the game and two in this period. They came against Smith, Carrier, and Keegan Kolesar.

At the other end of the ice, the Leafs tied it with Mitch Marner doing Mitch Marner things. He made a multitude of beautiful moves in the slot to score.

Late in the period, the Leafs tied it with Liljegren scoring yet again. The Golden Knights were again pinned in their own defensive zone and tired. Liljegren jumped in on the play and scored from the point again.

With just 20 shots on goal through the entirety of the game, the Maple Leafs were playing well defensively. The Golden Knights were forced to resort to other means of generating offense. This came on a Maple Leafs’ powerplay with Michael Amadio holding Michael Bunting.

In true Misfit fashion, Smith and William Karlsson went to work on the penalty kill. William Nylander fumbled the puck at the blue line, which led to a Smith/Karlsson two-on-one. The rest is history.

With this goal and the overtime winner, Smith has seven goals on the season. But only one of them has come at five-on-five. He has two goals shorthanded, three on the powerplay, and one in overtime.

Fittingly, in the first shift of overtime it was Smith again who scored. Shea Theodore found him slicing by the Maple Leaf’s defense and he scored on a partial break.

This goal gave the Golden Knights their eight-straight win, their longest streak since their record ten-game streak in 2020-21.

VHN’s Player of the Game: Reilly Smith

Two goals, which were the game-tying and game-winning goals in his 700th career game in his hometown? Say no more.

Up Next: Jack Eichel will make his second return to Buffalo Thursday night as the Golden Knights finish up their road trip with a 4 p.m. game in New York.

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