Vegas Golden Knights win wild Game 1 against Washington Capitals

LAS VEGAS – You never know what you’ll see at a Vegas Golden Knights game. Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final included famous ring announcer Michael Buffer giving a “Let’s get ready to rumble” introduction before the opening faceoff.

Lee Greenwood sang God Bless the USA and Gladys Knight sang God Bless America. Boxing great Floyd Mayweather was in the stands. Wasn’t that classic video of the late Freddie Mercury on a scoreboard?

But for all of the surprises the expansion Golden Knights provide off the ice, they are predictably consistent in their resiliency on the ice. The Golden Knights again were a study in perseverance as they rallied twice to down the Washington Capitals 6-4 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final.

“To be able to bounce back from a bad shift, or a goal, or something doesn’t go our way, is one of the strengths of this team,” said Vegas tough guy Ryan Reaves, who tied the game 4-4 in the third period.

After Tom Wilson scored at 1:10 of the third period to give the Capitals a 4-3 lead, Reaves answered at 2:41. After Wilson sent Jonathan Marchessault to the dressing room with a heavy hit that he didn’t see coming, fourth-liner Tomas Nosek scored what proved to be the game-winner at 9:44 of the period. He also added an empty-netter.

Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said he believes the Wilson hit should have been a major penalty. “(But) we got two goals after that,” he said. “Good reach from our team.”

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Defenseman Nate Schmidt said the Golden Knights have been able to perform unexpected feats the entire season.

“Now it’s something we expect from ourselves,” he said.    

The win improved the Golden Knights’ home record to 7-1 in the playoffs. They have been playing in T-Mobile Arena for only nine months, but it’s already one of the most challenging venues for opposing players.

Even though the Golden Knights are a patchwork team of players garnered through the expansion draft and trades, they play as if they have been together for years. They call themselves the Golden Misfits because they all came from teams that considered them expendable. The fact that all three Vegas goals in the third period came from fourth-liners fits into that theme.

“The fourth line (Reaves, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Nosek) probably never gets enough credit,” said Marchessault. “They probably play the hardest. They play the right way, and they never get as much ice time as they would want, but they manage to get big goals for us.”

Nosek said the most important goal he had ever netted before Monday’s game-winner was a game-winner with 13 seconds left in regulation in last year’s American Hockey League championship series.

“One of the strengths of our team is that we can roll four lines,” said top-line winger Reilly Smith, who also scored for Vegas. “When we are playing 5-on-5, we are as good as any team in the league.”

Both teams claimed to be nervous at the start of Game 1, even though Buffer’s introduction seemed to fire up the Golden Knights.

“It was almost like we were getting ready for a fight,” Gallant said.

Said Schmidt: “I was ready to rumble.”

Fittingly, it was a hard-fought battle, with both teams scrapping until the end. After one game, the Vegas-Washington final already feels like a feisty, quality series.

“They would probably say they have another level,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. “I know we do.”