LAS VEGAS—The average NHL career lasts four or five years, with only the elite players enjoying prolonged dominance.
That alone should underscore how impressive Jack Eichel has been throughout his time in the league.
Since bursting onto the scene as the second overall pick in the 2015 draft, Eichel has seen just about everything. From commandeering an attempted rebuild with the Buffalo Sabres to winning a Stanley Cup and becoming an integral part of a perennial contender in the Vegas Golden Knights, the North Chelmsford native is not slowing down in his age-30 season. If anything, it appears that Eichel has only continued to improve.
In game 700 of Eichel’s career on Saturday, the Golden Knights celebrated in impressive fashion with a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at T-Mobile Arena.
“It was a great win. Great win for the team and happy we got two points tonight,” said Eichel during his postgame scrum.
For the second straight game, the Golden Knights would be the team delivering the punishment early.
Eichel would only need 66 seconds to commemorate his milestone game, delivering a pass to a barreling Rasmus Andersson. The Swedish defenseman would make no mistake on the Golden Knights’ first shot of the game, giving Vegas another early lead to work with on this current homestand.
“It’s obviously nice to lead the game after a couple minutes,” said Andersson. “We know it’s not going to happen every night but, when it happens, we’ll definitely take it.”
Still five minutes into the opening period, Eichel would make good on a quick transition play up the ice, this time finding defenseman and fellow Massachusetts native Noah Hanifin through a Pittsburgh defender. Similarly to Andersson, Hanifin made good on his clean shooting lane and beat Penguins goaltender Sergei Murashov to put the Golden Knights up two.
“Just trying to be fast with it,” said Eichel on the Golden Knights’ transition game.
“I think working as a five-man unit, it’s been something that we’ve been stressing. [Head coach Ryan Craig’s] been trying to get on us to check forward and we get pucks back to try and transition quickly and not allow teams to get into their setup. I think we’ve done a good job of that.”
While the Penguins would gain a bit of ground with their offensive zone play, the defense would let them down again on a Sidney Crosby tripping penalty.
Taking advantage of a prolonged offensive zone shift, the Golden Knights would finally get the play they were looking for when a Trevor Connelly pass deflected off of Mark Stone. The officials would review it for a kicking motion, but would ultimately rule a good goal for the captain’s third point of the period.
“The power play goal’s big to go into the room up three, but there’s still a lot of hockey,” said Craig on how the team stayed committed after such a flying start offensively for the second straight game.
“We shouldn’t be counting our chickens at being up three-nothing because we’ve been on the flip side of it and continue to push. I think our guys are conscious of that. We know there’s lots of hockey to be played in a game and I’m proud of how we’ve stuck with it in those situations.”
The Penguins would try to claw back with a Sidney Crosby deflection to start the second, but the Golden Knights would answer right back with Connelly picking off a pass and racing down the ice to beat Murashov high to get the three-goal lead back.
The goal puts Connelly in sole possession of first among all NHL rookies with his fourth tally and seventh point of the season.
“He’s a great player,” said Andersson about Connelly. “He’s a skilled little guy and he battles too. He seems to be one of those guys who find the right spot and, when he has an opportunity, he usually scores, so just keep sticking with it.”
Special teams would again make an impact before the middle team was up, as Mitch Marner would dig out the puck from a corner battle, allowing Brayden McNabb to find Shea Theodore for a one-timer. It marked the third straight game where Vegas scored at least five goals.
“We had so much time, it was weird,” joked McNabb about Marner giving the defensemen a chance to set up their scoring play. “It’s a good job for [Theodore] and it’s harder to put it in than it looks, so it’s good to see it go in.”
Evgeni Malkin would make things interesting temporarily with a shot in close range, but Brett Howden would get pulled down in an empty-net scenario to reward Vegas with their sixth goal of the game to close the deal.
Goaltender Adin Hill would also contribute positively, now riding a four-game winning streak to start the year with 22 saves on 24 Pittsburgh shots.
“They’ve made big saves at big times,” said McNabb about Hill and Carter Hart’s starts to the season. “That goes a long ways, so they’ve been great.”
After a busy stretch of games, the Golden Knights now get a small reprieve before finishing the homestand on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.