Three Takeaways From Golden Knights’ 3-1 Win Over Sabres

LAS VEGAS — Nobody in the NHL has been better than the Golden Knights since Nov. 21, as their 16-3-1 run has them sitting atop the league overall with 57 points.

From every aspect of their game – offense, defense and special teams – nobody has put together a more complete game than Vegas over the past 6 1/2 weeks.

“It’s just the details in our game,” said Jack Eichel, who scored a goal in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres. “I think we understand you’re not gonna have your best every night. You’re not gonna have your best legs, the puck is not gonna feel great. But we found different ways to win, and different guys have stepped up. Obviously, we have a ton of confidence in both our goaltenders and our defensemen.

“We just try and play to our structure as well as we can every night. And I think that gives us a chance to win. Obviously, we have good players that make good plays. It’s good when you get on a run like this, obviously there’s some confidence in the room. You expect to win every game. And that’s the mentality of our group. We go out and expect to win every hockey game.”

Tanner Laczynski scored his first goal of the season, Mark Stone added his 10th of the campaign and goalie Adin Hill stopped 23 shots in the win.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

SOMETHING SPECIAL: With just the third goal of his career, Laczynski said he didn’t have the first of this season, and as a member of the Golden Knights, on the same night as Stone and Eichel scoring on his bucket list. But he’ll take it. Laczynski was playing in just his sixth game with Vegas.

“Yeah, it’s pretty special,” said Laczynski, who started his career in Philadelphia and signed with Vegas as a free agent during the offseason. “Anytime you score a goal, it’s special. But I mean doing it here in this building, it makes it that much better.”

600 FOR STONE: With his first-period goal, Stone registered the 600th point of his career. Stone became the eighth-fastest active Canadian player to 600 NHL points, doing it in 665 games played. Stone registered 311 points in 6 1/2 seasons with Ottawa, and now has 289 points in the 6 1/2 seasons he’s been in Vegas. Stone is on pace to finish with 89 points, which would be a career-high.

“So cool for Stoney,” Eichel said. “Well deserved. He means so much to this group and this organization. Anybody that knows Stoney knows how much he loves the game. He’s never cheated for points or for offense. It’s always been defense and structure and putting the team first.”

STINGY KNIGHTS: Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy has reiterated all season how much he wants his team to boast the best defense in the Pacific Division. During its current 20-game stretch since Nov. 21, the Knights have allowed a league-low 2.20 goals-against per game. It’s helped lower their GAA to a league seventh-lowest 2.67 per contest for the season.