Around the NHL: Nosek, Vegas Claim Game 1

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final certainly brought the entertainment and theatrics of a Vegas show. From the pre-game festivities to the final seconds on the ice, the opener of the Stanley Cup Final lived up to the hype.

In total, there were five lead changes and four ties throughout a wild series opener between the Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals. It was the Golden Knights coming away with the victory to open the series, defeating the Capitals, 6-4, in Game 1.

Vegas got an early power play in the first and struck first with Colin Miller firing a shot from the top of the right circle to beat Braden Holtby.

As the first period progressed, Washington picked up the play physically and got more aggressive in the offensive zone. A point shot by Michael Kempny was deflected in by Brett Connolly at 14:41 and 42 seconds later, Nicklas Backstrom was able to lift a backhander over Marc-Andre Fleury to give Washington the lead.

Vegas looked rattled in those moments, but recovered by the end of the period to get the equalizer. Leave it to Vegas' tremendous top line to get things back on track, as William Karlsson was able to score from the side of the net after a shot from Reilly Smith banked off the end boards.

After one entertaining period of play, the two teams were knotted at two.

Vegas struck for the first goal of the second period at 3:21, as Smith picked up the goal after a frantic shift in the Washington zone. Just over five minutes later, Washington had the answer again, as T.J. Oshie made a nice play to set up John Carlson with a wide open net.

The second ended in a 3-3 tie with Vegas leading in shots, 25-18.

Early in the third, Washington managed to break the tie with Tom Wilson getting a deflection in front. Just 91 seconds later, Ryan Reaves scored the tying goal for Vegas, making it 4-4.

To this point, it was a highly-entertaining and competitive series opener that had also remained relatively clean. There were just two penalties called in the game entering the third and the extra-curriculars that followed some whistles were minor incidents in the hockey world.

But at 5:53 of the third, things got heated as Wilson laid a blindsided hit on Jonathan Marchessault. At the same time, Alex Ovechkin and David Perron also tangled. Out of it all, only Wilson and Perron.

Vegas broke the tie with 10:16 remaining in the third with Shea Theodore connected on a perfect backdoor pass to Tomas Nosek for just his second goal of the playoffs.

In the frantic closing moments of the game, Washington had the chance to tie as the puck got to the front of the net with Lars Eller there with an empty net, but he couldn't connect. Nosek scored into the empty net in the final seconds to seal the Game 1 win for Vegas.

Game 2 takes place in Vegas on Wednesday night at 8 p.m.