Mitch Marner loves to “hear the love and the loudness” inside T-Mobile Arena, his new home arena with the Golden Knights.
Saturday he helped fuel the energy for an announced crowd of 17,811 by scoring his first two goals as a Knight, while Vegas cruised to a 6-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
Vegas (4-0-2) extended its season-opening point streak to six games.
Team captain Mark Stone finished with two goals and two assists, while Jack Eichel had four assists.
Tomas Hertl and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Knights.
Adin Hill earned his first win of the season after stopping 26 shots.
“I felt in control the whole night,” Hill said. “They kept kind of looking for backdoor plays on the power play. And I was just trying to kind of stay in my net and keep my feet under me and do everything I came to be in position.”
And while the Flames finished 1 of 3 on the power play, Vegas was a perfect 3 of 3 with the man advantage.
The Golden Knights rank second in the NHL with their power play percentage (37.5%).
“It’s pretty fun,” Marner said of the power play. “So many different threats out there that make plays. For me, it’s just trying to find open ice for Jack to make his play. … They’ve done a great job down low, really making teams play in different areas there. It’s been a lot of fun to watch.”
Marner opened the scoring just 46 seconds into the game, bringing the home crowd to life immediately. But it was the 28-year-old forward’s crafty stick work that sent the crowd into a frenzy near the end of the second period.
Marner extended Vegas’ lead to four goals when he gathered a pass from Stone during a power play, skated to the front of the crease and used a forehand-backhand deke to beat Calgary netminder Dustin Wolf
Marner now has eight points on the year, after assisting on six goals in the first five games.
Eichel, who extended his season-opening point streak to six games after finishing with four assists, owns the franchise record for the most points through the club’s first six games of the season. His 15 points lead the league, while his five multi-point games are the most by any skater this season.
Stone is second in the league with 13 points, including an NHL-high 11 assists. Eichel is just behind him with 10 helpers.
Stone left the game in the third period after falling to the ice near the neutral zone, and immediately went to the locker room. Television replays showed him rotating his wrist. Cassidy said there were no immediate updates and he would know more by Monday’s morning skate ahead of Vegas’ game against Carolina.
Hertl, who scored his third goal of the season, played in the 797th game of his career. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Hertl will play in his 800th career game on Oct. 26 in Tampa, on the second of a back-to-back after visiting two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida.
