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Alex Pietrangelo flashes in Golden Knights debut

The most expensive free-agent signing in Golden Knights history made his T-Mobile Arena debut Thursday.

And despite not having any fans there to welcome him, Alex Pietrangelo showed why he was so coveted.

The defenseman, who signed a seven-year, $61.6 million contract with the Knights in October, was on the ice for three of the team’s goals and had an assist in a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

“It felt different without the fans, obviously,” Pietrangelo said. “But I feel like I’ve adjusted well. I’ve been here for a little while kind of getting used to my surroundings. It was nice to come down here for the scrimmages to get some sort of routine.”

Pietrangelo arrived with an impressive pedigree, having been a Stanley Cup-winning captain in St. Louis. And when he took the ice Thursday, he displayed the offensive instincts and defensive acumen that make him one of the NHL’s best two-way defensemen. He’s unafraid to jump into plays to create a spark. He’s perfectly willing to throw his 6-foot-3-inch frame in front of a shot to prevent his goalie from having to make a save.

He wasn’t perfect — he was on the ice for the Ducks’ first goal and couldn’t tie up Max Comtois to prevent him from scoring — but finished with an assist on captain Mark Stone’s game-winning goal and had two shots on goal in a team-high 25:30.

“He just feels like he’s all over the ice,” Stone said. “He blocks shots, jumps in the rush, he’s the first one back. He’s an all-around defenseman.”

Here are three more takeaways from the win:

1. New lineup

It didn’t take long for the Knights’ unique roster construction — 13 forwards, five defensemen, two goalies — to force them into a tricky situation.

Defenseman Brayden McNabb took the team’s lone penalty 2:15 into the second period, leaving it with only four blue liners with which to kill. Defenseman Shea Theodore, who played 10:10 short-handed all of last season, was forced to play 59 seconds on the successful kill as a result.

Coach Pete DeBoer termed the lineup “a nonfactor.” All five defensemen received plenty of ice time. Theodore played the least at 22:05, nine seconds fewer than his team-leading average of 22:14 last season.

“All five of them got good ice and a good rhythm and a lot of minutes, and they all played well,” DeBoer said.

Keegan Kolesar, the 13th forward, played 4:36. He was given five shifts — three in the first period, one in the second and one in the third — and was on the ice for the Ducks’ two goals.

2. Possession battle

The Knights typically dominate possession, but Thursday was an exception.

The Ducks had 44 shot attempts to the Knights’ 42 and had a 32-23 edge after two periods. The Knights had fewer shot attempts than their opponent only 11 times at home last season.

The Knights’ breakouts weren’t the crispest, and they were sloppy with the puck. They had nine giveaways, seven of them in the first two periods. They turned it around in the third and had seven more shot attempts than the Ducks.

“We didn’t like how the second period felt, and we wanted to come out in the third and really take the game over and dictate a little more rather than stand around and watch,” DeBoer said.

3. Power-play wrinkle

The Knights had left wing Alex Tuch take a faceoff — which he lost — on their second power-play unit because they didn’t have a center on it.

Stone, Pietrangelo, William Karlsson, Cody Glass and Max Pacioretty made up the first unit, and Tuch, Theodore, Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith and Alec Martinez were on the second.

Tuch has taken 306 faceoffs in his career and won 121 (39.5 percent).

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.

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