Golden Knights rookie Nic Hague scored first point from bench
Scoring their first point is always special for NHL players. But Golden Knights rookie defenseman Nic Hague was on the bench and unaware when he learned that he’d achieved that milestone.
Hague recorded a secondary assist on fellow rookie Cody Glass’ goal in the third period of Saturday’s game against the Calgary Flames. He passed the puck to left wing Valentin Zykov to start a breakout, then headed to the bench for a change.
By the time he sat down Zykov had passed to Glass, who tried to backhand a pass to center Cody Eakin in the offensive zone. The puck never got there. Instead, it deflected off Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, and into the net.
“I didn’t even know I had an assist on that one, to be honest,” Hague said. “I was changing. I didn’t realize.”
Luckily for Hague, veteran defenseman Brayden McNabb was paying attention on the bench. He was the one to tell the 20-year-old he was officially on an NHL scoresheet for the first time.
Hague then appeared in one again Sunday against the Los Angeles Kings. He recorded another secondary assist on Paul Stastny’s second power-play goal of the second period.
“I’ll take them any way they come,” Hague said.
Penalty kill
Coach Gerard Gallant said the Knights aren’t doing much new on the penalty kill despite their success to start the season.
They were the top-penalty killing team in the league entering Tuesday at 95.5 percent (21-for-22). They were 14th (80.9 percent) last season.
“No, nothing different, to be honest with you,” Gallant said. “They’ve been doing the same stuff that they’ve always done.”
The Knights do have Mark Stone as part of their penalty kill after he joined the team Feb. 25 last season. He was second on the team in average time on ice shorthanded through six games (3:04) behind only center Cody Eakin (3:37).
Opposing view
Nashville Predators center Matt Duchene had high praise for the Knights after a Predators workout on Monday at T-Mobile Arena.
“They’re one of the best teams in the league,” Duchene said. “Their top six is very good. Their goaltending’s great. They’ve got some good pieces on the back end. They work hard. They’re fast. They’ve had success over the last two years for a reason. Adding pieces like (Paul) Stastny and (Max) Pacioretty and obviously (Mark Stone) just make that team better. It’s always fun to play here.”
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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.