It is no secret to anyone watching the Vegas Golden Knights that goaltender Robin Lehner is capable of playing at a higher level than he has for the majority of the season.
On Monday night, he played how Golden Knights management had envisioned when they chose to trade Marc-Andre Fleury this offseason, stopping all 34 shots thrown his way by the Washington Capitals. Afterwards, he didn’t care to give himself much credit, instead seeming more happy with the fact his team picked up a win.
“It’s nice when you get a shutout for sure, but it’s just nice to start a road trip with a win,” Lehner said postgame. “Big road trip and it’s two big points for us.”
In what was his first shutout of the season, Lehner improved his season totals, lowering his goals against average to 2.85 and upping his save percentage to .907. While those numbers are still below what is expected from him, he was without a doubt the Golden Knights best player on Monday night, a point which his coach wanted to make clear.
“We don’t win tonight unless our goalie’s really good,” DeBoer said. “We needed that from Lenny. We wanted to have a good start to this road trip. Obviously if you drop the first one the next three all look tougher… It was nice to start with a win. He was our best player tonight.”
Lehner got the night off Tuesday as the Golden Knights played a back-to-back in a 4-3 overtime loss against the Carolina Hurricanes. Goalie Laurent Brossoit made his first appearance since Jan. 2nd after missing time due to injury.
With the win Monday and overtime point earned Tuesday, the Golden Knights gave themselves a four-point cushion for first place in the Pacific Division. They now have two games remaining on their road trip against very skilled teams in the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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