Welcome to the Three Stars of the Week segment. This will be a weekly post where I pick the Vegas Golden Knights’ three stars from the previous week. The first star will receive five points, the second star will receive three points, and the third star will receive one point. Points will be tallied throughout the season and one dollar per point will be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice at the end of the season.
The Vegas Golden Knights started the week on the East Coast with games against the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, and New York Islanders. They secured five out of six points, coming up short against the Islanders in overtime.
Then they returned home to face-off against the same Rangers they beat earlier in the week, but this time they finished on the wrong side of a 5-0 game.
Here are the three players that stood out this week.
3rd Star: Malcolm Subban (2-1-1, 109 saves on 121 shots)
With the passing of Marc-Andre Fleury’s father, Malcolm Subban started all four games for the Golden Knights this past week. He was stellar in back-to-back games against the Rangers and the Devils on Monday and Tuesday. He stopped 61 of 65 shots in those two games and was a big reason they posted their first four-game win streak this season.
Subban also made 28 saves against the Islanders and helped his team escape the Island with a point, making multiple saves in the third period to keep the deficit at one until Jonathan Marchessault was able to tie it in the last five minutes.
With Fleury practicing with the team, he will take the blue paint back from Subban, but it is nice to see him build up his confidence and receive game action.
2nd Star: Alex Tuch (3 goals, 3 assists, 12 shots on goal)
Alex Tuch started the week off hot. He had two quick goals in the first four minutes against the Rangers and really helped set the tone for that game. The next night against the Devils, he added another three assists and was a catalyst on the ice, making plays and generating chances.
Tuch looks like he has shaken off the rust he had when he returned from injury as he had a four-game point streak, but snapped it as the whole team could not score at home against the Rangers. He has found some chemistry with rookie Cody Glass and the pair are a great fit on the third line.
1st Star: Jonathan Marchessault (4 goals, 1 assist, 18 shots on goal)
The pucks are finally starting to go in for Marchessault. He scored a third-period hat trick that powered their come back against the Devils. The first two goals were tips in front of the net; he set up shop down low and was able to get a stick on the incoming shot, redirecting them past Mackenzie Blackwood and the third came off a rebound attempt after he followed his own shot and buried the second chance.
Luck was not on his side at the start of the season, as he was shooting at a 4% rate through the month of October, but things are looking up as he is at an 11.5% shooting percentage since the start of November. He is an offensive catalyst for the Golden Knights and when he is dialed in, he has the ability to carry his team.
I will keep a tally of the points all season long and donate a dollar per point to the winner’s charity of choice at the end of the season. Stay updated all season long by following me on Twitter, @LAM1926, to find out who will be next week’s three stars!
- Mark Stone: 11 points
- William Karlsson: 11 points
- Marc-Andre Fleury: 8 points
- Jonathan Marchessault: 8 points
- Paul Stastny: 5 points
- Reilly Smith: 3 points
- Alex Tuch: 3 points
- Malcolm Subban: 2 points
- Tomas Nosek: 1 point
- Nick Holden: 1 point
- Nicolas Roy: 1 point
