LAS VEGAS – Vegas Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar isn’t known for his scoring prowess. The 27-year-old fourth-line winger usually grabs more headlines with his physical play.
In 282 matches, he has 28 goals. And only two of them had won the game.
Until Friday evening.
With the Knights and Ottawa Senators tied at 4 late in the game, Kolesar took Tanner Pearson’s pass through the slot, skated into the left circle and buried a wrist shot at the top of the net. shelf to give Vegas the advantage.
It was a perfect placement over the right shoulder of Ottawa goalkeeper Linus Ullmark, sliding just under the crossbar, that even Kolesar surprised himself.
“You can see from my celly (celebration) that I was a little shocked myself, but it was a good feeling,” Kolesar said. “Just to bounce back like that and play a part in that, it’s special. It just shows that anyone on this team can play a role at any point in the game.”
Kolesar is off to a career-high start, as his four points are the most he has produced in the first eight games of a season. His previous record for Vegas was two points during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
But it’s not just his offensive production on the stat sheet that pleases Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy, as Kolesar and his teammates have at times played a critical role in keeping the puck in the offensive zone while wearing down the opposition before the line changes.
“They can definitely put some pressure on the D, wear them out, tire them out, tire them out, so if they’re stuck in their zone or in a long shift, that’s where Jack (Eichel)’s line can excel.” » Cassidy said. “So I give them a lot of credit, they always did that, no matter who was on that fourth line.”
Kolesar said feeding off the Vegas fan base inside T-Mobile Arena also provides a boost when the team is in a close competition.
“It’s awesome – our audience is second to none here, you see how electric it gets,” Kolesar said. “I couldn’t even think straight when I heard the crowd roaring like that, and that’s probably part of why my celebrations are like, ‘What happened?’
“So it’s fun, and it’s also fun to come here afterwards and we all celebrate together. You can see the guys bringing their kids right now, it’s Children’s Day, it’s a fun day. It’s even better that we won.”
