Golden Knights 4, Lightning 1: 3 Takeaways

Heading into Tampa Bay to face the league-leading Lightning, it had all the makings.
The best team in the east against the best team in the west. Two teams leading their conferences which have been the story of the season's first half. And after the teams' thrilling 4-3 game that was won by the Golden Knights in December, the stage was set for a heavyweight encore.
But the Golden Knights put their opponent on the mat early and the Lightning never recovered.
James Neal started the scoring by deflecting a Deryk Engelland shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy in the game's first minute and Vegas never trailed. By the time it was over, the Golden Knights skated away with a relatively easy 4-1 win.
Vegas improves to 30-11-3, a mere .006 behind the Lightning for the league's top winning percentage.
Here are three takeaways from tonight's game.

1. Quick Start Buried Bolts
After getting shut out by Juuse Saros and the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, the Golden Knights said they felt good about how they played. Mustering 43 shots against one of the league's top defensive teams was a major part of this.
However, Vegas was shut out for only the second time this season, and only had four goals over its past three games.
With James Neal scoring 56 seconds into the first period, it put the thoughts of a scoring drought to rest. And as the Lightning struggled to find their footing in the first period coming off their bye week (just as Vegas did against Edmonton last Saturday), the Golden Knights swarmed.

Instead of allowing the Lightning to right themselves, Nate Schmidt capitalized and made it 2-0 Vegas through 20 minutes.
Was the Lightning's long layoff part of this slow start? Probably.
But kudos to the Golden Knights for making them pay.

2. Survived The Lightning's Pushback
When you face the league's top team, along with its top offense, in their barn, no lead is ever safe. Ondrej Palat's goal 10:18 into the second period was part of a Tampa Bay push that threatened to tie the game, that Vegas withstood.
This was also the stretch where Marc-Andre Fleury did his best work of the night. He finished with 28 saves on 29 shotsand got the win.
By holding strong as the Lightning pushed in the second period, Fleury allowed his team a chance to find itself again. hen David Perron made it 3-1 with 2:17 remaining in the second period, Tampa Bay's momentum was gone, as was its chance to win.

3. How Sweep It Is
The Golden Knights have either clinched or won a lot of season series this year already.
Entering tonight already guaranteed to finish with more points in head-to-head matchups with the Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks, Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Golden Knights had not, however, ever swept a season series. Until now.
Although these teams only played twice this season, the Golden Knights swept the season series with the Lightning.
There are still many chapters that have to be written this season. But sweeping the season series with the league's top team is another testament to how far Vegas has come since beginning NHL play this past fall.