Golden Knights cruise past Ducks in first game since Pacioretty surgery

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights got their 10th win in the past 12 games with a 3-1 victory against the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

Nicolas Roy, Adam Brooks and Mattias Janmark scored for the Golden Knights (22-12-0) in their first game without Max Pacioretty since he had wrist surgery Thursday; he is out indefinitely. The forward, who has scored 21 points (12 goals, nine assists) in 16 games, missed 17 games from Oct. 14-Nov. 24 with a broken foot.
"I think the team's been feeling good the last month or so," Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit said. "To cap off the month and year with a performance like that, you couldn't feel better."
Brossoit made 15 saves but was denied the Golden Knights' first shutout of the season when Ryan Getzlaf scored on the power play with 12 seconds left for the 3-1 final.
"I'm not too worried about it (the shutout). I think it depends on the goalie," said Brossoit, who made a third consecutive start with No. 1 goalie Robin Lehner day to day because of a lower-body injury. "All that matters is the win."

John Gibson made 42 saves for the Ducks (17-10-7), who lost their third straight game and second in regulation since Nov. 28. Anaheim was 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
"I don't think we played with any energy or passion to start the game," said Getzlaf, the Ducks captain. "We came into a building that's pretty electric and their team likes to play here. We didn't accomplish a lot in that first period and throughout most of the game."
Roy gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 11:15 of the first by deflecting Ben Hutton's point shot. It was Roy's NHL career-high seventh goal.
Brooks made it 2-0 at 18:25 when he deflected a shot from Dylan Coghlan.
"It was a big win for us, but I think our start set was the thing that set us up for the rest of the game," Golden Knights assistant Ryan McGill said.

Janmark increased the lead to 3-0 at 4:39 of the second period when he scored from the left face-off circle after Anaheim defenseman Jamie Drysdale cleared the puck from the crease following a scramble in front.
"I think I've been feeling pretty good lately," Janmark said. "Some games you get more looks when you have the jump. The way the game was going in the second period, I think all the lines had a little more space."
Janmark was stopped by Gibson on a penalty shot at 18:21 after Josh Manson was called for holding the stick.
"I talked to our guys after the game here," Getzlaf said. "This time of year it's tough to play. This is where you separate yourself. There's good starts and good finishes, but if you can play the meat of the season above .500 and play hard and keep that passion going, it really rolls over the rest of the way."
NOTES: Ducks forward Sam Steel had two shots on goal in 11:51 after being activated from NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Golden Knights forward Mark Stone missed a second straight game with an upper-body injury and remains day to day. … Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and forward Evgenii Dadonov each returned for Vegas after missing two games in protocol. Pietrangelo had one shot in 21:07, and Dadonov had three shots in 17:35. … Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer returned after missing one game in protocol. … Vegas won 62 games in 2021, the most in the NHL. … It was the first of what is now an eight-game homestand for the Golden Knights through Jan. 20; the NHL on Friday postponed their games Jan. 14 at the Edmonton Oilers and Jan. 15 at the Calgary Flames due to attendance restrictions in certain Canadian cities because of COVID-19 concerns.