Golden Knights 4, Predators 3 (SO): 3 Takeaways

It had all the makings of another loss for the Golden Knights.
Although it turned out to be another win.
After Nashville's Nick Bonino scored to put the Predators ahead with just over five minutes to play, Vegas rallied to tie the game with its goalie pulled when Erik Haula scored with 40 seconds remaining in the third period.
The Golden Knights then completed the comeback when Reilly Smith scored in the sixth shootout round, completing a thrilling victory for Vegas.
The Golden Knights are now 18-9-1.
Here are three immediate takeaways from tonight's game.

1. Not Dead
For the second straight game, the Golden Knights looked to be defeated in the game's final minutes. Both times, Erk Haula scored with fewer than five minutes remaining in the third period to force overtime.
Both times, the Golden Knights won in a shootout.
And in total, Vegas has now won its last three games in either overtime or a shootout. The Golden Knights are now 7-1 in games that have required more than 60 minutes.

Tonight especially, you could argue that the Predators were the far better team. In fact, Nashville probably was.
But to the Golden Knights' credit, this team keeps finding a way to scrape up points. And as we enter the second week of December, Vegas remains one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
Having won their last three games, the Golden Knights don't seem to be fading, either.

2. Subban Sensational

Entering Friday's game, how Vegas goalie Malcolm Subban performed against his older brother, P.K., was the central storyline. Although Malcolm has been in his brother's large shadow for most of his life, he was the single most important reason Vegas won tonight.
The Predators had a whopping 44 shots through regulation and overtime. Subban stopped 41 of them.
In the shootout, he spectacularly stood on his head, denying all six chances against him.

For a goalie who had never completed an NHL game before this season, expectations of outsiders weren't very high for Subban. But on another night where he was one of the best players on the ice, he improved to 7-2-0. He has a .924 save percentage.
It's still a small sample size, but Vegas appears to have struck gold by claiming this goalie off waivers from the Boston Bruins two months ago.

3. Top Players Deliver

We'll give you some cold hard stats. James Neal scored his 14th goal of the season tonight, and is now on pace for 41 goals for the season. This would be the first time he's scored 40 goals in a season since 2011-12.
William Karlsson scored his 15th goal of the season. He combined for 15 goals the past two seasons. He never scored more than nine goals in a season. He's now on pace for 47 goals.
Erik Haula scored 15 goals last season. He scored his 10th of the year tonight and is now on pace for 29.
Just look at those numbers.
Many people have wondered how a team of which so little was expected could be overachieving this much.
Look no further than the manner in which its top offensive players are absolutely shattering their career-best totals.