Though he was born in upstate New York, the return to the Empire State was special for Tuch and he showed it with two goals in the first 3:50 of the contest.
His first goal came in the game's second minute as Tuch caught a cross-ice pass from Jonathan Marchessault at the New York blueline. As he skated toward the net, goalie Henrik Lundqvist came out to cut down Tuch's angle. Tuch fired a wrist shot that caught the bottom of Lundqvist's glove and began to trick toward the goal line along the ice.
Lundqvist fell backward as the puck slid toward the goal line and Cody Glass reached his stick into the crease to try to knock the puck in. His stick was tied up and, as Lundqvist swung his pads around, he inadvertently knocked the puck into the Rangers' net.
Just 2:16 later, Tuch was the beneficiary of a perfect passing play between William Karlsson and Nate Schmidt. Karlsson skated the puck through the neutral zone and slowed up once he gained the offensive zone. Schmidt began to cut to the net as Karlsson feathered a pass through two Rangers onto Schmidt's tape.
With his head up, Schmidt wasted no time in firing the puck to Tuch in the middle of the ice. Tuch tipped the puck through Lundqvist for his second goal of the game.
The pair from Tuch gave the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest and Vegas went on to win the game, 4-1.
