Image via NHL
On Saturday afternoon, the NHL festivities in Las Vegas, Nevada marched on. T-Mobile Arena, home of the Vegas Golden Knights, was rocking as the stars of the National Hockey League took the ice.
In the first semifinal matchup of the afternoon, the Metropolitan Division defeated the Pacific Division by a final score of 6-4 powered by a two-point performance from captain Claude Giroux.
The goalie matchup of the first ten minutes of the opening game consisted of Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Anderson and Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson
Capitals forward Tom Wilson got the scoring started just :13 seconds into the game when he beat John Gibson to give the Metropolitan Division a 1-0 lead. Before the game, Wilson received boos from the fans in attendance as he was introduced.
Timo Meier tied things up shortly after beating Anderson. Less than three minutes in, things were knotted up at 1-1.
Claude Giroux broke that tie when he made a nice move around Gibson to give the Metro a 2-1 lead. Giroux also added an assist later on Jake Guentzel’s goal.
After ten minutes of play, the Metro was in control with a lead of 3-1 over the Pacific Division after Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho added on a goal.
Both Anderson and Gibson were exceptional in their ten minutes of game action.
Anderson made a beautiful save on Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid on a breakaway chance with the Metro ahead 3-1.
On the other hand, Gibson made a nice save on Jack Hughes to keep the Pacific Division in it being down only two goals.
Both teams changed goaltenders halfway through. Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry took over in the net for the Metropolitan Division while Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko took over in net for the Pacific Division.
Jarry made a nice save early on in the period on Vegas Golden Knights forward Alex Pietrangelo.
Soon after, the Pacific Division tied things up on two goals that came less than two minutes apart courtesy of Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault and Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle. The score was all knotted up at 3-3 with a little less than six minutes to play.
Penguins forward Jake Guentzel had a chance to give the Metro the lead but was stopped by Demko to keep the game tied at 3-3 early on in the final period.
That tie didn’t last long though when New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes beat Demko off of a nice feed from New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech. Just like that, the Metropolitan Division was back on top with a 4-3 lead.
After being stopped earlier on in the period, Jake Guentzel padded the lead off of a feed from Giroux to make a 5-3 game.
Jack Hughes added an empty net goal to extend the lead to 6-3. The 20-year-old forward finished with two goals on the afternoon.
Golden Knights forward Mark Stone added on a late goal to cut the lead to 6-4.
The Metropolitan Division will face-off against the Central Division in the final.
