LAS VEGAS — Vegas Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar isn’t known for his scoring prowess. The 27-year-old bruising fourth-line winger generally makes more headlines with his physical play.
In 282 games, he has 28 goals. And only two of them had been game-winners.
Until Friday night.
With the Knights and Ottawa Senators tied at 4-all late in the game, Kolesar took Tanner Pearson’s pass across the slot, skated into the left circle and buried a wrist shot top shelf to put Vegas ahead.
It was picture-perfect placement above Ottawa netminder Linus Ullmark’s right shoulder, slipping just under the crossbar, that even Kolesar surprised himself.
“You can tell by my celly (celebration) I was kind of shocked myself too, but it was a good feeling,” Kolesar said. “Just to bounce back like that and play a part in that, it’s special. Just shows that anyone on this team can make a factor at any point in the game.”
Kolesar is off to a career start, as his four points are the most he’s produced in the first eight games of a season. His previous high for Vegas was two points during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
But it’s more than his offensive production on the stat sheet that has Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy pleased, as Kolesar and his linemates have been critical at times in keeping the puck in the offensive zone while wearing down the opposition before line changes.
“They can certainly put some pressure on the D, wear them down, tire ’em out, fatigue ’em, so if they’re stuck in their zone or in a long shift, that’s where Jack (Eichel’s) line can excel,” Cassidy said. “So I give a lot of credit to (them) they’ve always done that, whoever’s been part of that fourth line.”
Kolesar said feeding off Vegas’ fanbase inside T-Mobile Arena certainly provides a boost, too, when the team is in a tight contest.
“It’s awesome – our crowd is second to and none here, you see how electric it gets,” Kolesar said. “I couldn’t even think straight when I hear the crowd roaring like that, and probably partly why my celebrations are like, ‘What happened? What?’
“So it’s fun, and it’s also fun to come in here after and we all celebrate together. You get to see the guys bringing their kids around right now, it’s Kids Day, it’s a fun day. It’s even better that we got the win.”