Four takeaways from the Golden Knights win against Utah

Here are some takeaways from the game:

Hanifin Breaks Out

Hanifin scored his first goal of the season, en route to a three-point night.

He scored at 19:59, barely beating the buzzer when he tapped in a rebound. Then Hanifin assisted on William Karlsson’s go-ahead goal and the eventual game winner.

“It was important for ‘Hanny’ to find his game offensively. That’s something he counts on and expects to bring to the team,” Cassidy said. “Individually, it meant a lot to him [to score a goal].”

Golden Knights’ Fourth Line Shines

The Golden Knights got another strong performance from its fourth line – forward Cole Schwindt, Nicolas Roy, and Keegan Kolesar.

“They were our best line,” Cassidy said. “Some of our top lines and skill lines just didn’t have the space that I have there or weren’t sort of making the plays they normally do.”

The reason: the game dictated their strength.

Cassidy said the team needed to pressure Utah’s defensemen, which is in a state of flux given the injuries.

Also contributing: Utah plays a 1-1-3 defensive structure in an effort to limit the rush game. This dictated that the Golden Knights needed to play more of a forecheck pressure, offensive zone game, which caters to the line’s strength.

“Nic Roy’s line plays that game to a T,” Cassidy said. “They’re hard and heavy. Some nights, the rush game isn’t there; you need someone to tilt the ice and make it harder than the other team, and they do it automatically. So good on them.”

Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill ‘unlucky’

Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill didn’t have a lot of work against Utah.

He saved 16 shots to earn his 40^th career win – putting him in sole possession of third place on the Golden Knights all-time wins list.

Cassidy called Hill “unlucky” with the goals he surrendered against Utah.

“He’s a little bit unlucky tonight, to be honest,” Cassidy said. “One went in off Nic [Hague]. The other one was kind of a fortunate bounce for them. The first one’s a great shot, and we had a breakdown.”

Hill’s played well since giving up three in the first period against Ottawa. He’s allowed four goals in the last eight periods of work. The Golden Knights hope this marks the beginning of Hill getting more confident in net.

“He’s a good goaltender, so he’s eventually going to find his game and put the work in,” Cassidy said.” There’s a stretch there where he played [Ilya Samsonov] a couple to allow him to dig in and not worry about fatigue for his next start, but worry about technique and work and et cetera with [goalie coach] Sean Burke to get him back on track. It obviously worked. He’s done a good job.”

Tomas Hertl’s 500^th Point

Tomas Hertl registered his 500^th career point when he assisted on Pavel Dorofeyev’s goal in the second period against Utah.

“I’m really excited about that. It’s a nice milestone, you know,” Hertl said. “It was a lot of grind to get there, Really happy about that, but I’m more happy that we won the game.”

This marks the second player from the 2012 NHL Draft class to reach the 500-point milestone. Hertl joins Filip Forsberg as the only members of the club.

Hertl spent 11 seasons with the San Jose Sharks, scoring 483 points with them. This season, he has 13 points (four goals, nine assists).

Paul Delos Santos is the Las Vegas sports insider for Dice City Sports. Follow him on X at @PaulDelos_.