Knights golden in first game against Canucks
LAS VEGAS 5 VANCOUVER 2
VANCOUVER — Erik Haula scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as part of a two-point night in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
David Perron, Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson also had a goal and an assist apiece, while Reilly Smith, into an empty net, provided the rest of the offence for Vegas (11-6-1).
Maxime Lagace, who made his ninth straight start, finished with 19 saves to get the win after giving up seven goals on 29 shots in Tuesday’s 8-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat replied for Vancouver (9-8-2). Jacob Markstrom made 25 stops.
After blowing a 2-0 lead in the second period, the Golden Knights went back in front at 6:27 of the third when James Neal stripped Canucks defenceman Erik Gudbranson of the puck behind the net and passed to Perron, who quickly fed Haula across the top of the crease for his sixth goal of the season.
Perron now has two goals and seven assists in a six-game point streak, while Haula has four goals and four assists in his last six contests.
Vancouver, which returned home after wrapping up a 2-2-0 road trip with Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, didn’t offer much in the way of an attack for the majority of the night. The Canucks had a chance off Boeser’s stick with under seven minutes to go that Lagace got a pad on.
Marchessault then put the game out of reach with 3:05 left when he jumped on a horrendous Derrick Pouliot turnover before beating Markstrom low for his fifth.
Smith then iced it into an empty net with his sixth with 2:02 remaining.
Down 2-0 after a first period where his team created next to nothing, Canucks head coach Travis Green shook up his lines in the second, and got some immediate results.
Boeser scored his sixth of the year at 12:04 after Vegas centre Oscar Lindberg’s pass in the slot went right to the rookie winger, who made no mistake past a sur- prised Lagace.
The Canucks then evened things with 2:42 left in the period when Thomas Vanek’s partially blocked shot dribbled towards the Golden Knights’ crease. Vancouver forward Sam Gagner kicked the puck to Horvat, and he slid his eighth, and second in an as many games, past Lagace.
Both teams had good chances earlier in the second, with Markstrom stopping Marchessault with a kick save, and Lagace stoning Brandon Sutter with his pad on a breakaway.
The teams were actually sent to the locker-rooms with under a minute left in the period when a fan seated in one of the corners at Rogers Arena was hit in the head by an errant puck. One of the officials on the ice threw towels to nearby spectators to help with the bleeding, and the fan was eventually taken away on a stretcher by paramedics.
There was no immediate update from the Canucks on the fan’s status.
The teams played the final 59.7 seconds of the period on a fresh sheet of ice before switching ends for the third.
The Golden Knights opened the season a surprising 8-1-0 — the best-ever start for an NHL expansion team — but are just 3-5-1 since with Lagace, the club’s fourth-string goalie, taking over the crease for injured netminders Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion), Malcolm Subban (lower body) and Oscar Dansk (lower body).
The Golden Knights opened the scoring Thursday at 3:22 of the first when Perron took a feed from Nate Schmidt, toe-dragged around Henrik Sedin and ripped his sixth low to Markstrom’s stick side.
Vancouver has allowed the first goal of the game inside the first five minutes of the first period eight times this season.
The visitors doubled their lead at the 13-minute mark when Alex Tuch won a puck battle behind the net with Pouliot before feeding Karlsson all alone in front for his seventh.
Leafs 1, Devils 0 (OT)
TORONTO — William Nylander scored with 2.2 seconds to play in overtime as the Toronto Maple Leafs blanked the New Jersey Devils 1-0 on Thursday for their fifth straight win.
Frederik Andersen made 42 saves for the Maple Leafs (13-7-0), including three huge ones in the extra period to give his team a chance to win it.
Corey Schneider stopped 24 shots for the Devils (11-4-3).
Leafs centre Auston Matthews was on the ice for optional morning skate but sat out his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury.
Coyotes 5, Canadiens 4
MONTREAL — Derek Stepan and Christian Fischer scored powerplay goals in the third period as the visiting Arizona Coyotes came from behind to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 on Thursday to earn their first regulation victory of the season.
Brad Richardson, Christian Dvorak and Tobias Rieder also scored for the Coyotes (3-15-3), who snapped a five-game losing skid. Antti Raanta made 33 saves for the win in net.
Brendan Gallagher, Paul Byron, Joe Morrow and Shea Weber scored for the Canadiens (8-10-2). Charlie Lindgren, who allowed more than two goals for the first time this season, stopped 27-of-32 shots.
Blues 4, Oilers 1
EDMONTON — Brayden Schenn had two goals and an assist as the St. Louis Blues snapped a rare two-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Vladimir Sobotka and Alexander Steen also scored for the Blues, who improved to 14-5-1.