Power-play unit gets goal; Marchessault drops gloves

Two rare happenings in victory over Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. — There were two rarities in the Golden Knights’ 5-1 win over Carolina.

One was the Knights scored a power-play goal. Two, in fact, on four chances.

The other rare occurrence? Jonathan Marchessault got into a fight.

The Knights were in an 0-for-19 man-advantage funk prior to Sunday. But Colin Miller’s slap shot from the point 12:20 into the game got by Scott Darling while Justin Faulk was sitting for interference.

The goal gave the Knights a 2-0 lead.

“Yeah, it was good to finally get one,” said Miller, who also had a pair of assists. “We were moving the puck well and getting good pressure, so it was big for us to get a couple on the power play.”

James Neal also scored on the power play.

Marchessault dropped the gloves with Elias Lindholm after Lindholm threw a heavy check into Nate Schmidt in the Knights’ end.

However, he was given a double-minor for roughing while Lindholm got two minutes for roughing. The Hurricanes got on the board as Jaccob Slavin put one under the crossbar and past Marc-andre Fleury with 45 seconds left in the first period.

As for Marchessault’s dust-up, his first this season, coach Gerard Gallant said there’s a time and a place to stand up for teammates.

“I thought it was a bad penalty to take, given we’re up 3-0 and then they score and cut it to 3-1,” Gallant said. “I didn’t say anything to Marchy, but I understand why he did what he did.”

Back in lineup

Left wing Brendan Leipsic returned after sitting out the last three games as a healthy scratch and delivered with a third-period goal, his second.

“I just want to bring some energy like I usually do and try and create some offense,” Leipsic said at Sunday morning’s skate. “Sitting out gives you a chance to re-energize. It’s a long season. And I was able to look at some of the things I can do better with my game.”

Quick changeover

PNC Arena was a busy place Sunday as the Knights-hurricanes game was preceded by a college basketball game between Miami and North Carolina State.

According to an arena official, it normally takes approximately four hours to convert the arena from basketball to hockey. But the arena crew finished in just under two hours. The basketball game ended around 2p.m.

Sunday was one of four occasions this season where the Hurricanes and the Wolfpack are in the building on the same day.

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.