■ The Golden Knights pulled away in the third period to beat the Blues.
Stone scores twice to sink Blues
Marathon runners know what it’s like to hit the wall during the latter stages of a race.
The Golden Knights could have been at that point Monday playing the second of back-to-back games and their third in four days as part of a jam-packed schedule.
Instead, they found a jolt of energy in the third period and scored four goals to down the St. Louis Blues 5-1 before an announced crowd of 3,750 at T-mobile Arena.
Mark Stone scored twice in the third, including the go-ahead goal 1:20 into the period. Keegan Kolesar added his first career NHL goal.
“I was feeling it, so usually if I’m feeling it, I can imagine what the
guys who are actually playing feel like,” coach Pete Deboer said. “I thought they really dug deep, and knowing we have a couple days before we play in Colorado, I think they emptied the tank.”
The Knights followed a similar script to their 5-1 victory at St. Louis on March 13 when they tallied four times in the final 20 minutes.
They have outscored the Blues 8-1 in the third period of their last two meetings.
Stone broke the deadlock with his 11th goal when he banked a shot off Vince Dunn’s skate. Kolesar put home a rebound for a 3-1 lead at 11:19 of the third.
“I think my reaction and the bench reaction says it all,” Kolesar said. “Very uplifting and a long time coming. Just takes mountains off my back.”
William Karlsson added a goal and two assists and Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist to help the Knights win for the sixth time in their past seven games and improve to 3-0-1 against the Blues.
The Knights, who went 2-for-3 on the power play, have won five straight at home and are 13-2-1 on home ice.
“We just had to find a way to push,” Stone said. “That’s a big win. We feel a lot better about ourselves going 2-1 than 1-2 in the last three games. I thought we did a good job defending and finding ways to control the O-zone and sustain pressure.”
Goalie Robin Lehner won his second straight start since returning from a concussion and improved to 5-1-1. He turned away Vladimir Tarasenko on a breakaway early in the third for one of his 15 stops.
St. Louis was held to three shots in the third period and finished with a season-low 16 shots on goal overall.
“That’s a big heavy team that likes to play in the offensive zone,” Deboer said. “I thought we did a good job defending as a five-man unit and making sure we had numbers in all those situations.”
The game was a makeup from Jan. 28 when three members of the Knights coaches and two players were placed in NHL COVID protocol.
St. Louis entered on a two-game winning streak after sweeping back-to-back games at San Jose but was stymied by the Knights defense, which kept the Blues’ attack outside of the dots.
The Knights went ahead at 8:41 of the first period when Marchessault sneaked in to pick up a loose puck off a faceoff. He fired a shot from a steep angle and caught Jordan Binnington off-guard for his first goal in six games and ninth overall.
The Blues answered at 6:42 of the second period when defenseman Vince Dunn swooped in to collect a long rebound and fired a shot into the top corner.
“Most of the nights we’re finding ways to win,” Marchessault said. “It’s not always pretty, but we find a way. Now we’re feeling good about our game overall. It was not the easiest back to back we had, and we found a way.”