The Vegas Golden Knights entered Sunday’s matinee vs. the New Jersey Devils looking to turn the page after having a lackluster performance against the Calgary Flames on Thursday, and they did just that in a 3-1 win. The first 40 minutes of play saw both sides play to a 0-0 tie, and things picked up at the start of the final frame.
Nico Hischier opened the scoring just 38 seconds into the period to give the Devils a lead, but it was short lived. The Golden Knights responded with a tying goal 2:19 later, and William Carrier picked up his 6th goal of the season and his first since returning from injured reserve.
Both sides would remain tied at 1 goal a piece for the next eight minutes and change, and Jack Eichel broke the tie with what went on the be the game-winning goal with a strike of his own at 11:06 off a feed from Noah Hanifin.
Hanifin has been productive for the Golden Knights since being acquired at the trade line, and is up to four points in five games played for Vegas. William Karlsson added an empty netter for good measure with 19 seconds left, and that put a bow on a 3-1 win for the Golden Knights which saw them improve to 36-24-7 and 79 points in 67 games played.
Logan Thompson made 20 saves in the win, and improved to 18-12-5 with a 2.82 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. It was a nice rebound game for him, as his most recent start against the Buffalo Sabres saw him surrender 7 goals against.
Vegas is off on Monday, and they return to action on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning in what will be another important opportunity to pick up another important pair of points.