The Vegas Golden Knights (25-13-12) found their way back into the win column with a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs (24-18-9) Friday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Golden Knights.
The game marked Mitch Marner’s highly-anticipated return to Toronto. Marner spent nine seasons with the Maple Leafs before coming to Vegas in a sign-and-trade last summer. Marner received plenty of boos along with cheers, though most of the crowd gave him a standing ovation after his tribute video.
Rasmus Andersson made his Golden Knights debut, skating with former defense partner Noah Hanifin on the second pair. Andersson recorded an assist, two shots and three blocks in 21:34.
The Golden Knights were looking to rebound after an incomplete effort in a 4-3 loss to Boston on Thursday.
Sluggish starts have been an ongoing issue this season, but that was not the case Friday in Toronto.
In fact, it took Vegas just 66 seconds to open the scoring.
The dynamic duo of Jack Eichel and Mark Stone struck again, extending their personal point streaks to 11 and 14 games, respectively. It was a full-line goal for the top trio, with Ivan Barbashev recording the secondary assist on Eichel’s 19th of the season.
Keegan Kolesar doubled Vegas’ lead just 3:25 later on a new-look third line featuring Reilly Smith at center and Jonas Rondbjerg — filling in for Cole Reinhardt, who was out due to illness — on the other wing. Rondbjerg made a nice play to win a race and find the rebound on Kolesar’s initial shot, and Kolesar cleaned up the loose change on the ensuing rebound.
The Golden Knights scored two goals on four shots one night after surrendering three on three consecutive shots.
Despite an unsuccessful power play, Vegas continued to push the pace throughout the opening frame, outshooting the Leafs 10-5 and leading 20-12 in Corsi, 10-7 in scoring chances and 8-2 in high-danger chances with an 80.18 percent expected goal share, per Natural Stat Trick.
But the Maple Leafs scored almost immediately in the second period, as a Matthew Knies rocket hit the post before Adin Hill swiped the puck right to John Tavares. It took just 13 seconds for Toronto to cut Vegas’ lead to one.
Tavares repaid the favor 3:19 later, however.
After a great defensive play by Marner to keep the puck in the zone, Pavel Dorofeyev hit the post. Tavares then mishandled the rebound, giving the puck right back to Dorofeyev for his 22nd of the season. As a result, it was an unassisted tally, though Marner set up the play with a steal and keep at the blue line.
The Golden Knights extended their lead to 4-1 on a laser by Braeden Bowman 1:44 later. Alexander Holtz sent a saucer pass through the neutral zone to Tanner Laczynski, who then found Bowman in the circle.
But Scott Laughton then beat Hill five-hole on a breakaway to make it a 4-2 contest. Hill got a piece of Laughton’s backhand, but the puck trickled across the goal line.
Though it was another breakaway goal given up by Hill, the Vegas backstop came up with a big save on Knies later in the frame as Toronto pushed back.
However, the Leafs scored a deflection goal on the next shift after a Vegas turnover.
The play was reviewed for a high stick but was deemed legal, making it a one-goal game with 1:41 left in the second. It was Toronto’s ninth straight shot of the period and gave the Maple Leafs life going into the third.
The Golden Knights took back the narrative in the final frame, outshooting the Leafs 14-5 instead of sitting back with the narrow lead.
Toronto got its first power play of the night with 7:23 remaining after Tomas Hertl ran into Maple Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz, who was making his first start since Nov. 11.
But right after the Vegas penalty kill took care of business, Barbashev and Stone connected on a 2-on-1 to make it a 5-3 game at 15:11.
The Golden Knights prevented Toronto from getting a shot on goal for more than 10 minutes in a critical third period. Stone then scored on the empty net to seal the 6-3 win with his 20th goal of the year. Andersson recorded his first point as a Golden Knight with the secondary assist on the extra insurance tally.
Vegas split the back-to-back but completed the sweep of the season series against Toronto.
The Golden Knights summoned the old Misfit energy to help Marner get another win against his former team eight days after Vegas’ thrilling 6-5 overtime win against the Leafs in Sin City.
“Everyone’s emotionally involved,” Eichel said. “It means a lot to us. Mitch is such a big part of our team, and we just wanted to come and put our best foot forward for him and play hard. I thought we were all emotionally invested from the start, and I think it showed.”
Stone also talked about how the team wanted to win for Marner.
“We play for each other,” Stone said. “We always have, we always will. It’s the motto of our locker room.”
The Golden Knights have been through similar experiences before with players making emotional returns to face their former teams.
“We’ve been through it a couple times with returns, especially with Jack’s in Buffalo,” Stone said. “For us, we’re kind of used to it. We knew what to expect. But I thought the fans were great.”
The fans booed Marner when he touched the puck and cheered when he left the ice at the end of the shift, but they also celebrated his nine years with Toronto with a standing ovation after the tribute video.
“It’s a passionate fanbase here; they love their team,” Marner said. “I really appreciate the love throughout the tribute video. I love these fans.”
Unlike last week’s game against Toronto — and so many in recent weeks — the Golden Knights were on a mission from the very start.
They scored two goals in the first 4:31 and took a 4-1 lead 5:16 into the second.
“First off, we weren’t happy with our starts in Boston and Philly, so we wanted to start well,” Marner said. “Everyone brought it tonight. … It was a good feeling.”
That didn’t stop the Maple Leafs from responding with a strong push in the second period, as Toronto scored three times to counter Vegas’ two goals in a busy middle frame.
“I think our guys were gonna try to bring their best for Mitch, and they did,” Bruce Cassidy said. “I thought we played pretty well. Bent a little in the second there, but we knew they were gonna have a push. We expected that. But we were able to get it back in the third.”
Up 4-3, Vegas didn’t sit back in the final 20 minutes, instead taking the game to the Leafs. Eventually, the captain capitalized when Toronto got aggressive, and he added an empty-net goal to help the Golden Knights close out the strong road win.
“There’s been times early in the season where we’ve let leads get away from us,” Eichel said. “We got that big penalty kill there, and we were able to extend the lead. I liked a lot of things in our game in the third period. I don’t think we sat back. I thought we pushed to try to get another one, and obviously we were able to do that, extend our lead, and kind of play from there.”
Hill finished the game with 18 saves on 21 shots for an .857 save percentage. He wasn’t busy in the third but did what he had to do to preserve the lead.
Depth scoring returned for Vegas, as all four lines lit the lamp in the first two periods. The third and fourth lines had strong games, both holding 12-6 advantages in shot attempts and combining for 15 of Vegas’ 31 shots.
“It was a group effort tonight,” Eichel said. “Hillsy played really well. I thought our D played great. We broke the puck out pretty well and limited some of their opportunities. Got some scoring from up and down the lineup.”
Andersson had a strong showing in his Vegas debut.
“Obviously some new stuff to get used to, but it felt great,” he said. “It felt better and better the more the game wore on.”
Andersson is still dealing with visa issues but is allowed to play in Canada. Skating with Hanifin, whom he played with in Calgary, made the initial transition easier. Andersson said when he first got to Vegas, the shock from the trade didn’t feel good but that it has gotten better as he’s settled in.
“It was time for [Calgary] and it was time for me to try something new,” Andersson said. “I’m super happy to be here. I really wanted to go to a contender, and I think Vegas is probably one of the strongest teams in the entire league.”
Cassidy was impressed with his newest defenseman.
“Good puck-mover, on his toes, real assertive with his decision-making,” he said. “I thought at the end of the game in the third, you could see that money type of player like [Alex Pietrangelo].”
When asked if he was happy these games are behind him, Marner didn’t mince words.
“Yeah, completely. Definitely,” he said.
But Marner remained focused on the larger goal.
“It just feels good to get those points,” he said. “We need those points.”
The Golden Knights will wrap up this four-game road trip with games in Ottawa and Montreal on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively. Vegas has seven more games before the Olympic break.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
Photo via Golden Knights