The Vegas Golden Knights picked up another two points in a 3-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres.
Mark Stone scored the game-winning goal 12:23 into the first period for his 600th career point. Jack Eichel tallied a goal and an assist against his former team, and Tanner Laczynski scored his first goal with the Golden Knights to helo Vegas improve to 12-2-0 in its last 14 contests.
Laczynski opened the scoring just under five minutes into the game. The Golden Knights forced a turnover in the defensive end and broke out on the rush; Zach Whitecloud sent the puck towards the net, and Laczynski collected the rebound off Brett Howden’s shot in front for his first goal since Dec. 5, 2022.
Stone reached the 600-point milestone 7:30 later when he scored a backdoor tap-in goal off an excellent feed by Eichel, making it 2-0 Vegas.
The captain became the 8th-fastest active Canadian-born player to reach 600 NHL points, doing so in 665 games.
The Golden Knights continued to dominate through a scoreless second period, holding the Sabres to just four shots to carry a 2-0 lead into the final frame. Through 40 minutes, Vegas led 26-10 in shots and 16-6 in scoring chances.
Vegas extended its lead to 3-0 when Tanner Pearson sent a slick backhanded pass to Eichel, who beat Sabres netminder James Reimer cleanly from the slot. The goal was Eichel’s 11th of the season; he now has five goals and seven points in four career games against the Sabres.
One player who was unable to suit up in the revenge matchup was former Sabres forward Victor Olofsson, who was a late scratch due to illness. Pearson, who skated on the top line in his place, assisted on both of his linemates’ goals, giving him two assists and a plus-two rating in the effort.
Las Vegas native Jason Zucker ended Adin Hill’s shutout bid with just 2:18 remaining in the third period, tipping a point shot by Rasmus Dahlin on the power play to make it 3-1.
Though it was closer than it should have been at the end, the Golden Knights closed out the 3-1 win, delivering a strong team effort to improve to 27-9-3 on the year.
Vegas’ shutdown defense was effective once the Golden Knights established a multi-goal lead, which is something that has not been a source of consistency in recent games. The Golden Knights thoroughly limited Buffalo, maintaining a 14-4 advantage in 5-on-5 scoring chances in the first two periods.
Though Vegas did surrender the late goal, the Golden Knights shut things down for the remainder of the period to come away victorious. In the end, Hill made 23 saves on 24 shots for a .958 save percentage.
Though it didn’t score, the William Karlsson, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev trio was particularly dominant, leading 19-4 in Corsi, 10-1 in shots and managing a whopping 98.51 percent expected goal share in 12:55.
It didn’t prove to be costly, but the Golden Knights’ power play continues to struggle. The man-advantage went 0-for-2 against the Sabres and is now 1-for-15 over the last eight games.
That being said, the Golden Knights are back at the top of the league standings with 57 points, leading Winnipeg by one point with two games in hand. Vegas will hit the road for a tilt against San Jose on Tuesday before returning home for a three-game stretch against the Islanders, Rangers and Wild.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.