Reilly Smith scored two goals and Mark Stone had a goal and two assists as the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3, on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
It was the 30th multi-goal game of Smith’s career. Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist and Brett Howden also scored a goal for Vegas, which won its second straight game. Mitch Marner and Tomas Hertl each added two assists.
Akira Schmid, who took over for injured starter Carter Hart in the first period, stopped 21 of 23 shots for the Golden Knights. Hart didn’t make any saves before being helped off with a left leg injury.
Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist, Sean Monahan had two assists and Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko also scored goals for Columbus, which suffered its third straight loss. Jet Greaves, making his eighth straight start, finished with 21 saves.
Columbus, playing the second game of a four-game western road trip that began with a 5-2 loss at San Jose on Tuesday, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 11 minutes. Jenner got the first goal after a scramble in the crease that saw Hart land awkwardly on his left knee while also losing his stick. Johnson followed with a wrist shot from the low slot past Schmid’s glove side.
Vegas cut the lead to 2-1 at the 12:20 mark of the first period when Smith deflected Ben Hutton’s point shot inside the left post.
Smith then tied it early in the second period during a delayed penalty, firing a wrist shot from the left circle past Greaves’ blocker side, kicking off a three-goal second period for the Golden Knights. Eichel gave his side the lead at the 13:07 mark when he roofed a wrist shot past Greaves’ glove side. Stone followed with a power-play goal near the end of the period to extend his goal streak to a career-high six games.
Marchenko broke the 4-0 run and sliced the deficit to 4-3 with 5:32 remaining. He got behind the Vegas defense and snapped a shot under Schmid’s left pad for his 16th goal, tying Zach Werenski for the team lead.
Howden put the Golden Knights back up by two goals less than two minutes later when he finished an odd-man rush with Keegan Kolesar, snapping a wrist shot past Greaves’ blocker side.
The Golden Knights swept the two-game season series with the Blue Jackets, having won, 3-2, in Columbus in mid-December.
–Field Level Media
