Arseny Gritsyuk and Jack Hughes each scored a pair of goals Friday as the New Jersey Devils beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 in Las Vegas.
Luke Hughes also scored for the Devils, who went 2-1-0 on a three-game Western Conference road trip and have won five of six overall (5-1-0). Goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves while improving to 2-0-0 for the Devils since he was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets Oct. 23.
Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev scored in a 90-second span late in the first for the Golden Knights, who have lost four of five (1-3-1). Goalie Adin Hill recorded 27 saves.
Luke Hughes opened the scoring with 14:22 left in the first, when his slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle sailed under Hill’s glove.
The Golden Knights tied the score with a power-play goal at 16:27. Devils center Cody Glass won the faceoff against Tomas Hertl, but Dougie Hamilton whiffed trying to pick up the puck and Stone passed to Mitch Marner before heading to the crease, where he redirected Marner’s shot over Hellebuyck’s glove.
The Golden Knights took a brief lead with 2:03 remaining. Brayden McNabb descended into the slot and passed across the ice to Marner, who got Hellebuyck to commit before he dished into the crease to Barbashev. He buried his shot into the wide-open left corner of the net as Hellebuyck was sprawled on the ice.
Just 54 seconds later, the teams traded turnovers deep in the Golden Knights’ zone before Gritsyuk tied the score with an unassisted goal. Jesper Bratt’s pass intended for Jack Hughes was picked off by Trevor Connelly, but William Karlsson’s backhanded clearing pass was intercepted by Gritsyuk, who shuffled the puck before beating Hill over his glove shoulder.
Jack Hughes put the Devils ahead in impressive fashion 3:49 into the second. He weaved his way into the Golden Knights’ zone and deked Stone before tucking the puck between his legs. Hughes skated around Stone, picked the puck back up and sent a shot over Hill’s stick.
Stone was victimized again late in the period, when Gritsyuk got the puck at the Devils’ blue line, skated up the ice and maneuvered the puck around Stone before backhanding home the rebound of his own shot with 1:54 left.
Jack Hughes added an empty-netter with 2:51 remaining in the game. It was his sixth goal of the year, while Gritsyuk has a team-high eight.
–Field Level Media
