Adin Hill made 25 saves for his third shutout of the season and Noah Hanifin had a goal and an assist to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 2-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night in Las Vegas.
Mark Stone also scored a goal and Jack Eichel added two assists for Vegas. The Golden Knights extended their Pacific Division lead to four points over Edmonton with the win. It was Hill’s 10th career shutout.
Jacob Markstrom, making his first start since Jan. 22 after missing 11 games with a sprained MCL, finished with 22 saves for New Jersey. The Devils dropped two points behind Carolina and into third place in the Metropolitan Division with the loss.
There were few scoring chances during a scoreless first two periods which featured a total of just 32 shots on goal, 16 by each team, compared to 36 hits and no penalties.
Vegas’ best scoring chance came midway through the first period when Hanifin rattled the near post with a wrist shot from the left circle.
New Jersey, playing the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 3-1 win over the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday in Salt Lake City, had its best chance midway through the second period. Hill made a glove save on Paul Cotter’s wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle at the end of a 2-on-1 breakout, one of just two odd-man rushes in a tight-checking first 40 minutes.
After Jack Hughes picked up an interference penalty on Tanner Pearson, Stone then gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at the 1:27 mark of the third period with a power-play goal when he redirected a point shot by Hanifin past Markstrom’s glove side.
New Jersey picked up a penalty for too many men on the ice midway through the period and Hanifin quickly made them pay with his first goal in 23 games, blasting a slap shot from the point through traffic and under Markstrom’s left arm.
Jack Hughes left the game slumped over with an apparent right arm injury after crashing into the end boards behind the net following a collision with Eichel with 1:48 remaining.
–Field Level Media
