After picking up a 6-3 victory in Mitch Marner’s highly anticipated return to Toronto, the Vegas Golden Knights continue their eastern road trip on Sunday against the struggling Ottawa Senators.
The Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, bounced back from a 4-3 loss at Boston on Thursday to start the trip to make Marner’s homecoming a happy one. Mark Stone led the way, extending his team-record point streak to 14 games with two goals and an assist, while Jack Eichel added a goal and an assist.
Marner, the subject of a highlight video as well as a fair share of boos each time he touched the puck, failed to record a point in the win. There were some bitter feelings among some Maple Leafs fans after Marner had helped force a sign-and-trade to Vegas last summer after starring for nine seasons for his hometown team.
“I thought he handled it well,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Now he’s gone, he’s moving on. We got Ottawa (Sunday) and it’s behind him. … I think the most important thing is he wanted to win here, and we got that.”
There won’t be quite the same fan reception for Stone, who played for the Senators from 2012 to Feb. 25, 2019, before being dealt to the Golden Knights after also failing to reach a contract extension. That deal, which saw Stone and forward Tobias Lindberg go to Vegas for Erik Brannstrom, Oscar Lindberg and a 2020 second-round pick, came after Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk squashed an eight-year extension for Stone.
Fair to say the Golden Knights got the better end of that trade. Stone captained Vegas to the 2023 Stanley Cup and enters Sunday’s game with his team-record point streak, scoring 12 goals and 11 assists in the 14-game span. Stone, who missed 16 games with a right wrist injury earlier this season, has scored 20 goals to go with 32 assists in just 34 games.
“For sure,” Stone said when asked if there was extra motivation going into Friday’s win. “(Marner is) one of our own. We play for each other. We always have, we always will. It’s the motto of our locker room.”
Ottawa will be playing the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 4-1 loss to visiting Carolina on Saturday. It was the second straight loss and fourth in five games for the Senators, who are in last place in the Atlantic Division, nine points behind Boston for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“There are still 30-plus games (left), anything can happen,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. “I don’t think that faith and belief has ever wandered. We’ve just got to find a way, and I know we will.”
The Senators outshot the Hurricanes, 36-19, including 15-3 in the final period, but couldn’t dent Carolina rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi, who made 35 saves.
“I liked a lot of our game tonight,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “There’s certain parts, we can be a little better, and we’ve gotta do it again. You can’t sit and hang your head. And that’s the whole NHL this season. There’s a lot of ups and downs, and you’ve gotta be able to handle them emotionally as well.”
This is the second of the teams’ two regular-season meetings. Ottawa won the first one, 4-3, in Las Vegas on Nov. 26 with Shane Pinto scoring a goal and also the shootout winner in the third round.
–Field Level Media
