Jack Eichel scored a goal and had three assists and Mark Stone added a goal and two assists as the Vegas Golden Knights moved a step closer toward a Pacific Division title with a 6-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday in Las Vegas.
It was the fourth four-point game of the season for Eichel.
Ivan Barbashev and Rasmus Andersson each had a goal and an assist, Noah Hanifin had two assists and Reilly Smith and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for Vegas (38-26-17, 93 points), which moved two points ahead of the second-place Edmonton Oilers and three points in front of the third-place Anaheim Ducks.
Carter Hart made 21 saves for the Golden Knights, who improved to 6-0-1 since John Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy as head coach on March 29. The win also extended the team’s point streak to a season-high nine games (6-0-3).
Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi each had a goal and an assist and Connor Hellebuyck finished with 32 saves for Winnipeg (35-33-12, 82 points), which was eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff race during the game when the Los Angeles Kings secured the final Western Conference playoff spot with a 5-3 win over the Seattle Kraken.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 7:38 mark of the second period on Stone’s 10th career short-handed goal. The score came at the end of a 2-on-1 rush that saw Eichel steal the puck near his own blue line and then make a crossing pass to Stone on the edge of the left circle. Stone one-timed a shot five-hole that squirted through Hellebuyck’s pads and slowly trickled over the goal line for his fifth goal in the past five games.
The Golden Knights extended the lead to 2-0 near the end of the period when Smith, stationed in the slot, redirected Hanifin’s shot from the left point past Hellebuyck’s glove side.
Barbashev made it 3-0 just 31 seconds into the third period, roofing a shot inside the right post off a no-look, behind-the net pass from Eichel.
Vilardi answered with a power-play goal on a deflection of a Colin Miller point shot at 2:34. Vilardi hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his seven-season career.
Sixty-three seconds later, Andersson then made it 4-1 when he ripped a wrist shot from the right circle past Hellebuyck’s glove side.
Scheifele, who hit the 100-point mark with an assist on Vilardi’s goal, cut the deficit to 4-2 when he put in a rebound of a Kyle Connor shot at 4:41.
The Golden Knights broke the game open with a pair of power-play goals after Scheifele picked up a double-minor for drawing blood on a high-sticking penalty on Andersson.
Dorofeyev got the first, his team-leading 37th goal and the 20th on the power play, at 5:42. Eichel followed when he scooped up a loose puck in the low slot and roofed a wrist shot into the top far right corner at 7:38 for his first power-play goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
