The third-place Golden Knights will try to cut into their Pacific Division deficit when Vegas visits the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
The Oilers (39-28-9, 87 points) are tied with the Anaheim Ducks (41-30-5, 87 points) atop the division, with the Golden Knights (34-26-16, 84 points) three points back. All three teams have six games left.
Vegas has won its first two games under new coach John Tortorella. The most recent was a 6-3 victory over the visiting Calgary Flames on Thursday, when Mitch Marner had three goals and two assists.
“Mitch is a great hockey player,” Tortorella said. “It’s been fun for me, the two games that I’ve been up close and personal with them. … I’ve watched him for so many years. He’s a complete player. Very important guy, one of the top players in the league. He does a lot of things for us.”
It was Marner’s fourth career hat trick and first with the Golden Knights.
“We just stuck with our game plan of trying to play quick, play up the ice, play in their face,” Marner said. “I thought we did a better job throughout the game of covering for one another when we were doing that. Obviously, some great plays from some guys to find me and just kind of make plays.”
Ivan Babrashev had a goal and two assists for Vegas while Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden also scored. Defenseman Shea Theodore added two assists and Carter Hart made 19 saves as he returned from missing 33 games with a lower-body injury.
Dorofeyev has 35 goals, which ties his career high set last season.
“I liked our pace,” Howden said. “We were playing fast all night, and that’s something we’ve been talking a lot about, playing with some more pace. We did a good job of that (Thursday).”
Golden Knights captain Mark Stone picked up his 700th career point with an assist on Marner’s third goal.
The Oilers registered their fifth straight win on Thursday, a 3-1 decision over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.
Edmonton captain Connor McDavid had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (six goals, five assists).
“Just putting the ‘X’ beside our name (clinching a playoff spot) is the main thing,” McDavid said. “Just getting in, that’s our main focus. Where we’re seeded, I’m not too concerned about it.
“We can start a series on the road, we can start a series at home, we’re pretty comfortable either way. We just have to get in.”
Adam Henrique, Matt Savoie and Vasily Podkolzin supplied the goals for Edmonton against Chicago, and Tristan Jarry made 17 saves.
“I certainly liked our start,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “In the first period, I thought we maybe could have had a nice lead, a nice cushion. Their goalie made some nice saves, we hit some goalposts, and then they had the power play and they got some momentum there.
“Jarry made one really good save at the end of the first period. As the game went on, I thought we got away from the things that we’ve been doing well.”
–Field Level Media
