Noah Hanifin scored the game-winner with 1:55 remaining and the Vegas Golden Knights clinched the Pacific Division title with a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Hanifin snapped a 15-game goalless drought when he blasted a slap shot from just inside the blue line past the glove hand of Nashville goaltender Justus Annunen to break a 3-3 tie. Ivan Barbashev sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1.7 seconds left.
Brett Howden and Nicolas Roy each had a goal and an assist, Reilly Smith had two assists and Alexander Holtz also scored for Vegas (49-22-9, 107 points), which won its fourth division title in eight seasons. Adin Hill made 14 saves for the Golden Knights, who finished with a 29-9-3 regular-season home record, tying the team mark for most home wins in a season (29) set in 2017-18.
Jonathan Marchessault hit the 20-goal mark for the eighth time in his career with the 250th of his career, Luke Evangelista had two assists and Jordan Oesterle and Marc Del Gaizo also scored for Nashville (29-43-8, 66 points). Annunen stopped 24 of 28 shots for the Predators, who had a two-game win streak snapped.
Nashville, despite being outshot 10-0 to start the game, took a 1-0 lead at the 8:11 mark of the first period with their first shot of the contest, a one-timer by Oesterle from the high slot under Hill’s left pad at the end of a 4-on-2 rush.
The Golden Knights rebounded to take a 3-1 lead in the second period. Howden started the comeback with a wrist shot from the left face-off dot past Annunen’s glove side. Roy followed 94 seconds later with a wrist shot from the low slot into the top right corner off a Keegan Kolesar pass. Holtz then scored a power-play goal midway through the period, roofing a crossing pass from William Karlsson by the right post.
Nashville rallied to tie it at 3-all with two goals in the first five minutes of the third period. Marchessault got the first when he jammed in a rebound of a Zachary L’Heureux shot. Del Gaizo then tied it when Andreas Englund’s shot from inside the blue line hit him in the helmet and caromed into the top right corner of the net.
–Field Level Media
