Cooper Krigbaum
The Vegas Golden Knights blanked the Winnipeg Jets 2-0 on Monday night behind another strong performance from the offense. They are now 6-0-1 since hiring head coach John Tortorella.
The win extended the Golden Knights’ point streak to nine games, and they now sit in sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division with a chance to clinch Wednesday against the Seattle Kraken.
Amid the noise around the league, the first period was quiet. The Golden Knights had a power-play with Adam Lowry sent off for holding.
The power play did not generate much, and neither did the Golden Knights for most of the period, which ended scoreless after 20 minutes.
It was Mark Stone who got the Golden Knights on the board first. He and Jack Eichel had a shorthanded two-on-one, and Stone beat Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
The puck went five-hole on Hellebuyck and took a fortunate bounce, giving the Golden Knights the lead midway through the second period.
After both teams took what felt like a parade to the penalty box, Reilly Smith scored his 14th goal of the season, tipping a shot from defenseman Noah Hanifin.
That gave the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period, often called the worst lead in hockey but it did not play a role. Early in the third period, Eichel made a no-look pass to Ivan Barbashev, who finished into an open net to make it 3-0.
Later in the third, Gabe Vilardi got the Jets on the board. Mark Scheifele added another soon after, trimming the deficit to 4-2.
Vegas answered on a double minor after Scheifele was called for high-sticking Rasmus Andersson. Pavel Dorofeyev capitalized on the power play, scoring his 20th of the season with the man-advantage to push the Golden Knights’ lead to 5-2.
Eichel later scored on the same power play his first power play goal of the season to make it 6-2 Golden Knights.
Vegas will face the Kraken on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in its final game of the regular season, with an opportunity to clinch the division by securing a point.
