Much of the attention from Toronto was on Mitch Marner, but he and the Vegas Golden Knights would get the last laugh.
Much of the attention from Toronto was on Mitch Marner, but he and the Vegas Golden Knights would get the last laugh.
On Friday, the Golden Knights jumped out to an early lead, allowing them to mostly cruise to a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It would not take long for the Golden Knights to try and cool the raucous Toronto crowd. Just over a minute into the game, the top line for Vegas made an excellent passing play, ending with Jack Eichel getting an easy tap-in off a Stone feed. The goal pushed Stone’s record point streak to 14 games, while Eichel’s is now at 11 games.
The hot start would continue for the Golden Knights thanks to a pair of unlikely players. Soon-to-be Olympian Jonas Rondbjerg made a strong first impression in his first NHL game this season, beating a Leaf to the puck to help get a rebound. Keegan Kolesar was able to get in position to finish the chance, pushing the Golden Knights lead to two goals in the first five minutes of action.
After a poor start, it was expected that the Maple Leafs would make a push. They got started with John Tavares pushing a rebound past Adin Hill just 13 seconds into the second period.
However, Pavel Dorofeyev would be quick to get the cushion back for the road team. After hitting the post on his previous shot, Dorofeyev stayed with the play and fired another one past Anthony Stolarz. It pushed Dorofeyev back in the team lead with 22 goals, breaking his tie with Tomas Hertl.
The fourth line would join the fun no more than two minutes later. Tanner Lazcynski set up a strong play on the backcheck before finding Braeden Bowman streaking towards the net in transition. The Toronto native wouldn’t miss the clean look, and the Golden Knights extended their lead to three.
However, the Leafs would take advantage once the Golden Knights took their foot off the gas pedal. A breakaway from Scott Laughton would push the lead down to two goals, and a tip from Bobby McMann that was not ruled a high stick caused the road team to leave the second period with only a one-goal advantage.
In the third period, however, Stone would completely take over the game. After killing a Hertl penalty for goaltender interference, Stone took advantage of the Leafs defense getting overaggressive and got the two-goal lead back. With that goal, the Golden Knights captain secured the 250th goal of his NHL career.
An empty net goal would make Stone the third Golden Knight to hit 20 goals on the year, with Rasmus Andersson also making history with an assist for his first point with Vegas.
Momentum now on their side, the Golden Knights next turn their attention to the Canadian capital, where they will face the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
Category: General Sports
