Mark Stone scored the winner in the fourth round of the shootout to go along with a goal and an assist and Chandler Stephenson had a goal and three assists to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday in Las Vegas.
Stone fired a wrist shot past St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington’s blocker side to win it after Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson made a pad save on Ryan O’Reilly’s five-hole attempt to start the round.
Stephenson produced the fourth four-point game of his career when he tied the contest in the final two minutes.
Michael Amadio had a goal and two assists and Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and an assist for Vegas, which enters the NHL’s holiday break with a five-point lead in the Pacific Division over the Los Angeles Kings. Thompson finished with 25 saves.
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists, Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist and Justin Faulk and Noel Acciari also scored goals for St. Louis, which concluded a 3-1-1 road trip. Torey Krug chipped in with two assists and Binnington stopped 28 of 32 shots for the Blues.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 5:22 mark of the first period when Pietrangelo cut down the slot and fired a backhand shot inside the right post for his fourth goal of the season.
Buchnevich, left alone in the high slot, tied it 39 seconds into the second period with a wrist shot past Thompson’s blocker side. It was his 12th goal of the season and 11th in the past 15 games.
The Golden Knights regained the lead at 4:29 of the second when Stone tapped in a rebound of an Amadio shot into an open net for his 15th goal of the season.
The Blues tied it 2-2 at the 6:17 mark of the second on a power-play goal by Tarasenko. He blasted a one-timer from the high slot past Thompson’s blocker side for his 10th goal of the season.
Faulk gave St. Louis its first lead of the game two minutes later with a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle. The puck deflected off the stick of defenseman Brayden Pachal and through Thompson’s pads for Faulk’s fifth goal of the season.
Vegas tied it 3-3 near the end of the middle period when Amadio tapped Stone’s pass into the wide-open left side of the net for his third goal of the season.
Acciari put the Blues back in front with 9:15 to go when he deflected a Brandon Saad shot past Thompson’s glove side for his ninth goal of the season and his first point in eight games.
Stephenson tied it up with 1:36 remaining while Vegas had a six-on-four advantage thanks to a power play and pulling the goalie. He put in a rebound of a Pietrangelo one-timer that caromed to him off the back boards.
The Golden Knights earned their fourth win in six games.
–Field Level Media
