Logan Thompson made 38 saves and Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and an assist to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Evgenii Dadonov, Chandler Stephenson, Mattias Janmark and Michael Amadio also scored goals for Vegas which won its second straight game following a five-game losing streak. With the win, the Golden Knights remained in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, three points ahead of Dallas.
It was the third career win in his fifth NHL start for Thompson, who won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s best goaltender for the 2020-21 season for the nearby Henderson (Nev.) Silver Knights.
Phillip Danault scored and Cal Petersen finished with 19 saves for Los Angeles, which remained in second place in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of Edmonton.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 18:19 mark of the first period when Dadonov picked up a rebound of his own shot and went behind the net and backhanded a wraparound shot under Petersen’s left pad for his career-high 15th goal of the season.
The Golden Knights extended their lead 39 seconds into the second period on a power-play goal by Stephenson. Jack Eichel, considered doubtful to play after taking a shot off his right hand in Thursday’s 5-3 victory over Florida, set up the score with a crossing pass from the right circle that Stephenson redirected under the crossbar for his first goal in 11 games.
The Kings cut the lead to 2-1 midway through the period. Trevor Moore won the puck away from Pietrangelo behind the goal and then hit Danault who backhanded a shot inside the far post for his 19th goal of the season.
Vegas increased its lead to two goals at the 16:24 mark of the period on a short-handed breakaway goal by Janmark, who took a stretch pass from Nicolas Roy and then dribbled a shot around Petersen’s right skate. It was the first goal in 17 games and eighth of the season for Janmark and also the ninth short-handed goal of the season for Vegas, tying Florida for tops in the league.
Los Angeles, which held the Golden Knights without a shot for over 12 minutes in the third period while outshooting them 18-4, pulled Petersen with 3:40 remaining for an extra attacker and Pietrangelo sealed it with an empty-netter with 2:28 to go. Amadio then made it 5-1 with his career-high seventh goal with 1:12 left.
–Field Level Media
