Alexander Nylander scored his first career hat trick to lead the host Columbus Blue Jackets to a 6-3 victory over the slumping Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night.
Justin Danforth, Erik Gudbranson and Yegor Chinakhov also scored goals for Columbus, which has won back-to-back games for the third time this season and for the first time since Nov. 22-24. Daniil Tarasov stopped 37 of 40 shots to improve to 5-8-2 this season.
Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist and Mason Morelli and William Karlsson also scored for Vegas, which took its sixth loss in seven games (1-5-1) and its eighth in the past 10 games (2-7-1).
Jack Eichel returned to the Golden Knights’ lineup for the first time since sustaining a knee injury in a Jan. 11 game against the Boston Bruins. He attempted five shots, including one that hit the crossbar, in 19:55 of ice time.
Adin Hill finished with 27 saves for Vegas. It marked the fifth time in the past seven games that the Golden Knights allowed at least five goals.
Columbus jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Danforth opened the scoring at the 6:16 mark with his 10th goal of the season and first since Dec. 27, sending a Sean Kuraly pass from the left circle into the far top corner of the net.
Nylander followed just under seven minutes later when he slapped in a rebound of his own shot from the low slot.
Vegas rebounded to tie it near the end of the period with two goals in 42 seconds. Morelli got the first when he picked up the puck behind the net and beat Tarasov with a wraparound shot inside the right post. Karlsson followed with his 22nd goal at 18:01, snapping a shot from the top of the left circle past Tarasov’s blocker side.
Columbus regained the lead late in the second period when Gudbranson blasted a slap shot from the top of the right circle over Hill’s right arm and into the top right corner for his fourth goal.
Nylander made it 4-2 at 3:23 of the third period following a Keegan Kolesar turnover in the Vegas offensive zone, snapping a shot that clanged in off the far right post.
Stephenson cut the deficit to 4-3 just past the midpoint of the period with a one-timer from the right circle. But Chinakhov answered 64 seconds later with his 16th goal, snapping a wrist shot from the edge of the left circle inside the right post.
The Golden Knights pulled Hill for an extra attacker with 2:48 remaining, and Nylander sealed the win with an empty-netter to cap the hat trick. It was his fourth goal of the season, capping his third multi-goal performance in 103 career NHL games.
–Field Level Media
