Ilya Samsonov made 38 saves as the visiting Vegas Golden Knights presented head coach Bruce Cassidy with his 400th career coaching victory with a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
Jack Eichel, Brett Howden and Pavel Dorofeyev scored goals and Ivan Barbashev had two assists for Vegas, which snapped a two-game losing streak. The Golden Knights improved to 12-1-1 all-time against the Senators with the victory, including 6-0-1 in Ottawa.
Cassidy, an Ottawa native, became the eighth active coach in the NHL to hit the 400-win mark.
Adam Gaudette and Drake Batherson scored goals and Linus Ullmark finished with 29 saves for Ottawa, which lost its fourth straight game.
Vegas, coming off its first shutout loss since Jan. 10, 2024 on Wednesday at Toronto, took a 1-0 lead at the 6:45 mark of the first period on Eichel’s sixth goal of the season. Barbashev set up the score with a pass from below the left goal line to a wide-open Eichel, who shoveled it into the net from the low slot.
Howden made it 2-0 midway through the second period with a wrist shot off a Barbashev drop pass from the middle of the left circle that squeaked past Ullmark’s blocker side for his eighth goal, one off his career high.
Samsonov was called for a holding penalty when he grabbed Claude Giroux skating past the net, and Ottawa took advantage at the 7:17 mark of the third period. Gaudette cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal when he roofed Ridly Greig’s no-look backhand pass through the crease, Gaudette’s eighth marker of the year.
Vegas extended the lead to 3-1 two minutes later when Dorofeyev took a crossing pass from William Karlsson and snapped in a wrist shot past Ullmark’s blocker side for his team-leading 10th goal.
Batherson then put in a rebound of a Jake Sanderson shot to bring Ottawa within 3-2 with 7:22 remaining. The Senators, who outshot the Golden Knights 18-5 in the final period, pulled Ullmark for an extra attacker with 1:40 to go but managed only one shot on goal by Giroux that Samsonov easily gloved.
–Field Level Media
