Marner Wins It in Overtime: Golden Knights Edge Kings 2-1

LAS VEGAS

The Golden Knights keep finding ways to win the close ones. On Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, it took an overtime power play to do it: Mitch Marner collected a pass from Mark Stone off a face-off win in the offensive zone, glided into the high slot and buried a wrist shot glove side past Darcy Kuemper at 2:40 of the extra period, giving Vegas a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. It was Marner's first overtime winner as a Golden Knight — the eighth of his career — and it stretched Vegas' win streak to four, pushed the club to 5-1-0 and put the Knights alone atop the Pacific Division.

How the winner happened

Overtime in the NHL is chaos by design, and this one ended almost before it started. Shea Theodore drew a tripping penalty six seconds into the extra session, sending the Kings' Scott Laughton to the box and putting Vegas on the 4-on-3. Off the face-off win, Stone got the puck back to Marner, who read the gap, took the ice in front of him and snapped a shot from the high slot past a screen by Stone and beyond Kuemper's glove. Marner's own description was simple: effort off the draw, a gap going downhill, ice ahead and a shot off. His second goal of the season. Game over.

The Knights' two-goal night started in the second period, and both goals came with the man advantage. Trevor Connelly one-timed a cross-ice pass from Stone on the power play at 2:28 of the second for a 1-0 lead, and head coach Ryan Craig afterward described the spot as built for exactly that — a shooter's location where the power-play setup lets Connelly do what he does best, with the other four guys recovering pucks and attacking. Connelly would later pick up the assist on Marner's winner, giving the young forward the first multipoint game of his NHL career. Stone's two assists extended his point streak to four games, and the Knights finished 2-for-2 on the power play — the second time this season they've converted twice with the man advantage.

Hart holds the line; the Kings stay winless

Carter Hart made 26 saves, and his postgame message was about patience: the Kings' goalie made big saves, the Knights just stuck with it, and Marner got the big goal. That has been the story of this streak — Vegas has been outplayed in stretches of these games and keeps finding the one save, the one power play, the one finish that turns them into points. Stone's hand in creating the game-opening goal — the 64th time he's assisted in creating a game-opening goal as a Golden Knight, per the club's game notes — is part of the same pattern: the captain produces the opening, and the rest of the roster cashes it in.

For the Kings, it was the same old frustration in a new season. Artemi Panarin's power-play goal was all the offense Los Angeles could muster, and Kuemper's 30 saves went to waste. The Kings are 0-2-2 under first-year head coach Peter Laviolette — the first four-game winless opening in franchise history. Kuemper's own words after the game were about using the losing as fuel the right way, finding another gear, and becoming difference-makers. Sooner or later, somebody's going to pay for this start. Vegas just wasn't the team to do it on Saturday.

Now the road test

Here's where the streak gets tested. The Knights head out Monday for a road back-to-back that starts in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET on ESPN+) at Grand Casino Arena. The Wild sit at 2-1-1 and just handled Florida 4-1 on Saturday behind a Kirill Kaprizov hat trick — his seventh career three-goal game — plus an assist. Jesper Wallstedt has a .921 save percentage in the early going. This is not a get-right spot; it's a real hockey game against a team that can score.

Then comes the quick turnaround: Tuesday at the Nashville Predators, 5:45 p.m. PT (7:45 p.m. CT) at Bridgestone Arena, as part of the NHL's Frozen Frenzy — all 32 teams in action across the ESPN family of networks with staggered starts. The Predators opened their season October 1 at home against Minnesota, so Tuesday is a rematch of their opener, and Bridgestone on a national spotlight night is never a quiet building. The Knights return home Thursday to face the Calgary Flames at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena, then host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

What it means

Six games in, Vegas has the division lead and a streak built on special teams and goaltending. The power play is clicking — twice on the same night for the second time this season. Hart is giving them saves when the game tilts. Marner is finishing. Stone is driving everything. The back-to-back at Minnesota and Nashville is the first real gut check of the season: two road buildings, two playoff-caliber opponents, one night apart. If the Knights come home with points from both, the four-game streak stops being a hot start and starts looking like a identity.

Golden Knights 2, Kings 1 (OT) — Saturday, Oct. 10 at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. Mitch Marner 4-on-3 PPG at 2:40 of OT (assists: Stone, Connelly). P2: Connelly PPG from Stone and Marner at 2:28 (1-0 VGK). P2: Panarin PPG (1-1). OT: Marner PPG at 2:40 (2-1 VGK). Laughton (LAK) tripping Shea Theodore six seconds into OT set up the winner. Mon Oct 12: at Minnesota Wild, 5 p.m. PT, Grand Casino Arena (ESPN+). Tue Oct 13: at Nashville Predators, 5:45 p.m. PT, Bridgestone Arena (Frozen Frenzy). Thu Oct 15: vs. Calgary Flames, 7 p.m. PT, T-Mobile Arena.

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