LAS VEGAS
Six goals on Thursday was apparently not a one-off. The Vegas Golden Knights scored six more on Saturday night, burying the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 at T-Mobile Arena behind a three-point first period from captain Mark Stone, a goal from each of three defensemen, and a start so fast the game was effectively decided before the first intermission was half over. Vegas has now scored 17 goals across a three-game winning streak and sits at 8-2-0 — and if that record sounds familiar, it should: the Golden Knights have started 8-2 only twice before in franchise history, and both of those seasons ended in the Stanley Cup Final.
Over in 4:02
Pittsburgh, playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 5-2 loss at Colorado on Friday, never got its legs under it. Rasmus Andersson opened the scoring just 66 seconds in, cutting down the slot and ripping a wrist shot past Sergei Murashov's glove for his second goal of the season, off feeds from Jack Eichel and Stone. At 4:02, Noah Hanifin made it 2-0, taking a cross-ice pass from Eichel in the left circle and finishing low. Stone capped the period at 17:46 on the power play, redirecting a Trevor Connelly shot at the back door for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Stone's three points all came in that first period, extending his point streak to three games with seven points (four goals, three assists) across them. Eichel, playing his 700th NHL game, and offseason prize Mitch Marner each finished with two assists. “We've had good starts, gotten out to leads and transition games working well,” Eichel said. “We're getting pucks to the net and making plays. The D are getting involved. Obviously, we had a couple of goals from our back end tonight, which is great to see.”
The blue line joined the rush
Three of Vegas's six goals came from defensemen — Andersson, Hanifin and Shea Theodore, who scored on a slap shot from the right circle in the second period. Pittsburgh's only pushback came on the power play: Sidney Crosby, stationed at the right post, redirected a Tommy Novak shot past Adin Hill at 5:54 of the second for his 657th career goal, breaking a tie with Brendan Shanahan for 14th place in NHL history.
The answer took 71 seconds. Connelly intercepted a Crosby pass near the blue line, raced down the left wing and snapped the puck past Murashov glove-side for an unassisted goal that restored the three-goal margin. The rookie's night — a goal, an assist, and the primary helper on Stone's power-play marker — kept him atop the NHL rookie scoring race with four goals and seven points. Theodore's goal made it 5-1 before the second intermission.
Ville Koivunen scored for Pittsburgh early in the third, assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Novak, and Brett Howden closed the scoring at 17:47, awarded an empty-net goal after he was hauled down with the net empty — his fourth goal in his last six games. Hill finished with 22 saves to improve to 4-0-0 on the season, with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. Murashov stopped 14 shots for the Penguins, who were outshot only 24-18 but were outclassed in every moment that mattered.
The balance of the Vegas lineup is the deeper story of the young season. All three defensemen who scored — Andersson, Hanifin and Theodore — were registering their second goals of the year, which means the Golden Knights are getting offense from the back end without asking their forwards to cheat for it. Up front, the production is layered rather than top-heavy: Stone leads the team with seven goals, Connelly leads every rookie in the league, and the Eichel-Marner pairing produced four assists between them on a night when neither scored. When a team can win a period 3-0 with its captain, its rookie and two defensemen doing the scoring, the 8-2-0 record stops looking like a hot start and starts looking like a structure.
Two teams, two directions
For Pittsburgh (3-5-1), the loss was a third straight defeat and a sixth loss in seven games, on a road trip that has opened 0-3 with a 16-7 aggregate scoreline against them. “We can't be feeling bad for ourselves. It's on all of us, myself included,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “Together as a group, we got to dig in. We have to find consistency in our game. There's a lot coming off of tonight that we have to clean up from a structural standpoint.” The Penguins finish the trip Monday night at Utah.
Vegas, which beat Calgary by the identical 6-2 score in its previous home game, has won seven of its last eight. The Golden Knights host Tampa Bay on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena, and a lineup that is getting goals from its defense, its rookie and its captain all at once does not look like it plans to slow down. Follow our Vegas and NHL coverage for the Lightning matchup and the week ahead on the Strip.
