The Vegas Golden Knights swept their two-game road trip with a come-from-behind 4-2 win against the Utah Hockey Club Friday night at Delta Center.
After trailing 2-0, Vegas scored once in the second and added three more in the third, with the game-winner coming in the final 1:18. Adin Hill was stellar early, Tomas Hertl scored twice on the power play and William Karlsson potted two late in the third to lift Vegas to victory.
Unlike the other night in Anaheim, the Golden Knights struggled in the neutral zone in their first game in Utah, and zone exits were problematic early.
One such failed exit involved an Alex Pietrangelo turnover from behind the net, which led to the first goal of the night, as Logan Cooley beat Hill on a one-timer from the low slot at 11:16 of the first.
But Hill managed to take care of the other 15 shots he faced in a busy opening frame. He was the only reason the game wasn’t out of hand early in an overall dismal start by the Golden Knights, who were outshot 16-9. Utah also led in Corsi (36-11), scoring chances (15-2) and high-danger chances (6-0) while managing an 86.96 percent expected goal share.
Though Vegas had a few chances early in the second, a defensive lapse on the penalty kill put Vegas in a two-goal hole less than seven minutes in when Mikhail Sergachev was allowed to walk in and fire one past Hill.
Utah threatened to pile it on with two prime scoring chances shortly after the power play, but Hill came through once again.
However, the first of Hertl’s power-play strikes cut the deficit in half at 13:37.
After a quiet failed power play, the Golden Knights got another chance a minute later. This time, Vegas found twine, as Jack Eichel sent a cross-zone feed to Nicolas Roy, who then set up Hertl for the backhand finish.
It took the Golden Knights a while to get going, but the Hertl goal seemed to wake them up.
They came up with two key kills at the end of the second and start of the third, and it looked as though Brett Howden had evened things up early; however, the puck entered the net from the side of the cage.
Roy responded to a massive hit on Hertl in the neutral zone, tackling Ian Cole to the ice in defense of his teammate. He took an instigator penalty (and misconduct) in the process, but Vegas took care of business while shorthanded for the third time in under 10 minutes.
A few minutes later, Hertl scored his second on the man-advantage to knot things up at 2-2.
Once again, Eichel kicked off the play along the wall, this time finding Karlsson down low. Karlsson drove to the net and found Vegas’ power-play specialist in front; Hertl made no mistake, beating Karel Vejmelka top-shelf.
In the third, the Golden Knights’ forecheck was finally in effect, and it paid off when Karlsson scored the go-ahead goal with just 78 seconds remaining in regulation, beating Vejmelka on a deflection from the slot.
Karlsson added an empty-net goal with 29 seconds left to seal the 4-2 win. It was his third point in the third period as the Golden Knights fought back for the win.
The Golden Knights are now 11-0-1 all-time on Fathers trips and improve to 11-4-2 on the year.
It was far from the Golden Knights’ best effort, and it could have been over in the first period. Fortunately for the Golden Knights, Hill came ready to play. He finished the game with 32 saves on 34 shots for a .941 save percentage.
Hertl gave the Golden Knights life on the power play, and Karlsson took over in the second half of the game.
Kaedan Korczak channeled his inner Dylan Coghlan in the first period as he took shifts as a forward, though he was back on the blue line to start the second; he eventually got the primary assist on the game-winner — a gorgeous tip by Karlsson — after Cole Schwindt set up the play.
Once again, the power play played a crucial role for Vegas, as the Golden Knights have now scored a power-play goal in five straight games. But the penalty kill also came up clutch with three straight kills late in the second and early in the third.
In addition to the slow start, turnovers were a problem yet again for Vegas, but Hill covered up a lot of mistakes, and the Golden Knights’ structure eventually fell into place.
The Golden Knights will take on Logan Thompson and the Washington Capitals Sunday at home before heading out on a five-game road trip.
