Tomas Hertl tallied his eighth career NHL hat trick to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 6-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.
Jack Eichel had a four-point night (one goal, three assists), while Mark Stone had a three-point game (one goal, two assists). Nicolas Roy also scored, while Adin Hill made 28 saves for the Golden Knights (41-20-8).
Vegas remained atop of the Pacific Division with 13 games to play.
“It’s very important [to win the division]. That’s our goal in here,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “We’re in a good position to do it, so we just got to keep banking the points. There are 13 games left. We’ll take as many points as we can and hopefully finish first.”
Hertl Matches Dorofeyev For Team Lead
Hertl scored his second hat trick of the season to bring his goal total to 30 – tying him with Pavel Dorofeyev for the team lead. It marks the third time Hertl has scored 30 goals in a season – the last time was in 2021-22.
“It’s nice to score some goals. It’s always nice to score 30 goals in the league,” Hertl said. “It’s kind of a big number, so it’s always a good moment. It’s nice to be hot, but I’d rather be hotter in three weeks.”
Golden Knights Focus On Mistakes
Despite winning relatively comfortably by a three-goal margin, there was a common thread among the Golden Knights’ post-game comments.
McNabb focused on the lack of quality of penalty kill. Hertl keyed on avoiding playing too deep in the offensive zone.
For Cassidy, this was good to hear.
“They’re an astute group, so there’s always things,” Cassidy said. “I feel like our team wants to get better at. As a coach, you love to hear that because that’s how coaches operate. They always look at the good in the game, but what do we need to fix? So good for them for recognizing that.”
Eichel’s Milestone Night
It’s not a question of whether Eichel will set a new career-high in points, but rather how many points he finishes with.
Eichel sits at 86 points (22 goals, 64 assists), which is also a Golden Knights record for points in a season. He scored career NHL point No. 600 with his empty-net goal at 17:59 of the third period.
“It’s a cool milestone,” Eichel said. “I’ve played with some amazing players. You’ve got to look around at the people in this room, people I’ve played with previously. I’ve been the benefactor of some good hockey players. I’m just trying to continue to get better every day. That stuff usually comes organically.”
