LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Stone scored the winner in a shootout to cap a strong game for the Vegas Golden Knights’ top line in a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
The Knights improved to 7-1 in overtime and 3-0 in shootouts.
Stone and fellow top-liner Chandler Stephenson scored in the shootout. Vladimir Tarasenko put one in the net for the Blues.
St. Louis heads home after a strong start to their five-game trip that finished with back-to-back-losses. The Blues had won their first three games.
Stephenson finished with a goal and three assists, extending his points streak to seven games (three goals, 11 assists), the longest of his career. He leads the Knights with 27 assists and 35 points, and is in position to surpass his career highs set last season of 43 assists and 64 points.
He was part of a Knights’ top line that, in the past two games, has combined for six goals and nine assists. Stone has three goals and an assist, and Michael Amadio has two goals and two assists.
Amadio also had a three-point game Friday, with a goal and two assists. It’s his second three-point performance with the other coming March 4 against Anaheim.
Stone and Alex Pietrangelo each had a goal and an assist.
Tarasenko had a goal and two assists for the Blues, and Pavel Buchnevich (goal, assist) and Torey Krug (two assists) each had two points.
Pietrangelo put the Knights on the scoreboard just 5:22 into the game. He took Stephenson’s pass near the blue line, skated in front of the crease and sent a backhand shot into the net.
The teams combined for five goals in the second period. Buchnevich, Tarasenko and Justin Faulk scored for the Blues and Stone and Amadio for the Knights to make the score 3-all going into the third.
Tarasenko’s goal came on a power play, ending a streak of eight consecutive penalty kills for Vegas. The Knights also had killed off 12 of the previous 13, and had outscored opponents 2-0 over prior four games while short-handed.
Noel Acciari redirected Brandon Saad’s shot with 9:15 left to put St. Louis ahead 4-3, but Saad was called for hooking with 2:38 left.
That put the Knights on the power play and Stephenson blasted in a rebound to make the score 4-all with 1:36 remaining. It was the Knights’ 13th power-play goal in December, setting a franchise record for a month.
Both teams had high-quality chances in overtime, but both goalies made key saves to send the game to a shootout.
NOTES
Blues leading scorer Jordan Kyrou didn’t play for the second game in a row because of an upper-body injury, but he took part in Friday’s morning skate. He leads St. Louis with 16 goals and 32 points. … Vegas second-line right wing Jonathan Marchessault didn’t play because of a lower-body injury. The Knights called up right wing Pavel Dorofeyev and defenseman Brayden Pachal from their American Hockey League affiliate in Henderson, Nevada. … Pietrangelo extended his points streak to four games (one goal, three assists), Amadio to three (two goals, three assists) and William Karlsson (three assists) to three. … Krug extended his points streak to four games (five assists).
UP NEXT
Blues: At home against Toronto on Tuesday.
Golden Knights: At Los Angeles on Tuesday.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports