Marchessault scores twice, lifts Golden Knights over Jets
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Jonathan Marchessault was happy to take advantage of the Winnipeg Jets.
The Vegas Golden Knights forward scored his second power-play goal late in the third period to break a tie and help lift his team to a 6-5 victory over the Jets on Tuesday.
“I thought our power play looked good in the third, and sometimes you need the power play to win games and tonight it did,” Marchessault said.
Vegas went 2-for-3 with the man advantage Tuesday while Winnipeg was 1-for-2.
The final minutes of the game were action packed, with William Karlsson adding an empty-net strike for Vegas with 1:24 left on the clock and Jets center Mark Scheifele completing a hat trick with two seconds to go in the game.
Golden Knights’ captain Mark Stone scored twice, while Daniil Miromanov put away his first NHL goal and contributed a pair of assists. Chandler Stephenson registered four helpers.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said being able to move Stephenson to center in place of injured Jack Eichel is a bonus for the team.
“He was very assertive tonight with his pace,” Cassidy said of Stephenson. “He’s got such deceptive speed. You can pre-scout it, say he can really go, and all of sudden until you see him fly by you with an effortless stride, I don’t think you truly appreciate it.”
Adin Hill stopped 29 shots for the Golden Knights (21-9-1).
Morgan Barron and Sam Gagner each had a goal for the Jets (18-9-1) and Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves.
“That was a hell of a hockey game and give their goalie credit,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said of Hill. “On our last power play in the third, he made four Grade A (saves), give him credit for that.”
The game featured the Western Conference’s division heavyweights, with Winnipeg going into the game atop the Central Division and Vegas leading the Pacific.
The two sides came into the third period with the score knotted at 3-3.
Scheifele gave his side the advantage 41 second into the frame, putting away his second goal of the night on a power play.
He took a cross-ice pass from Kyle Connor, going down on one knee and firing in the puck in for his team-leading 17th goal of the season.
“When we would get a lead, they kept pouncing on us,” Scheifele said. “They were keeping their speed and we just had to be a little more on our toes, as opposed to letting the game come to us.”
Marchessault leveled the game at 4-4 with his first power-play marker at 9:38, then scored the go-ahead goal at 17:44.
The result gave Vegas a sweep of the three-game season series, include one overtime victory.
MISSING PIECES
Eichel, who has 29 points in 27 games, was placed on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.
Defenseman Shea Theodore (knee) is week-to-week and Zach Whitecloud (leg) is month-to-month. Veteran blueliner Alex Pietrangelo is away indefinitely because of an illness in the family.
UP NEXT
Jets: Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
Golden Knights: Face the Blackhawks in Chicago on Thursday.
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