Knights fend off young Canucks
LAS VEGAS 4 VANCOUVER 3
VANCOUVER — Max Pacioretty scored twice to lead the Las Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
The victory extended the Knights’ win streak to five games, and adds to a slump where the Canucks have just one win in their last 11 match ups.
William Carrier and William Karlsson also scored for Vegas (14-12-1).
Brock Boeser got a pair of goals for Vancouver (11-14-3), while Alex Edler rounded out the Canucks scoring.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 27 shots for the Canucks and Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves for the Golden Knights.
Vegas had yet to register a single shot when the Canucks opened the scoring nearly 10 minutes in.
Vancouver rookie Elias Pettersson picked the pocket of Vegas defenceman Nate Schmidt in front of the Knights’ net, then sent a no-look pass to Boeser from his knees.
Boeser got the puck in the slot and hammered a quick wrist shot past Fleury.
The Knights tied things up before the end of the first following a flurry of activity in front of the Canucks’ net.
Markstrom made a save but couldn’t smother the rebound, and the puck popped off of Carrier’s skate and into the net.
Pacioretty added a power-play goal early in the second frame after Canucks defenceman Troy Stecher got called for high sticking.
He put another past Markstrom 1:13 into the third, rocketing a onetimer over the goalie’s shoulder.
The former Montreal Canadiens captain now has eight goals in his last seven games.
Edler brought the Canucks back within less than a minute later, putting a rebound from Bo Horavat’s shot into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
Boeser knotted the score again midway through the third, sneaking around the side of the Vegas net and putting a wrister in past Fleury.
The right-winger’s sixth goal of the year and comes after he missed 11 games this month with a lower-body injury.
Karlsson netted the winner — a short-handed goal — 13:35 into the third after Reilly Smith found him down low on the Canucks power play.
Oilers 3, Kings 2
EDMONTON — Oscar Klefbom has gone from a massive drought to pouring in game-winning goals.
Klefbom scored his second straight game winner and added an assist as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Thursday. The Oilers defenceman broke a 2-2 tie with 2:20 remaining in the third on the power play with a blast from the point.
“It has been good timing for my first two goals here,” said Klefbom who has scored in backto-back games after going without a goal since March 4, and now has five points in his last three games. “It was a big win for us. We didn’t play our best game, so it was good to come out with two points in a game like this. For me, personally, it is nice to get the goals going and it has been good timing, too.”
Jesse Puljujarvi and Alex Chiasson also scored for the Oilers (12-11-2), who won their second game in a row and are now 3-1-1 under new coach Ken Hitchcock.
“He’s pushing us to be our best,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had a pair of assists. “It is tough to come in a quarter of the way through the season and try to change things, but he has done a good job of reminding us the things we already know, but also pushing us and keeping us honest.”
Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter replied for the Kings (9-15-1), who had a two-game win streak snapped.
L.A. goalie Jonathan Quick made his first start since Oct. 23, missing 15 games with surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.