LAS VEGAS (AP) Reilly Smith scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Tuesday night.
The Golden Knights, who swept the season series 3-0, also got third-period goals from Brad Hunt, David Perron and Tomas Nosek. Ryan Carpenter also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury had 29 saves for Vegas, which snapped a two-game home losing streak.
One night after Arizona ended a nine-game losing streak to the last-place Blackhawks, the Western Conference-leading Golden Knights sent Chicago to its season-high seventh straight loss. The Blackhawks have been outscored 29-12 during their losing streak.
Tommy Wingels and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Blackhawks, while Jeff Glass stopped 32 shots.
The Golden Knights wasted no time in seizing control early in the third period, with three goals in less than five minutes. First it was Hunt tying the game at 2 when he ripped a wrist shot past Glass for a power-play goal. Moments later, Smith took a pass from William Karlsson and sniped Glass for his 17th goal of the season. Then it was James Neal stealing the puck in neutral zone and setting up Perron on the break to beat Glass low on the glove side.
The Golden Knights, who have registered a power-play goal in 10 of their last 11 games, were 1-for-5 with a man advantage.
Wingels got things going 2:10 into the game when he camped out in front of Fleury on a power play and tipped in Erik Gustafsson’s one-timer from the point.
The Blackhawks rank 29th in the league on the power play but converted on their only opportunity against a Golden Knights team that has the league’s sixth-best penalty kill at home.
Vegas tied it three minutes later when Carpenter dug the puck out from behind the net and stuffed it between Glass’ left pad and the post.
Shortly after Fleury stymied Patrick Sharp’s penalty shot, the Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead when he kicked DeBrincat’s rebound back to him and he scored the 21st goal of his rookie season.
Nosek’s empty-netter provided the final margin.
NOTES: Chicago’s Artem Anisimov played in his 600th career game. … Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford, who has been out since late December with an upper-body injury, took some shots during a morning skate in Phoenix. Chicago did not have a morning skate in Vegas. … With an assist on Carpenter’s goal, Vegas defenseman Deryk Engelland tied a career high in points in a season with 17. … With his assist, Karlsson is one point shy of 100 in his career.
UP NEXT
Chicago: Hosts Anaheim on Thursday.
Vegas: Hosts Edmonton on Thursday.
—
More NHL hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
25% Bonus via Western Union
