Jack Eichel scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Logan Thompson made 20 saves to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-1 victory over the slumping New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas.
William Carrier and William Karlsson also scored goals and Noah Hanifin added two assists for the Golden Knights, who moved into a tie for third place in the Pacific Division with the Los Angeles Kings at 79 points.
Thompson, making his first start since he allowed seven goals in a loss at Buffalo March 2, won his first game since blanking San Jose 4-0 on Feb. 19.
Nico Hischier scored for New Jersey, which lost for the fourth time in its last five games. Jake Allen, acquired at the trade deadline from Montreal, stopped 34 of 36 shots.
New Jersey was playing the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 4-1 loss to Arizona on Saturday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz.
The Devils appeared to jump out to a 1-0 lead at the 1:44 mark of the first period when Dawson Mercer put in a rebound of Timo Meier’s shot that caromed in off his skate. But Vegas challenged successfully for goalie interference after Meier clipped Thompson’s pad while crossing in front of the crease.
Hischier gave the Devils a 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot in the slot for his 22nd goal of the season.
Vegas tied it a little more than two minutes later when Alex Pietrangelo’s shot from the left point deflected in off the shoulder of Carrier stationed by the left post. It was Carrier’s sixth goal and first since Dec. 19 at Carolina after he missed 26 games with an upper-body injury.
Eichel made it 2-1 at the 11:06 mark when he snapped a wrist shot from the high slot past Allen’s blocker side for his 21st goal.
The Devils pulled Allen for an extra attacker with 1:35 remaining and Karlsson sealed the win with an empty-netter with 18.9 seconds left, his 24th goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
