Tomas Hertl scored twice in the third period and Adin Hill made 28 saves as the visiting Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Mitch Marner scored a short-handed goal and had an assist, Ivan Barbashev had two assists and Jack Eichel also scored a goal for Vegas, which won its third straight game. The Golden Knights finished their four-game East Coast road trip with seven of a possible eight points, with the only loss coming in a shootout at Atlantic Division-leading Boston.
Marner became the fastest player in franchise history to reach 100 points with Vegas, accomplishing the feat with an assist on Hertl’s first goal.
Beck Malenstyn scored and Colten Ellis stopped 22 of 26 shots for Buffalo.
The Sabres who entered with four wins in their previous five games, dominated the opening period and outshot Vegas 14-6. Hill kept the game scoreless with several outstanding saves.
The script flipped in the second period when Vegas took a 2-0 lead while outshooting the Sabres, 11-5. Ellis kept it scoreless early in the period when he stopped William Karlsson on a clean breakaway and also saved the ensuing rebound.
Vegas then took a 1-0 lead at the 12:17 mark on Marner’s short-handed breakaway goal. Marner intercepted a Tage Thompson pass near the blue line, then skated in and jammed in a wrist shot past the left pad of Ellis for his third goal.
The Golden Knights increased the lead to 2-0 just 86 seconds later on Eichel’s eighth goal. Barbashev emerged from the penalty box, pressured defenseman Owen Power into a turnover behind the Buffalo net and fed Eichel for a shot from the bottom of the left circle.
Buffalo cut the lead to 2-1 at the 4:26 mark of the third period when Malenstyn slid in a shot during a goalmouth scrum for his first goal.
Hertl responded with two goals in a span of 4:17 to extend Vegas’ lead to 4-1, beating Ellis with high wrist shots on both occasions.
–Field Level Media
