Max Pacioretty scored two goals, and Malcolm Subban made 29 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights snapped a franchise-record, five-game home losing streak with a 5-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
It was the fourth two-goal game of the season for Pacioretty. Oscar Lindberg had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Pirri and Shea Theodore also scored goals for Vegas, which won at home for the first time since Jan. 19, when it defeated Pittsburgh 7-3.
Subban, playing in his first game since a 3-2 win over New Jersey on Jan. 6, improved to 3-5-0 on the season with his third straight victory.
Kevin Fiala scored a goal for Nashville, which took its fourth loss in five games and was outshot 50-30.
Juuse Saros, who entered the game with a 3-0-0 record against the Golden Knights and had stopped 113 of 115 shots he had faced in those games, finished with 45 saves.
Nashville appeared to take a 1-0 lead late in the first period on a goal by Colton Sissons, but the goal was quickly overturned after Vegas challenged that Sissons had been offside entering the zone.
Two minutes later, the Golden Knights snapped a six-game streak of allowing the opposing team to score first when Pacioretty buried a rebound through Saros' pads.
Pirri made it 2-0 midway through the second period with his 10th goal of the season on a power play. Saros stopped Pirri's first shot, but the puck caromed out into the middle of the slot where Pirri fired in the rebound.
The period was dominated by the Golden Knights, who outshot the Predators 24-7.
Theodore extended the Vegas lead to 3-0 at the 1:56 mark of the third period with his ninth goal of the season.
Fiala cut it to 3-1 with a breakaway goal, but Vegas answered with two goals within 1:29 to seal it, the first by Lindberg and then Pacioretty's second of the game and 18th of the season on a wrist shot from the slot through Saros' pads.
--Field Level Media
Nashville | Vegas | |
Kevin Fiala 1 | Points | Max Pacioretty 2 |
Kevin Fiala 1 | Goals | Max Pacioretty 2 |
Mattias Ekholm 1 | Assists | Alex Tuch 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Brandon Pirri 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Juuse Saros .900 | Save Percentage | Malcolm Subban .967 |
Juuse Saros 45 | Saves | Malcolm Subban 29 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Nashville | 30 | 1 | 0-3 | 2-3 | 6 | 35 |
Vegas | 50 | 5 | 1-3 | 3-3 | 6 | 41 |