Jonathan Marchessault scored in the fifth round of the shootout to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Marchessault curled in from the left side, then beat Anders Nilsson with a wrist shot on his glove side. Brandon Pirri of the Golden Knights and Vladislav Namestnikov of the Senators each scored in the second round and Tyler Ennis and Shea Theodore scored in the fourth round before Marchessault's game-winner, which came after a wide shot by Brady Tkachuk.
Reilly Smith and Nick Holden scored goals for Vegas, which totaled a team-record 54 shots and made a winner of Gerard Gallant in his 500th game as an NHL head coach. Marc-Andre Fleury had 37 saves.
Thomas Chabot and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each scored goals and Connor Brown had two assists for Ottawa, which lost for the fifth time in six games. Nilsson finished with 52 saves.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 4:12 mark of the first period when Smith cut toward the net from the left circle, received a pass from Marchessault, then beat Nilsson with a backhand shot for his sixth goal of the season.
Chabot tied it a minute later with his first goal of the season, toe dragging in the slot, then ripping a wrist shot past Fleury's glove side.
Holden then put the Golden Knights back ahead 2-1 with a power play goal. The defenseman blasted a one-timer from inside the blue line off a Mark Stone feed that hit the stick of Tkachuk, then bounced off the ice and over Nilsson's shoulder for his first goal of the season. Stone picked up his 200th career assist on the play.
Pageau then tied it at the 4:25 mark of the third period when he backhanded in a rebound of an Ennis shot over Fleury's shoulder for his second goal of the season.
Vegas had a chance to regain the lead with 8:50 to go when Marchessault broke in on a clean breakaway but he fired his shot wide of the net.
--Field Level Media
Ottawa | Vegas | |
Connor Brown 2 | Points | Nick Holden 1 |
Thomas Chabot 1 | Goals | Nick Holden 1 |
Connor Brown 2 | Assists | Jonathan Marchessault 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Nick Holden 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Anders Nilsson .963 | Save Percentage | Marc-Andre Fleury .949 |
Anders Nilsson 52 | Saves | Marc-Andre Fleury 37 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Ottawa | 39 | 2 | 0-4 | 2-3 | 11 | 37 |
Vegas | 54 | 3 | 1-3 | 4-4 | 13 | 40 |