Golden Knights shut out Blue Jackets 

COLUMBUS -- Adin Hill made 27 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Hill was sharp with 14 saves in the first period, enabling the Golden Knights to take a 2-0 lead despite the Blue Jackets leading in shot attempts (33-9) and shots on goal (14-6).

“’Hiller’ played amazing for us. I think anytime he's going to shut the door like that, it gives you confidence, even when you don't have your legs as a team,” Golden Knights forward Brandon Saad said. “We know how good they are at home. They’ve got a lot of talent. With ‘Hiller’ playing amazing, and then as a team, after the first, I thought we tightened it up and clogged the middle.”

Saad and Nicolas Roy each had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Hertl had two assists for the Golden Knights (39-19-7), who had lost two straight (0-1-1).

Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets (31-26-8), who have lost four of five.

“We played really well in the first,” Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski said. “Not ideal, the score’s 2-0, but that stuff happens in hockey. I felt like we kept playing our game. Obviously, they had a push in the second period. Felt we just needed to get one tonight, and maybe it would open up for us a little bit more.”

Roy gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 12:00 of the first period with a power-play goal on Vegas’ first shot attempt of the game. He put a one-timer from the right post into an open net after a touch pass from Jack Eichel in the bumper position.

“It was frustrating. It’s 8-0 in shots, they get a (power play) and they get one shot and it goes in the net,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “It was frustrating for everybody because the way we were playing didn't dictate that we should be down in this hockey game. And even after that, the whole first period was pretty good.”

The Blue Jackets failed to score on three power-play opportunities in the first period.

“Six minutes and weren't able to get one by,” Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner said. “We had some looks but the end of the day we’ve got to bury one of those and give us some juice.”

Saad extended the lead to 2-0 at 19:01 with a backhand from the edge of the crease after gathering the rebound of a shot by Reilly Smith. He has three goals in the past four games.

Pavel Dorofeyev made it 3-0 at 12:17 of the second period, taking a cross-ice pass from Hertl on the rush and beating Merzlikins with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy liked how the players responded in the second.

“We played better. We were on top of them more,” he said. “We didn't allow them to come through the neutral zone. They’ve got really fluid defensemen, guys that are mobile and can skate. If you limit some part of their game, I think they got a little antsy, now they were behind and all sudden the rush game goes our way.”

Alex Pietrangelo scored an empty-net goal for the 4-0 final at 15:38 of the third period.

NOTES: Eichel extended his point streak to seven games (one goal, nine assists) and has 79 points this season (20 goals, 59 assists), passing William Karlsson (78 in 2017-18) for the most in a single season in franchise history. … Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Christiansen did not play after his eighth shift ended at 10:57 of the second period. Evason said he has an upper-body injury and won’t play against the New York Rangers on Saturday.