The Vegas Golden Knights (25-13-12) defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs (24-18-9), 6-3, on Friday at Scotiabank Arena.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
Jack Eichel opened the scoring 66 seconds into the matchup, firing the puck into the net off a wide-open feed from Mark Stone. Ivan Barbashev worked the puck around the goal to find Stone, who then connected with Eichel for the score. Less than four minutes later, Keegan Kolesar buried a rebound from Jonas Rondbjerg to give Vegas a 2-0 advantage heading into the first intermission.
John Tavares cut the Golden Knights’ lead in half 13 seconds into the middle frame. Pavel Dorofeyev responded three minutes later with an unassisted goal, ripping a loose puck upstairs past Anthony Stolarz to put the Golden Knights up by two once again. Braeden Bowman then sent the puck top shelf to extend Vegas’ lead to 4-1 at 5:16 in the second period. Alexander Holtz tossed the puck to Tanner Laczynski in the offensive zone, who set up the play for Bowman on the wing. Scott Laughton scored on a breakaway to cut the deficit to 4-2. Bobby McMann then made it a one-goal game with less than two minutes remaining in the middle period.
With under five minutes remaining in the final period, Barbashev connected with Stone on an odd-man rush, and the captain found the back of the net to boost the Golden Knights’ score to 5-3. Minutes later, Stone sealed the victory for Vegas with an empty-netter that bounced in off the post and into the net for his second goal of the night. Adin Hill turned aside 18 out of 21 shots to secure the 6-3 road win for the Golden Knights.
TOP PERFORMERS
Mark Stone: Stone picked up a multi-point (2G,1A) night, netting his 250th and 251st career goals in Toronto.
Jack Eichel: Eichel scored his 19th goal of the season and picked up an assist to bring his team-leading point total to 61 points (19G, 42A).
Keegan Kolesar: Kolesar scored his third goal in five games, bringing his total to 12 points (4G, 8A) this year.
Pavel Dorofeyev: Dorofeyev netted his team-leading 22nd goal of the year, boosting his point total to 38 (22G, 16A).
Braeden Bowman: Bowman registered his seventh goal of the season and tallied the game-winner in Toronto, not far from his hometown of Kitchener, Ontario.
VGK STATS OF THE KNIGHT
Mark Stone boosted his franchise-best point streak to 14 games (12G, 11A).
Stone has reached the 20-goal mark for the eighth time in his career.
Jack Eichel has netted seven goals and 13 helpers in 11 straight games.
Every Vegas line skated away with a goal, and ten different Golden Knights recorded points in this matchup.
Stone (2G, 1A), Eichel (1G, 1A) and Ivan Barbashev (2A) all registered multi-point nights.
Rasmus Andersson tallied an assist on Stone’s empty-net goal in his Vegas debut.
WHEN VGK WINS, YOU WIN!
Fans can receive six free boneless or traditional wings at any Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant location throughout the greater Vegas metro area with a $10+ qualifying pre-tax purchase of food and non-alcoholic beverages, available for 2 days after any 2025-2026 VGK Win.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Golden Knights continue their four-game road trip in Ottawa as they face the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday at 2 p.m. PT. Watch the action on The Spot-Vegas 34, stream on KnightTime+, or listen live on FOX Sports Las Vegas 94.7/1340.
