The Vegas Golden Knights (4-1-0) defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-2-1) 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena, erasing an early 3-0 deficit to win their third consecutive game.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
Scoring started early in the game for the visitors as Jack Roslovic made it 1-0 just 34 seconds into the opening frame. The Maple Leafs increased their lead with another strike from Easton Cowan, followed by Nick Paul five minutes later. Mark Stone put the Golden Knights on the board late in the first off a feed from Jack Eichel, leaving the score 3-1 through 20 minutes.
The Vegas comeback continued in the second period when Brett Howden found the back of the net on a fantastic feed from Mitch Marner. Eichel then secured his second point of the game with a penalty shot for the equalizer goal, putting the teams once again on even playing ground at 3-3 heading into the third.
The final frame remained scoreless, sending the Golden Knights and the Maple Leafs into their first overtime of the season, but neither squad was able to secure the winner and the game went to a shootout.
Braeden Bowman netted the first shootout goal of his NHL career, and Kirill Marchenko responded with one for Toronto, before Trevor Connelly converted the winner in the fifth round for his first NHL shootout tally as well.
TOP PERFORMERS
Trevor Connelly: Scored the deciding goal in the shootout.
Jack Eichel: Recorded two points on an assist and a goal to regain a share of the NHL scoring lead.
Mark Stone: Registered five shots on goal and started the scoring for Vegas.
Adin Hill: Stopped 21 shots during the game plus four of five during the shootout.
