Golden Knights send Blackhawks to seventh straight loss

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights handed the Chicago Blackhawks their seventh straight loss, 5-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
Vegas (37-15-4) became the third NHL team to win 20 home games in its inaugural season, joining the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers (22) and the 1967-68 Los Angeles Kings (20).

"I thought in the second period we had some good chances but we weren't shooting the puck enough," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "Chicago played well. It was an aggressive game, a fast game."
WATCH: [All Blackhawks vs. Golden Knights highlights]
The Golden Knights lead the Nashville Predators by one point for the Western Conference lead and have a 10-point advantage over the San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division.
Ryan Carpenter, Brad Hunt, Reilly Smith, David Perron and Tomas Nosek scored for the Golden Knights, who scored four times in the third period, three in a span of 3:40. Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves.
Tommy Wingels and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Blackhawks (24-25-8), who are 0-6-1 in their past seven games. Jeff Glass made 32 saves for Chicago, which was playing the second game of a back-to-back after losing 6-1 at the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.
"It's frustrating because through and through our lineup we don't have a response when we need it," Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews said. "We need to find ways to bounce back and stay in those games and not get frustrated, and not let that noise or the crowd or a bad call or a goal against us sink our ship.
"It's pretty frustrating for us to give up a handful of goals in a row and give up the momentum the way we did again."

Wingels scored a power-play goal at 2:10 of the first period to make it 1-0.
Carpenter scored at 5:06 to tie it 1-1. It was his third goal in the past five games.
The Golden Knights second line, already missing Erik Haula as a late scratch because of the flu, lost James Neal toward the end of the first period. He took a puck to the knee off a shot from Hunt at 15:31 of the first period but returned in the second.
"For me, personally, I felt good all night," Perron said after losing his linemates. "I felt like I was fresh. Every time I came to the bench I wanted to go back out there."
DeBrincat's goal at 6:37 of the second period made it 2-1.

Hunt tied it 2-2 at 1:14 of the third period. Smith made it 3-2 at 3:07 on a 4-on-4, and Perron pushed the lead to 4-2 at 4:54, thanks to Neal's poke check on DeBrinkcat at center ice that set up the goal.
Nosek scored into an empty net at 18:44 to make it 5-2.
"Everyone's got to take responsibility, everyone's got to be accountable and everyone's got to be better in situations," Toews said. "That's where we need it. We've got to be [ticked] off at the last couple of games and the offense we've given up."

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Goal of the game

Smith's goal at 3:07 of the third period.

Save of the game

Fleury's save on Brandon Saad at 13:15 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Perron's goal at 4:54 of the third period.

They said it

"It's the same thing that's plagued us over the past month or two. We can't string 60 minutes together. We felt good about ourselves going into the third, and they scored two quick ones. It's just a theme of the whole season. It's frustrating, that's for sure." -- Blackhawks forward Tommy Wingels
"It's almost harder to play a team when they're struggling because you don't want to be the team that ends the streak." -- Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt

Need to know

Vegas is 20-4-2 at home. ... Forward Brendan Leipsic, who was a scratch earlier in the day, took Haula's place in the lineup. … Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane is one assist shy of 500 in his NHL career. … Chicago's losing streak is its longest since Jan. 21-Feb. 13, 2012, when they lost nine in a row.

What's next

Blackhawks:Host the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)