Connor Murphy had three assists for the Blackhawks (17-35-7), who have lost five in a row. Petr Mrazek allowed five goals on 15 shots before being replaced by Arvid Soderblom to start the second period. Soderblom made 16 saves in relief.
“It was exciting when we came back. You felt momentum our way. It felt like we were going to draw a penalty at the end and really have a good chance to tie it, and it just [stinks],” Murphy said. “We get that bad bounce on the last goal against, and it buried us a bit, but it was nice to come back.”
Kolesar put the Golden Knights up 1-0 at 1:06 of the first period, finishing a cross-ice pass from Howden.
Nick Foligno tied it at 1-1 at 6:58 for the Blackhawks. Samsonov made a kick save on Folgino’s first shot but he finished the second attempt.
Nicolas Hague made it 2-1 Vegas at 8:57, collecting a rebound from a Howden shot.
Barbashev extended it to 3-1 at 12:17, redirecting an Alex Pietrangelo shot on the power play.
Tomas Hertl pushed it to 4-1 at 16:54 with a one-timer from the slot on the power play off a pass from Eichel.
“Power play was good,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It made a difference in the game. We didn't take any [penalties], so special teams are on our side against the team that both their special teams are top 10.”
Pavel Dorofeyev made it 5-1 at 18:57 with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Colton Dach scored at 1:01 of the second period to cut it to 5-2. Ethan Del Mastro scored his first NHL goal at 5:30 to make it 5-3.
“It was crazy,” Chicago coach Anders Sorensen said. “Obviously, the first period, we were down 5-1. But we had some chances. Scoring chances were actually even after the first and we were down 5-1. … We had a little push to return the title a bit, but we gave up too much, honestly.”
Kolesar scored his second of the game at 13:38 to make it 6-3.
