Stone scores in 6th straight, sparks Golden Knights past Blue Jackets

Mark Stone scored in his sixth straight game and had two assists for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Stone, who is one game shy of tying the Vegas franchise record goal streak set by Max Pacioretty in 2021-22 (seven games) has six goals during his run and 10 in his past 13 games.

“I don't know how many six-game goal streaks I’ve had in my life, so I'll take it to help the team get some wins right now,” Stone said.

Reilly Smith scored twice, Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist and Mitch Marner and Tomas Hertl each had two assists for the Golden Knights (19-11-12), who won their second in a row following a five-game skid.

Vegas goaltender Carter Hart left with a lower-body injury in the first period and did not return. He allowed a goal on the only shot he faced before being replaced by Akira Schmid, who stopped 21 of 23 shots in relief.

“It didn't look good in the way he went off,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Hopefully it’s nothing serious, but I don't know.”

Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist, and Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko also scored for the Blue Jackets (18-18-7), who have lost three straight (0-2-1). Sean Monahan had two assists, and Jet Greaves made 21 saves.

“We grinded and tried to do all the right things but just didn't have enough in the end,” Columbus Dean Evason said.

Jenner gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 8:24 of the first period. Hart was on the ice without his stick after getting entangled during a scrum at the crease, and Jenner tipped in a shot by Zach Werenski.

“We had a really good start and even the first goal, obviously, unfortunate with Carter going down,” Stone said. “I mean, he makes that save 99 times out of 100. The only time he doesn't make it is when he's hurt.”

Hart then left the game and was replaced by Schmid.

“He’s been awesome for us all year, and he's been really good when he comes in and relieves,” Eichel said of Schmid. “It’s really tough to see [Hart] go down. I know how hard he's worked and how much he's put into being back here playing, and you never want to see any of your teammates go down. So, that was really tough to see but tons of credit to [Schmid].”

Johnson extended it to 2-0 at 10:41 with a shot from the low slot for his first goal in 16 games.

“Boone kicked it out to [Monahan],” Johnson said. “He then made a good play there and got it to my wheelhouse and just put it home. So glad it went in.”

Smith cut it to 2-1 at 12:20 on a deflection of a Ben Hutton shot, and scored again to tie it 2-2 at 5:19 of the second period during a delayed penalty.

Eichel put the Golden Knights ahead 3-2 at 13:07 with a snap shot from the left circle.

Stone’s power-play goal made it 4-2 at 18:44 on a rebound of a Hertl shot.

Marchenko cut it to 4-3 at 14:28 of the third period, but Brett Howden finished on a 2-on-1 with Keegan Kolesar at 16:14 for the 5-3 final.

“We get it to a one-goal lead and then we give up a 2-on-1,” Evason said. “And it's just, I don't know if we just shut it off, you know, shut our brains off at that point instead of doing the right things.”

NOTES: Jenner’s goal was the 403rd point of his career (206 goals, 197 assists) to move past Cam Atkinson for the third-most points in franchise history. … Vegas defenseman Dylan Coghlan was recalled from Henderson of the American Hockey League on Thursday and had three blocked shots in 15:58 of ice time in his season debut. … Defenseman Egor Zamula played 11:12 with two giveaways and a blocked shot in his Blue Jackets debut after signing a one-year contract on Tuesday. … Blue Jackets forward Mikael Pyyhtia played 9:27 in his season debut after being recalled from Cleveland of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.