Eichel gets hat trick in Golden Knights win against Blue Jackets

LAS VEGAS --Jack Eichel scored a hat trick, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

It was Eichel's fourth NHL hat trick and second of the season.
"Puck just going in," said Eichel, who has 26 goals in 57 games. "I'm just trying to shoot it a little bit. Nice to see it go in."

Alex Pietrangelo had four assists, Phil Kessel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist, and Jiri Patera made 35 saves for Vegas (43-21-6), which has won five of its past six games and moved two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for first in the Pacific Division and Western Conference.
"[Patera] was excellent," Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We gave up too much again tonight in terms of good chances. … Our third period was good for the most part. We didn't get too far away from it. We wanted to check well and still play the right way and try to extend the lead, if possible."
Of the 12 games Vegas has remaining, 10 will come against teams still in the Stanley Cup Playoff picture in the West.
"It'll be a tough stretch. We're playing a lot of teams twice," Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said. "Those can be pretty tricky because you split those games a lot. We got to make sure we're picking up as many points as we can. A lot of those teams are chasing us. We have to make sure we come out with a good concerted effort to make teams beat us."
Kirill Marchenko and Liam Foudy scored, and Patrik Laine had two assists for Columbus (21-41-7), which has lost three in a row. Daniil Tarasov allowed five goals on 29 shots before being replaced at 16:57 of the second period by Michael Hutchinson, who made 10 saves.
Associate coach Pascal Vincent coached the Blue Jackets after Brad Larsen left the team due to a death in the family.
"[Vegas] took advantage of their chances. Their goalie was pretty good," Vincent said. "That's the difference between a good team and a team in our position. We need to sustain that pace for 60 minutes. We're going to get there. Just right now, that's not the case. We had our moments, but we need to sustain it for 60 minutes."
Kessel gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 5:15 of the first period, scoring a power-play goal after receiving a cross-crease pass from Dorofeyev. It was his first goal in 16 games.

Marchenko tied it 1-1 when he corralled the rebound of Erik Gudbranson's point shot 37 seconds into the second period.
Eichel responded to make it 2-1 at 10:35 with a wrist shot from the left boards that beat Tarasov short side.
"I was coming off the wall there, trying to use the [defense] as a screen a little bit," Eichel said. "I saw my two linemates (Ivan Barbashev and Jonathan Marchessault) going to the net. I knew the [defense] needed to get off. We needed a puck deep, so I put one on net. Fortunate to see it go in."
Dorofeyev made it 3-1 at 12:09 when he took a pass from Kessel in the bottom of the right circle, spun and scored short side on a power play. He has five points (three goals, two assists) in four games since being recalled from Henderson of the American Hockey League on March 12.
"[Dorofeyev] is doing a lot right," Cassidy said. "… There's a lot to like. Again, small sample size, but he's playing to keep his job. It shows out there. He wants the job and he's not going to let someone take it from him. That's what you want."
Zach Whitecloud extended it to 4-1 by batting in a rebound at 16:24, and Eichel scored 33 seconds later to make it 5-1.
Paul Cotter pushed it to 6-1 at 4:18 of the third period, crashing the net and knocking in the puck near the right post.
Eichel completed the hat trick at 11:27, chipping the puck past Adam Boqvist and scoring stick side on a breakaway.
Foudy scored on a rebound in the crease at 17:45 for the 7-2 final.
NOTES:Smith had an assist to extend his point streak to an NHL career-high eight games (three goals, seven assists). … Whitecloud has scored in consecutive games after he had two goals in his first 47 games this season. ... Patera has won each of his two starts since being called up from Henderson on March 12.