Golden Knights stifle Devils to end 4-game skid

NEWARK, N.J. -- Jack Eichel, Nicolas Roy and Shea Theodore scored for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 3-1 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Adin Hill, who will represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, made 14 saves for Vegas (32-17-6), which was 0-2-2 in its previous four games.

Hill (20-10-4) reached 20 wins for the first time in his eight NHL seasons.

"I didn't really know that, so now I'll go for 30," Hill said. "I thought we looked fresh and got a lot of pucks to the net."

The Golden Knights outshot the Devils 40-15 and are 4-0-3 all time at Prudential Center.

"That's our strength, that's our bread and butter," Eichel said of the defensive effort. "I think, as a team, sometimes when you're not scoring and producing offensively, you got to stick to your structure and rely on what helps you win games. For us, it's been defense.

"It's been defense for years now, so I think whenever we play within our structure and competitively in our own end it gives us a chance to win and we waited for the goals to come and they started coming tonight, so we'll continue to work on it."

Jake Allen made 37 saves for the Devils (30-20-6), who are 2-3-0 in their past five games.

"[How Vegas played is] the bar, that's the standard," Devils forward Stefan Noesen said. "We had times we were OK but OK is not good enough. Hopefully we can learn from this and understand that's what it takes to win. We were doubled in shots, way too cute. At some point we have to figure this out."

Roy gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 3:09 of the second period. Roy's initial shot from the left face-off circle was stopped by Allen, but he slammed in the rebound just before Luke Hughes could sweep it off his stick.

"Getting that first goal was huge for us," Roy said. "It was a great effort defensively. We didn't give them much room. If you want to win games in this league, you have to be good defensively. It was a good 60 minutes tonight."

Theodore, who will also represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, made it 2-0 on a wrist shot from the point, beating Allen inside the left post at 11:18.

"Our determination was there from the first minute to the last," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We did a lot of things well and made it hard on their best players to get going offensively. We stayed out of the box (one penalty) and played simple hockey. That's the secret to our success."

Eichel, who will play for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off, pushed it to 3-0 on an uncontested rebound from the slot at 4:05 of the third period.

Eichel has eight goals and 13 points in his past 11 games.

"Honestly, I'm just trying to get to the net and obviously trying to make shooting more a priority at the same time," Eichel said. "I think over the course of the season, I'm going to get a couple bounces."

Ondrej Palat scored a power-play goal on a snap shot from low in the right circle to pull the Devils within 3-1 at 15:43.

The Devils had a goal disallowed at 19:07 when video review confirmed that Palat's stick was above the height of the crossbar when he deflected the puck into the net.

"Our players have to learn to grow, and they got to learn to play in these games," New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. "It's a Stanley Cup champion team. You have to adapt your game; you’ve got to find a way. If we want to play with these types of teams, want to play with the best teams, want to play playoffs, we [have] got to figure these things out. It's about growing and adapting."

NOTES: Devils forward Jesper Bratt, who will represent Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off, had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (one goal, nine assists). ... New Jersey center Jack Hughes, who will play for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off, had his six-game point streak end (five goals, three assists). ... Devils defenseman Simon Nemec, who was recalled from Utica in the American Hockey League earlier Thursday, had two blocked shots in 12:32 of ice time in his first NHL game since Oct. 22.