Golden Knights blunt New Jersey rally for 5-3 win

In Newark, the Vegas Golden Knights held a comfortable 4-1 lead in the third period and surrendered two goals to Tomas Tatar (power play) and Jimmy Vesey to get the New Jersey Devils within 4-3.

Jonathan Marchessault scored an empty net goal with 67 seconds left in the game to ice the win, 5-3, for Vegas over New Jersey.

“We did just enough to win,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “We take the two points and move on. I liked our first period, hated our second, and we were opportunistic in the third.”

Robin Lehner made 23 saves in the Vegas win.

“I feel good, felt really good today,” Lehner said. “I just keep plugging away. We’ll take the win and keep rolling. I’m happy with the two points. I thought we had a good first period, then we battled.”

The Golden Knights improved to 18-11-0.

William Karlsson and Nicolas Roy scored 33 seconds apart in the third frame to turn a 2-1 Vegas advantage into a 4-1 lead before the brief New Jersey rally.

New Jersey dropped to 10-13-5.

“Everything’s tough right now … we’re not scoring, we’re giving up goals,” New Jersey’s  Dougie Hamilton said. “We’re all working, working through it, trying to stay positive. We got a lot of young guys, but there are no excuses, no reason to be negative. Obviously, we’re losing a lot and it [stinks], but we have to keep coming, keep working and keep getting better.”

Jack Hughes also scored for New Jersey.

“[The Hughes line] has more ability to put the puck in the back of the net, so they’re going to play more than other lines and they did tonight,” New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff said. “But I thought they left a few plays out there. Those are the plays that are going to make a difference. As much as I talk about the compete plays that go against us when we’re trying to defend, those are the offensive plays that will make us a team that can score three or four a night.

“That’ll give us a better chance to win every game.”

William Carrier and Dylan Coghlan also scored for the Golden Knights.

Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves in the New Jersey loss.

“We just got to find a way to put it all together,” Vesey said. “The youth of our team … some mistakes are to be expected. But we got to find a way to not make the glaring ones.”