In St Louis, Tyler Pitlick scored early in the third period on Sunday to help the Blues rally back from a 3-1 deficit and tie it, 3-3, with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Knights replied with a goal from Pavel Dorofeyev, his first in the NHL, after the puck ricocheted off his helmet visor, for the 4-3 lead.
“They scored early on us, they made a nice play,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We dug in and worked hard to get the next goal. Happy for ‘Pav.’ I thought he had a really good game. Scores off his head, that’s one to remember.”
Vegas added an empty-netter for a 5-3 win.
Vegas improved to 41-20-6.
Jiri Patera made 30 saves for the Vegas win, it was his in his NHL debut,
“I’m glad we got the win,” Patera said. “Towards the end it was a little bit scary, but we got the job done and I’m pretty sure we’re all happy. Guys made it really comfortable, they made it real easy for me. Good win.”
William Karlsson put the Knights up, 1-0 in the first period off a turnover created by Dorofeyev.
“He was on the puck a lot,” Cassidy said of Dorofeyev. “He created a turnover on the first goal with foot speed. I thought on his off wing he was able to get in on the inside a lot, to be dangerous there, went into traffic. He was kind of slippery around there.”
Jakub Vrana tied the game for St Louis, 1-1, off a power play strike at 13:20.
“Obviously, the energy was there, the passion, the fight was there,” St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug said. “We came up short.”
IN the middle frame, Jonathan Marchessault put the Golden Knights back in the lead, 2-1 with just seconds gone in the frame.
Michael Amadio scored at 2:10 of the second for a 3-1 advantage.
“One was a tough bounce off the rebound, right to the guy,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “For me, we weren’t tight enough, just not assertive enough right away.”
The Blues dropped to 29-32-5.
Jordan Kyrou scored at 15:19 of the second to claw one goal back for the Blues and send it to the third, 3-2.
“He’s got a lot of ability and a lot of potential,” Berube said. “I don’t think he’s hit his ceiling yet at all. I think there’s still room for improvement. I think he will improve.”
Alex Pietrangelo added an empty-net goal with seven seconds left in the game for the 5-3 final.
Jordan Binnington made 26 saves in the Blues loss.
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