In Las Vegas, Reilly Smith‘s two goals paced the Golden Knights to a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.
The win was the fifth straight for the Knights.
“Every night there’s someone new stepping up, and I think that’s a big key to that homestand and picking up a lot of wins,” Smith said. “Those are things that really give our team a boost. When we’re rolling with all four lines, we’re a tough team to beat.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves to help Vegas stay in the Pacific Division’s top perch.
“Everyone we’re playing right now is trying to fight for a spot,” Vegas’ William Carrier said. “We’re trying to fight for a spot. A lot of two points for us right now.”
Mike Hoffman, Aleksi Saarela and Evgenii Dadonov scored for the Pamthers.
“We had some stretches in the game where I thought we had some good momentum,” Florida head coach Joel Quenneville said. “I think we give up goals too easy, I’d say. That’s the frustrating part.”
Tomas Nosek, Max Pacioretty and William Carrier had single markers for the Golden Knights.
Smith closed it out with an empty net goal with under two minutes left in regulation.
“He’s (Smith) such a valuable guy,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “You use him in every situation; he’s so good defensively, and he’s scored some timely goals. I’ve only been here for a dozen games or so, but he’s scored some big goals and some timely goals for us. That was a huge one tonight; they were pressing. That goal early in the third, I thought, was probably the difference in the game.”
[WATCH: All Panthers vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Sam Montembeault made 34 saves in the loss.
“We’ll see. You’re always looking to improve your team.” Quenneville said. “I think there’s some work we have to do, and we still have the stretch run. We’re still in that mix; now we’ve got to control our fate. Let’s turn it over into a positive heading into Arizona, finish the trip and look to be above .500.”
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