Vegas down Caps, 5-3

The Vegas Golden Knights appear to be back.

On Tuesday night, the Knights defeated the visiting Washington Capitals, 5-3, behind two goals from former Caps, Nate Schmidt.

“Would’ve been cooler if it was last year [in the Stanley Cup Final], but still cool nonetheless,” Schmidt said.

Nate Schmidt had two goals in Vegas’ win over Caps -file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman

Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves to get the win.

Vegas has won six of seven and improved to 15-13-1.

Jakub Vrana struck twice and Alex Ovechkin added a single marker in the loss.

“I think we battled very hard,” Vrana said. “We didn’t get the result we wanted, and we have to focus on the next game.”

Cody Eakin, Ryan Reaves and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored for Vegas.

“[Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant] kind of challenged our group in the third period, challenged our group to be harder, smarter, better in all aspects of the game,” Schmidt said. “It was a feeling in this room that, if we kill this off, we have a chance to grab the momentum back.”

[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Golden Knights highlights]

Braden Holtby made 23 saves in the loss.

The Caps were scoreless in four power play chances.

“Credit to them. They did a good job on the kill. We got a few chances but not as many as we would’ve hoped. We had to change our personnel a little bit when we lose Tom [Wilson]. … It comes down to that,” Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said.