In Winnipeg, the Jets and Vegas Golden Knights faced off in a match of the Western Conference’s two leaders, in the end, the Knights galloped off with a 6-5 win on Tuesday night.
After falling behind, 4-3, on a goal from Mark Scheifele to open the third period, Jonathan Marchessault hit for a power play double, and William Karlsson scored to give Vegas a 6-4 lad.
“Sometimes you need the power play to win us games, and tonight it did,” Marchessault said. “We just made the right plays at the right time. I don’t think we were forcing too many plays, we were just seeing what was open and we were able to cash in.”
Adin Hill made 29 saves in the Golden Knights win.
“It takes you back a bit to maybe your junior (hockey) days when it’s back-and-forth like that,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to play the game in front of you, and we needed some goals tonight to overcome some mistakes and we got them.”
Scheifele scored his third of the game with two seconds left on the clock for the 6-5 final.
“It was just kind of back and forth,” Scheifele said. “We scored one and let off the gas pedal a little bit and then gave them a little bit of life.”
Scheifele started his hat trick with 41 seconds gone in the first period. for a 1+0 lead to the Jets.
Vegas improved to 21-9-1.
“It was a real hard game and it’s tough to play here,” Miromanov said. “They were really coming hard. Definitely very happy to win. I was just trying to do my job and play hard in the [defensive] zone and jump up into the rush, and sometimes it pays off.”
Chandler Stephenson had four assists for Vegas.
“[Stephenson] was very assertive tonight with his pace,” Cassidy said. “He’s got such deceptive speed. You can pre-scout it, say ‘he can really go,’ and all of sudden until you see him fly by you with an effortless stride, I don’t think you truly appreciate it.”
Vegas replied with goals from Daniil Miromanov and Mark Stone’s first of the game.
Winnipeg dropped to 18-9-1.
“That was a [heck] of a hockey game,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “It could have gone either way. We battled hard tonight. We showed we can certainly play with them and with the best teams in the League, and we’re going to continue to stay in that fight.”
The Jets tied it, 2-2, just past the midway point of the second period on a goal from Morgan Barron , his third of the season.
Stone replied to that with his second of the game and a 3-2 lead.
“[Stone] is our leader, he’s our captain, and he’s been great on and off the ice for us,” Marchessault said. “So any time that that guy gets rewarded I think it’s meaningful because he plays so well everywhere and he makes everybody on the ice look better.”
Winnipeg knotted it in the 17th minute of the middle frame, 3-3, headed to the third.
Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves in the Jets loss.
“They’re a good team for a reason and when we would get a lead, they kept pouncing on us,” Scheifele said. “They were keeping their speed and we just had to be a little more on our toes, as opposed to letting the game come to us.”
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