Fans cheer Robin Lehner’s exit; Golden Knights rally for win

Robin Lehner skated slowly from his crease when the murmur started. By the time the Golden Knights goalie reached center ice and exchanged a brief handshake with backup Laurent Brossoit, it reached a full crescendo.

Lehner was pulled with 12:18 left in the second period Wednesday after allowing three goals on 10 shots, a move that surprisingly elicited cheers from a large portion of the announced crowd of 17,843 at T-Mobile Arena.

Only a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind victory like the one the Knights staged against the Dallas Stars could have overshadowed the fans turning on Lehner 25 games into a promising season.

“We needed a spark,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “You feel for the goalie because you can’t hang that all on him. Like I said, for me, that’s a last resort for me. I don’t pull goalies very often. But I just felt it was the right thing to do tonight.”

Max Pacioretty scored the winner with 4:06 remaining, about a minute after Mark Stone tied the game 4-4. The Knights overcame two two-goal deficits and scored three times in the final 10:01 to extend their winning streak to three games.

Stone finished with two goals and an assist, and Michael Amadio tallied his second goal of the season midway through the third period to ignite the comeback.

Brossoit stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced in place of Lehner, who was pulled for the second time this season.

But the goalie change appeared to ignite the Knights. Jonathan Marchessault, playing in his 300th career game with the Knights, scored his team-leading 11th goal in the second period to cut the deficit to 3-2.

“Lenny is a team guy, and by no means were those bad goals,” Brossoit said. “A lot of deflections and screens. I think it was just a shake-up to change the momentum, and Lenny was more than supportive of me when I went in and then during the intermission he was there supporting me and the rest of the team, so I think it was a good move.”

Joe Pavelski had two goals for the Stars, who had their seven-game winning streak halted despite scoring three power-play goals.

Jason Robertson scored in the first period, and Tyler Seguin deposited a rebound for a power-play goal to put the Stars ahead 2-1 in the second period.

“We felt five-on-five we were in control,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “Special teams aside, if we kept playing the way we were, we were going to get some chances.”

Here are three takeaways from the game:

1. Weight off Stone

It took 13 games, but Stone finally scored with a goalie in the net. And did he look relieved afterward.

Seconds after a power play expired, Stone collected a cross-ice pass from Pietrangelo at the side of the net and beat Braden Holtby after initially bobbling the puck.

The goal 19 seconds into the second period tied the score at 1, and Stone hollered “Yes!” after seeing the puck go in. He gave a hard high-five to defenseman Nic Hague and then shared a bear hug with Pietrangelo.

Stone’s lone goal before Wednesday was an empty-netter against Nashville on Nov. 24. He finished with three points and extended his point streak to six games (three goals, six assists).

“I think the last goal I scored on a goalie was against Colorado in Game 5 of the playoffs last year,” Stone said. “It’s been a bit of a grind mentally. But when the team’s winning, it makes things a lot better. But you always want to contribute, especially in games like this when you need big goals. If you can provide it, it feels pretty good.”

2. Step back for PK

The Knights’ penalty-killing unit was ranked third in the NHL since Nov. 11, successfully killing 10 straight and 32 of the past 35 power plays entering Wednesday.

But the Knights’ penalty kill was “malisimo” on Hispanic Heritage Night, and it proved costly.

Dallas, whose power play ranked fifth in the league coming in at 26.2 percent, scored on its first three chances with the man advantage to go in front.

Robertson slinged a shot from the point that went through a forest of legs for a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Seguin cleaned up a rebound four seconds into a second-period power play to put Dallas ahead 2-1 before Pavelski scored on a deflection that chased Lehner.

Those goals magnified the Knights’ struggles on the power play in the first period when they were unable to score on three opportunities and had difficulty holding the zone.

3. Lucky break

Seguin had a chance to give the Stars a three-goal advantage about nine minutes into the third period. But somehow, he sent a shot through the crease with an empty net in front of him.

Stone later said Pietrangelo got a piece of the shot.

“Oftentimes that’s how the hockey gods work,” Pacioretty said. “You just feel like that’s the break you’re going to get and then you’re going to go the other way.”

That’s what happened, as Amadio took a feed from Keegan Kolesar and scored about 30 seconds later to pull the Knights within 4-3 and start their comeback.

“It was a good forechecking shift from our line there, and I just got kind of got lost,” Amadio said. “(Kolesar) made a great pass over to me. I just handled it into my feet as best I could and got it off as quick as I could. Lucky it found the back of the net.”

It was the second straight game the Knights had a bounce go their way after defenseman Dylan Coghlan cleared a puck off the line to help preserve Sunday’s win over Calgary.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.