Golden Knights pull away in 3rd period to defeat Blues
Marathon runners know what it’s like to hit the wall during the latter stages of a race.
The Golden Knights could have been at that point Monday playing the second of back-to-back games and their third in four days as part of a jam-packed schedule.
Instead, they found a jolt of energy in the third period and scored four goals to down the St. Louis Blues 5-1 before an announced crowd of 3,750 at T-Mobile Arena.
Mark Stone scored twice in the third, including the go-ahead goal 1:20 into the period. Keegan Kolesar added his first career NHL goal.
“I was feeling it, so usually if I’m feeling it, I can imagine what the guys who are actually playing feel like,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought they really dug deep, and knowing we have a couple days before we play in Colorado, I think they emptied the tank.”
The Knights followed a similar script to their 5-1 victory at St. Louis on March 13 when they tallied four times in the final 20 minutes.
They have outscored the Blues 8-1 in the third period of their last two meetings.
Stone broke the deadlock with his 11th goal when he banked a shot off Vince Dunn’s skate. Kolesar put home a rebound for a 3-1 lead at 11:19 of the third.
“I think my reaction and the bench reaction says it all,” Kolesar said. “Very uplifting and a long time coming. Just takes mountains off my back.”
William Karlsson added a goal and two assists and Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist to help the Knights win for the sixth time in their past seven games and improve to 3-0-1 against the Blues.
The Knights, who went 2-for-3 on the power play, have won five straight at home and are 13-2-1 on home ice.
“We just had to find a way to push,” Stone said. “That’s a big win. We feel a lot better about ourselves going 2-1 than 1-2 in the last three games. I thought we did a good job defending and finding ways to control the O-zone and sustain pressure.”
Goalie Robin Lehner won his second straight start since returning from a concussion and improved to 5-1-1. He turned away Vladimir Tarasenko on a breakaway early in the third for one of his 15 stops.
St. Louis was held to three shots in the third period and finished with a season-low 16 shots on goal overall.
“That’s a big heavy team that likes to play in the offensive zone,” DeBoer said. “I thought we did a good job defending as a five-man unit and making sure we had numbers in all those situations.”
The game was a makeup from Jan. 28 when three members of the Knights coaches and two players were placed in NHL COVID protocol.
St. Louis entered on a two-game winning streak after sweeping back-to-back games at San Jose but was stymied by the Knights defense, which kept the Blues’ attack outside of the dots.
The Knights went ahead at 8:41 of the first period when Marchessault sneaked in to pick up a loose puck off a faceoff. He fired a shot from a steep angle and caught Jordan Binnington off-guard for his first goal in six games and ninth overall.
The Blues answered at 6:42 of the second period when defenseman Vince Dunn swooped in to collect a long rebound and fired a shot into the top corner.
“Most of the nights we’re finding ways to win,” Marchessault said. “It’s not always pretty, but we find a way. Now we’re feeling good about our game overall. It was not the easiest back to back we had, and we found a way.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.