Knights overtake Blackhawks in 3rd period

[December 07, 2018]  Jonathan Marchessault and Alex Tuch scored goals 12 seconds apart midway through the third period as the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 4-3 victory over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Reilly Smith had a goal and two assists, Deryk Engelland scored his first goal of the season, and Max Pacioretty had two assists for Vegas, which improved to 5-0-0 all-time against the Blackhawks. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 32 saves to pick up his 16th win of the season.

Jonathan Toews, Dylan Strome and Artem Anisimov scored goals for Chicago, which took its sixth consecutive loss and its 17th setback in 20 games (3-14-3). Duncan Keith added a pair of assists, and Corey Crawford stopped 32 shots while suffering his seventh straight loss.

Anisimov gave Chicago a 3-2 lead in the third period when he intercepted Nick Holden's outlet pass at the blue line and then beat Fleury with a backhand. However, Vegas answered 41 seconds later on Marchessault's 11th goal of the season. Tuch followed with his ninth just 12 seconds later on a rebound of a Pacioretty shot for what proved to be the game-winner.

The Blackhawks pulled Crawford for an extra attacker with 2:03 remaining and nearly tied it 30 seconds later when Brandon Saad fired a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that hit the crossbar.

Vegas, which scored a franchise-record eight goals in a 8-3 victory over the Blackhawks on Nov. 27 at the United Center, needed only 88 seconds to take a 1-0 lead Thursday. Smith scored his fifth goal of the season on a power play, diving in front of the crease and batting in a rebound of a Pacioretty shot past Crawford's stick side.

Engelland made it 2-0 seven minutes later, firing a long wrist shot from the high slot past Crawford's glove side. William Karlsson picked up an assist on the play to become the first player in franchise history to score 100 points with the Golden Knights.

Toews cuts it to 2-1 four minutes into the second period with his 13th goal of the season. He banked a rebound off Fleury's right shoulder following a David Kampf shot that caromed straight out from the end boards to Toews, who was skating by the left side of the net.

Strome tied it at the 16:15 mark of the middle period with his sixth goal of the season. He flipped a sharp-angle shot from near the left boards past Fleury, who collided with teammate William Carrier in the crease while trying to make the save.

--Field Level Media

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