LDN - Sports

Golden Knights remain hot, defeat Blackhawks

[January 16, 2018] Reilly Smith scored a breakaway goal with 6:05 remaining to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night at the United Center in Chicago.

Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin also scored goals for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (28-10-2) and Smith added two assists as Vegas rebounded from its first loss in 35 days in St. Louis on Thursday night.

Malcolm Subban stopped 28 shots for his seventh consecutive win in nets, improving to 11-2-0 for the season.

Vinnie Hinostroza, Patrick Sharp, Nick Schmaltz, Jonathan Toews scored for Chicago (19-15-6), which rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to take a 4-3 lead early in the third period on Toews' goal before the Golden Knights rallied to pull it out, and improve to 13-1-1 since Dec. 1.

Jeff Glass, making his fourth straight start in goal for the Blackhawks, had 38 saves. Hinostroza also had two assists to tie his career high for points (three) in a game.

The Golden Knights peppered Glass with 11 shots in the first five minutes and a season-high 21 shots in the opening 20 minutes en route to a 2-1 first period lead. Tuch made it 1-0 at 4:44 on a double deflection as Marchessault fired a shot from the right point that Karlsson deflected into Tuch's skate and past Glass.

Marchessault, who signed a six-year, $30 million contract extension on Wednesday, made it 2-0 with his 16th goal of the season with a one-timer in the slot off a pass from Smith.

Hinostroza gave the Blackhawks some momentum when he deflected in a shot from Brandon Saad, who got the puck in the slot and whirled around and fired it to the right of the net.

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Knights left wing William Carrier (28) shoots on Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Jeff Glass (30) during the first period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Karlsson, taking advantage of some good luck, extended the Vegas lead to 3-1 at 5:55 of the second period. Smith fired a shot that went wide of the net but the puck bounced straight off the boards to a wide open Karlsson who beat Glass on his stick side.

But the Blackhawks rallied to tie it on goals by Sharp on a wrist shot from the left circle and Schmaltz on a one-timer from the same spot off a pass from the slot by Hinostroza.

Toews then gave Chicago its first lead at 4-3 just 30 seconds into the third period, firing in a cross-ice pass from Hinostroza from in front of the left circle. Eakin tied it five minutes later, firing in a shot from the slot off a pass from David Perron, setting the stage for Smith's game-winner.

--Field Level Media

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