Eichel, Barbashev help Golden Knights hold off Blues

LAS VEGAS -- Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev each had a goal and an assist, and the Vegas Golden Knights held off the St. Louis Blues for a 4-3 win at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

“We’re just reading off each other,” Eichel said. “It’s been good. We want to continue to get better. There are a couple more chances in the game we would have liked to have finished. But maybe, it was a good effort from our team.”

Shea Theodore also had a goal and an assist, and Mark Stone had two assists for the Golden Knights (2-0-0). Adin Hill made 19 saves.

“We were really dialed in and played winning hockey at the end,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s a real positive this time of the year. That’s two leads we’ve had in the third period and in both games, we’ve closed them out. … I was really proud of the guys at the end and dialing up at the end in those key moments.”

Pavel Buchnevich scored twice and had an assist, and Jordan Kyrou had two assists for the Blues (2-1-0), who were coming off a 5-4 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. Jordan Binnington made 24 saves.

St. Louis was unable to overcome a multiple-goal deficit after doing so in each of its first two games.

“We got to play 60 minutes. That’s the goal,” Buchnevich said. “It’s hard to come back from two, three goals every time. It’s never going to happen. We have to play 60 minutes. We have to play well at the start of the game.”

Buchnevich gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 6:47 of the first period, scoring on a backhand from the bottom of the left circle on the rush.

Eichel tied it 1-1 at 8:02, scoring around an outstretched Binnington.

Barbashev put Vegas ahead 2-1 at 18:13 on a shot from the low slot.

“[Barbashev’s] easy to read,” Eichel said. “He wins a lot of battles. He’s good on the walls. He’s got some underrated hands and a scoring touch in tight. He does a lot of little things that, as a centerman, make my job a lot easier.”

Theodore extended it to 3-1 at 2:55 of the second period with a slap shot from above the left circle.
Buchnevich cut it to 3-2 at 7:29 with a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the right circle.

“We move the puck pretty well in San Jose and here today,” Buchnevich said.

Nicolas Roy pushed it to 4-2 at 12:53 of the third period, redirecting Theodore’s shot from the left point.

“They were just adjusting the position and getting our middle guy higher for a high tip,” Theodore said. “We had two guys in the paint there. Obviously, ‘Roysy’ did a great job getting his stick on it.”

Robert Thomas made it 4-3 at 15:04 on the rush.

“When I look at the big picture of the game, we made four mistakes that were preventable,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “It ended up in the back of our net. Whether they were mental from a back to back with the travel. We lost points coming in here.”

NOTES: Kyrou extended his season-opening multi-point streak to three games. Only five other players in Blues history have also achieved the feat: Paul Kariya (four games in 2008-09), Andy McDonald (three games in 2008-09), Jeff Brown (three games in 1993-94), Kevin Miller (three games in 1993-94) and Phil Goyette (three games in 1969-70). … Eichel (one goal, five assists) and Barbashev (three goals, three assists) are the fifth set of teammates in the past 25 years to each record at least six points through their team’s first two games of a season. … Cole Schwindt made his debut for the Golden Knights and recorded his first NHL assist on Theodore’s goal.