Stone's Five-Point Effort Ignites Vegas Past Florida, 7-2

The Vegas Golden Knights (28-21-7) concluded their eight-game trip by routing the Florida Panthers (29-18-6), 7-2, on Thursday night at the BB&T Center.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
It didn't take long for Mark Stone get his night started when he scored off of his own rebound at the 2:15 point of the first. Later in the period, Mike Hoffman would answer for Florida to tie the game at one. Just passed a minute into the second, Stone carried the puck up the length of the ice and buried it to give the Golden Knights the lead back. After the home team evened the score, Max Pacioretty responded abruptly to give Vegas its third lead of the game at 3-2. The Golden Knights came out of the locker room strong once again to start a dominant third period when Nate Schmidt blasted a puck in from the point just 17 seconds in and Shea Theodore added to the lead with a shorthanded goal minutes later. The scoring wasn't complete yet, as Jonathan Marchessault added in a one-timer on the power play and Pacioretty notched his second goal of the game to send Vegas home with the impressive 7-2 final.

TOP PERFORMERS
Mark Stone: Stone's five-point performance (2G, 3A) was his second in a Vegas uniform and first during the regular season.
Max Pacioretty: Vegas' leading goal scorer struck in the second and third period to bring his season total to 23.
Shea Theodore: The defenseman collected two points (1G, 1A) including a shorthanded tally as part of his team's four-goal third.
Marc-Andre Fleury: Fleury stopped a Brett Connolly penalty shot in the second period, and finished off the win with 23 saves.
LOOKING AHEAD
After a month away from home, Vegas finally returns home to T-Mobile Arena for a matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT. Catch the game on AT&T SportsNet, FOX Sports Radio 98.9/1340 and Deportes Vegas 1460.