Thompson, Golden Knights top Blackhawks to move into 3rd in Pacific

LAS VEGAS -- Logan Thompson made 22 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights moved into third place in the Pacific Division with a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

“Logan was excellent,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You want him to feel good about his play going into the playoffs.”

Brayden McNabb, Michael Amadio and Nicolas Roy scored for the Golden Knights (45-28-8), who have won three in a row and moved one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. Each team has one game remaining.

“Sometimes these games can be tough mentally,” McNabb said. “Wasn’t our best first, but we were able to get the win. It’s good for us down the road, especially with teams you dominate and don’t get goals. You stick with it and finally earn a few.”

Jason Dickinson scored, and Petr Mrazek made 34 saves for Chicago (23-52-5), which has lost five in a row.

“We battled hard. We had a couple really good chances and Thompson made some good saves,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “Obviously that goal by Dickinson gave us a chance at the end. Unfortunately, they were good. They got the puck and put it away.”

McNabb gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 16:25 of the second period. He collected the rebound of Tomas Hertl’s shot and scored on a wrist shot after a spin move.

“I don’t even know what happened,” McNabb said. “I was just able to put it in. I don’t know. I don’t have much to say about it.”

Amadio extended it to 2-0 at 7:13 of the third period, stealing the puck from Chicago center Frank Nazar and roofing a shot on a breakaway.

“Just want to get the shot off before the D-man got to me. So, I found a hole up top,” Amadio said. “I just wanted to play a good all-around (game). Make sure my details were there. I thought we did a good job at that as a group tonight.”

Dickinson cut it to 2-1 at 16:02, scoring off his own rebound during a scramble in front.

“We put on a pretty solid game, to be honest,” Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones said. “We had a lot of O-zone chances. …. They just capitalized on some of their chances, and we didn’t.”

Roy scored an empty-net goal from behind the blue line at 18:24 for the 3-1 final.

“We're in a great mood right now,” Roy said. “Obviously, the best time of the year is coming. We're trying to get our game in the best place possible. I don't think it was our best game tonight. But I think defensively we do a great job. Enough to win, so there's a great mood around the team.”

NOTES: Blackhawks center Connor Bedard got his 39th assist of the season, tying Nathan MacKinnon for the seventh-most by an 18-year-old in NHL history. Only Sidney Crosby (63), Dale Hawerchuk (58), Steve Yzerman (48), Wayne Gretzky (43), Jimmy Carson (42) and Phil Housley (40) had more.