Lehner makes 27 saves, Golden Knights shut out Devils

LAS VEGAS -- Robin Lehner made 27 saves for his first shutout of the season, a 3-0 win for the Vegas Golden Knights against the New Jersey Devils at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Playing in his 300th NHL game, Lehner made his second start with Vegas since being acquired in a trade from the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 24.
"It's another step," said Lehner, who is 2-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .967 save percentage with Vegas. "I'm feeling better and better. The guys played great today too."
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Golden Knights highlights]
It's Lehner's first shutout since April 6, 2019 against the Washington Capitals and his 15th in the NHL. He had six shutouts with the New York Islanders last season.
"Just got to keep building and getting back to my old game," Lehner said. "It's just going to get better with time. When I feel comfortable, I will be a lot more calm."
Max Pacioretty and William Karlsson each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (37-23-8), who won for the ninth time in 10 games.

Vegas, which has won eight of its past nine home games, leads the Edmonton Oilers by two points for first place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars 2-1 in overtime on Tuesday.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves for the Devils (26-28-12), who lost in regulation for the first time in seven games (4-1-2). Blackwood lost in regulation for the first time in eight starts (6-1-1).
"It was a disappointing effort," Devils coach Alain Nasreddine said. "If you look at our game in general, our execution was atrocious. Our level of focus wasn't great, and our execution cost us a lot of problems."
It was the final game of a five-game road trip for the Devils, who finished 2-1-2.
"I think it's more on us, to be honest. We just didn't execute or make any plays tonight," Devils forward Travis Zajac said. "For whatever reason, we didn't make many tape-to-tape plays. [It was] one of those games where we couldn't find a rhythm."
Pacioretty scored 45 seconds into the second period for a 1-0 lead. Karlsson made a no-look, backhand pass from the Vegas blue line to Pacioretty, who scored short side from the left circle.
Karlsson extended the lead to 2-0 with his 100th NHL goal 37 seconds into the third period on a one-timer from Nicolas Roy.
"I won't think about it too much, but maybe after I'm done it'll be a nice milestone [to look back on]," Karlsson said.
Ryan Reaves made it 3-0 at 8:49.

They said it

"We did a couple of good things but obviously not enough. We've got to find a way to score. [Blackwood] was unbelievable again. We've got to give him something back, and we did not do that tonight." -- Devils forward Nico Hischier
"I have plenty of confidence in myself. They traded for me here for a reason, and I'm just doing my best. It's a great opportunity playing with [Marc-Andre] Fleury. I got the same opportunity with [Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey] Crawford and a bunch of other goalies throughout my career and I'm just trying to do the best with the opportunities I'm going to get." -- Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner

Need to know

Devils forward Nikita Gusev had two shots in 15:37 and had his six-game point streak end in his first game at T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights traded Gusev to New Jersey on July 29. … Karlsson has five goals in his past five games after not scoring in his previous 20. … New Jersey is 3-23-0 when trailing after two periods. … Pacioretty has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in his past 13 games. … Reaves is five points from 100 in the NHL. … Vegas forward William Carrier had an assist in his 200th NHL game. … The Golden Knights sent Roy, a forward, and forward Brandon Pirri to Chicago of the American Hockey League after the game.

What's next

Devils: Host the St. Louis Blues on Friday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, MSG+, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights:At the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN3, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)