Golden Knights rally past Senators late in 3rd, stay undefeated at home

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights scored three consecutive goals in a span of 1:25 late in the third period to defeat the Ottawa Senators 6-4 at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

Tomas Hertl tied it 4-4 for Vegas with a one-timer on the power play at 16:49, and Keegan Kolesar gave the Golden Knights a 5-4 lead at 17:49 with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.

Ivan Barbashev then scored into an empty net at 18:14 for the 6-4 final.

“It wasn’t our best game,” Hertl said. “It wasn’t our best overall. We kind of struggled to get our game going. We had a couple of mistakes. You stay with it.

“Nobody asks how, but we just got two points.”

Barbashev scored twice, Alex Pietrangelo had three assists, and Jack Eichel, Tanner Pearson and Mark Stone each had two assists for the Golden Knights (5-2-1), who won their fifth straight home game to start the season. Adin Hill made 35 saves.

“You’re going to win over the course of the 82 games when you’re not at your best,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We weren’t. Not going to sugarcoat it. We were awful at times. At the end of the day, you’ve got to get to your game sooner than later.”

Adam Gaudette scored twice, and Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (4-3-0), who had won three of four. Linus Ullmark made 22 saves in his return from missing four games with an undisclosed strain.

“It was a really good game,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Tough building to play in. Really good team. … We had a lot of good looks around their net. That was a hard-fought game. We probably deserve better than no points out of that game.”

Gaudette gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:40 of the first period, scoring with a one-timer from below the right circle to the short side. Cole Reinhardt fed him with a no-look pass from below the goal line for his first NHL point.

It was Gaudette’s first goal in 41 games since last scoring Feb. 13, 2022.

“It’s always nice to get on the score sheet, but it’s definitely better to come out with a ‘W,’” Gaudette said. “I’m going to keep plugging away, and we’ve got a good team in this locker room. I think we can do some damage.”

Giroux made it 2-0 at 12:15 with a redirection that went between the legs of Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb and then through Hill’s five-hole.

Nicolas Roy cut it to 2-1 at 17:23, and Nicolas Hague tied it 2-2 21 seconds later when he threw the puck toward the net and it went in off the skate of Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson at 17:44.

Batherson then put Ottawa back in front 3-2 at 18:34 with a shot from the high slot, but Barbashev tied it 3-3 at 6:40 of the second period by tipping a Pietrangelo shot.

Gaudette’s second goal of the game gave the Senators a 4-3 lead on the power play at 17:44. He scored with a wrist shot to the glove side from the top of the slot.

“It was a wake-up call for us. We didn’t play our best today,” Barbashev said. “We let them run around 50 minutes of the game. We all know we have to be better.”

NOTES: Giroux has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Senators forward Brady Tkachuk had his season-opening six-game point streak and three-game goal streak end. … Reinhardt was playing his second NHL game and first since April 7, 2022. … Ottawa forward Michael Amadio was minus-2 in 14:22 of ice time in his first game against Vegas since signing a three-year, $7.8 million contract ($2.6 million average annual value) with the Senators on July 1. He played the past three seasons with the Golden Knights. … Pietrangelo had three assists for the second consecutive game, having done it in a 6-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.