Smith scores first NHL hat trick, Golden Knights defeat Blues

LAS VEGAS -- Reilly Smith scored his first NHL hat trick, and the Vegas Golden Knights won their third consecutive game, 4-1 against the St. Louis Blues at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Vegas leads the Colorado Avalanche by four points for first place in the eight-team Honda West Division; the teams will play here Monday. The Golden Knights are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the NHL standings having played one fewer game.
"We're trying to get home-ice advantage," Vegas forward William Carrier said. "Finishing first in the League guarantees you'll have that in every round."
The Golden Knights, Blues, Avalanche and Minnesota Wild have clinched the Stanley Cup Playoff berths from the West.

Smith has scored five goals in his past three games after a nine-game drought.
"It took me over 600 games to get a hat trick," Smith said. "It's obviously a big moment for me and I'm happy about it, but there's a lot of guys who helped me put the puck in the back of the net."
Chandler Stephenson scored, and Alex Pietrangelo had two assists for Vegas (39-12-3), which swept the back-to-back set here and finished 6-1-1 against St. Louis this season. The Golden Knights won 4-3 in overtime Friday.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves for his eighth consecutive win.
"As a group on the back end, I thought we got back a lot quicker," Pietrangelo said. "They have really good structure, so you've got to try and get that as quickly as possible. I thought we made good decisions with the puck tonight."
Colton Parayko scored, and Ville Husso made 26 saves for St. Louis (24-20-9), which had its eight-game point streak end (5-0-3). The Blues will finish fourth in the West.
"I didn't think we were very good for two periods," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "We know how to generate offense against them. Tonight, we weren't engaged early enough. We couldn't hit the net."

Smith gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 12:26 of the first period when his shot deflected off Jaden Schwartz's leg.
Stephenson scored shorthanded to make it 2-0 at 13:32 on a one-timer off a pass from Pietrangelo.
Parayko cut it to 2-1 at 19:23 of the second period after he forced a turnover from Shea Theodore below the goal line.
"It's a good team over there," Parayko said. We've got to come ready at the puck drop. Sixty minutes, we've got to make sure we're ready for 60. Three games left here, we're going to build something going into the playoffs."
Smith scored on the power play at 4:11 of the third period to make it 3-1. He completed the hat trick when he scored into an empty net at 19:11 for the 4-1 final.
"You don't just turn on playoff hockey," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think it's important to be playing important games as close to the start of playoffs as you can. It doesn't get much closer than Monday night."
NOTES: Smith has scored 377 points (158 goals, 219 assists) in 628 NHL games. … Golden Knights rookie forward Peyton Krebs left the game at 9:24 of the second period after taking a puck to the face. There was no update after the game. … Vegas forward Max Pacioretty (undisclosed) missed his fourth consecutive game. … Stephenson's goal was the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Blues this season. … Parayko's goal was his first since Jan. 31. The defenseman missed 21 games earlier this season with an upper-body injury.