Theodore boosts Golden Knights past Lightning with late goal

LAS VEGAS -- Defenseman Shea Theodore scored with 2.3 seconds remaining to cap his four-point night and lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
James Neal, Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula scored, Theodore had three assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves for the Golden Knights (22-9-2), who trailed 2-0 after the first period.

Theodore beat goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy with a one-timer from above the right face-off circle on the power play to give Vegas its third consecutive win and hand Tampa Bay (24-7-2) its first loss in eight games.
\[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Golden Knights highlights\]
After the Golden Knights killed a throwing the stick penalty against Deryk Engelland at 16:52, Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn was called for holding Neal's stick with 24 seconds left. Haula won a puck battle in the left corner and passed to Marchessault above the left circle for a cross-ice pass to Theodore.
"I wasn't sure how much time was left," Theodore said. "I knew it was ticking down, but to have two seconds left to win, that was big. I saw a good battle down low from our guys, the puck came up and across, (and) I was just trying to shoot as hard as I can anywhere I could."
The Golden Knights are on an eight-game point streak (7-0-1) and tied with the Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings for first in the Western Conference.
"We're having a lot of fun, we're confident in each other," Haula said. "All night tonight, I felt like we kept pushing. [Tampa Bay is] a phenomenal hockey team, and I thought we played really well 5-on-5."
Defenseman Victor Hedman had a goal and two assists, Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov, who leads the NHL in goals (23) and points (48), had two assists for the Lightning.

Six of the game's seven goals, including the first five, came on the power play. Vegas was 4-for-5 with the man-advantage, and Tampa Bay went 2-for-4.
Stamkos scored 7:43 into the game to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead, and Vladislav Namestnikov beat Fleury with 47 seconds left in the first to make it 2-0.
Neal scored at 10:07 of the second period to cut the Tampa Bay lead to 2-1.

Marchessault scored with 1:39 left in the second to tie it 2-2. It was his 50th NHL goal and 100th point.
Haula put the Golden Knights ahead 3-2 at 4:42 of the third before Hedman tied it 3-3 at 16:08 with the only even-strength goal of the game.
"When you give a team four power-play goals, it's tough to get those points," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We just missed assignments. Our penalty kill, up until the last couple of games, has been pretty darn good."

Vasilevskiy made 32 saves.
"What a feeling at the end to win like that," said Fleury, who is 2-0-1 with a 1.95 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in three games since returning from a concussion that kept him out two months.

Goal of the game

Theodore's goal at 19:57 of the third period.

Save of the game

Fleury stopping Cedric Paquette with his mask at 14:04 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Marchessault's goal at 18:21 of the second period off a cross-ice pass from David Perron.

They said it

"[Vegas is] a really good hockey team. All four lines can match you, all six defensemen can play. They have a top-five goalie, for sure. It's a hard building to play in. Very good atmosphere, very electric. We can take a page from their book. I think they play a real simple game."-- Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi
"It's one game and it feels good tonight, but when we play [the] Washington [Capitals] in our next game, it's forgotten. It definitely builds confidence every time you win hockey games when you're playing great teams." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant

Need to know

Lightning defenseman Jake Dotchin and center Tyler Johnson each was a late scratch with the flu. … Kucherov's assist on the Stamkos goal gave him 150 in his NHL career. He has four goals and four assists during a five-game point streak. … Vegas is 14-2-1 at home and 8-8-2 when the opponent scores first.

What's next

Lightning: Host the Ottawa Senators on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights:Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)