Pacioretty scores in fourth straight game, Golden Knights defeat Canucks

Max Pacioretty (two goals, two assists) extended his goal streak to four games in the Vegas Golden Knights' 6-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

Pacioretty has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past four games after not having a point in the previous three.
"I don't know, there's been times I felt like I'm playing my best hockey and don't get any points," Pacioretty said. "Obviously you to take it when it comes and feel good about it, but at the end of the day I just worry about the process."
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Pacioretty scored on a breakaway after freezing Jacob Markstrom to make it 5-2 at 10:49 of the third period, similar to his overtime goal against the Dallas Stars on Friday.
"I don't want to talk too much about it because it might be seen on pre-scout now, but just something I felt confident doing after last game," said Pacioretty, who scored his second on a power play with 42 seconds left for the 6-3 final.
Valentin Zykov scored his first NHL goal and Jonathan Marchessault scored his 100th for Vegas (18-13-5), which has won three of its past four games and is 7-2-1 in the past 10.

Mark Stone had a goal and an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves and moved past Sean Burke into 14th place on the NHL list for games played by a goalie (821).
"When we've lost, we kind of put together two good periods [and] one period has let us down; tonight, we didn't have that letdown," Pacioretty said. "It's nice to string together a couple wins in important games."
Brock Boeser had a goal and an assist, and Elias Pettersson and Jake Virtanen also scored for Vancouver (16-14-4), which has lost three of the past four games after winning three of the previous four.

Markstrom, starting for the second straight night after a 4-2 loss at the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, made 34 saves before being pulled after Pacioretty's first goal in the third period. Michael DiPietro, recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League after backup Thatcher Demko sustained a concussion in practice Wednesday, made six saves in relief.
"We weren't very good. [We] looked a half-step behind most of the night," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "They come at you hard and if you're not good with the puck and a half-step behind, you are going to look like we did tonight."
Nick Holden gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 2:22 of the first period with a screened shot from the blue line.

Pettersson tied it 1-1 at 4:03, diving with one hand on his stick to sweep in his own rebound after Fleury slid across to stop his first attempt from the bottom of the left face-off circle.
Zykov scored on a rebound during a power play to make it 2-1 at 9:51 of the first period.
"It was great to get everybody going and to see a guy like [Zykov] get his first goal," Marchessault said.
Vegas outshot Vancouver 19-5 in the second period and scored twice.
"We got beat to every puck in the second period," Green said. "When that happens, you are going to spend a lot of time in your zone."
Marchessault finished a cross-ice backhand pass from Reilly Smith to make 3-1 at 4:46, and Stone finished a partial break at 9:16 with a wrist shot over Markstrom's glove to make it 4-1.
Marchessault, who wasn't drafted in the NHL, scored eight goals over his first three seasons and 49 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning. He has 62 goals in 195 games with the Golden Knights after scoring 30 with the Florida Panthers in 2016-17.
"Better when it's during a win also," he said of the milestone. "Honestly it's been kind of a roller coaster career, and it's fun to get a bit more stability in Vegas. It's been good."
Boeser made it 4-2 at 5:02 of the third, and Virtanen scored on a power-play rush at 17:24 to make it 5-3.

They said it

"No excuses. These are big points and we wanted to have a better road trip." -- Canucks captain Bo Horvat
"If we come out with a strong first five minutes, get our crowd energized, it puts teams on their heels and gives us a little extra energy." -- Golden Knights forward Mark Stone

Need to know

Canucks forward Tyler Motte returned after missing 23 games with a lower-body injury. … Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague missed a third straight game because of an illness.

What's next

Canucks: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)