Tuch breaks tie late in third period, Golden Knights defeat Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Alex Tuch scored a power-play goal with 2:28 remaining to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Friday.

Tuch redirected Paul Stastny's touch pass into an open net with Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek drawn out of position.
"It was something we were looking to do," Tuch said. "We were able to execute, and I just put my stick on the ice and made sure I hit the net."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes highlights]
The Hurricanes trailed 3-1 in the third, but Brock McGinn scored on a snapshot under the crossbar at 12:25 to cut it to 3-2, and Sebastian Aho tied the game 3-3 when he redirected Jaccob Slavin's shot on the power play at 16:21.

"In the third, we made our push," Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said. "We just dug ourselves a hole and it was hard to get out of it. We needed a lot more in the first period from everyone to set the tone for the night."
Stastny and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist, and Malcolm Subban made 22 saves for his first win since Dec. 22 for the Golden Knights (26-20-7).
Aho and Teuvo Teravainen each had a goal and an assist, and Mrazek made 33 saves for the Hurricanes (29-19-3), who had won two in a row.

Stastny's 15th goal of the season gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 3:52 of the first period. After the Golden Knights cycled the puck in the right corner, Reilly Smith made a pass from the slot to Stastny for a tap-in at the right post.
Vegas took a 2-0 lead when Marchessault took Smith's pass through the neutral zone and scored on a wrist shot from the right circle at 9:59.
"We played with a little more pace than they did tonight, especially in the first period," Smith said. "I think that was the difference-maker."

Teravainen followed Martinook's shot and scored from the top of the crease to cut the Vegas lead to 2-1 at 9:55 of the second period.
Nate Schmidt pushed the lead to 3-1 at 12:09 of the third period when he took a backhand feed from Chandler Stephenson went top shelf.

"We lost a lot of battles, we played kind of slow," Teravainen said. "It's nice we made a game [of it] but it doesn't matter."
It was Subban's first start since a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 9.
"I didn't play for a while, so in the first, you want to make the first save and just get into the game," Subban said. "But my teammates made it easy for me."
Subban's best save came at 4:16 of the second period when he went post-to-post for a right-pad save on Aho at the back door.

"I think I heard him call for it," Subban said. "You don't want to cheat, so I tried to stay square if [Hurricanes forward Justin Williams] passed it and then make a move."
The Golden Knights and Hurricanes each played their first game following the League-mandated break after the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Game.

They said it

"The first period is how we want to play, on our toes, attacking, hard in the offensive zone, using our size and our physicality. That was 20 great minutes. In the second, we stepped off that a little. We looked like we played with the lead a little bit. The good thing is we can do it. It's just doing it for 60 minutes." -- Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer
"It's terrible. It's not acceptable to come and play like that for two periods, two-and-a-half periods, to be honest with you. [Vegas] was good. I give them a ton of credit. They played desperate, they played fast. We just weren't ready to match that, and that is what you get." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour

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Need to know

Stastny has a goal and an assist in three of the past four games. … Smith had two assists for his ninth multipoint game this season. … It was Subban first time playing against the Hurricanes. … Schmidt and defenseman Brayden McNabb were each plus-3. ... Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury did not play. He was serving a one-game suspension for missing the All-Star Game. … Teravainen has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past two games. … Hurricanes forwards Erik Haula and Ryan Dzingel each have gone 10 games without a goal. It was Haula's first game against his former team since he was traded to the Hurricanes on June 27.

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Nashville Predators on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes:Host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (2 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN360, SNW, SNP, FS-CR, NHL.TV)