Kessel, Golden Knights send Red Wings to third straight loss

DETROIT -- Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights (18-7-1), who had lost three of four (1-3-0). Adin Hill made 24 saves.
"This was a good, professional road game," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We managed the puck, took advantage of some opportunities, bent but didn't break in key situations, got a timely power-play goal, had some good kills late and got some big saves."
Oskar Sundqvist scored, and Ville Husso made 21 saves for the Red Wings (11-7-5), who lost their third straight (0-2-1).
Detroit went 2-2-1 on a five-game homestand, defeating the Nashville Predators and Arizona Coyotes, and losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres (in the shootout) and Golden Knights.
"If you look at this homestand, we went 2-0-1 against teams outside the playoff bubble and 0-2 against the elite teams," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "We've got to find a way to flip that."

Eichel gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 1:04 of the first period, tapping in a Chandler Stephenson pass from the edge of the crease.
Marchessault's power-play goal made it 2-0 at 7:50 of the second period.
Sundqvist cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 11:37, scoring on his own rebound in the crease.
After Detroit failed to convert on its next power play, Kessel came out of the penalty box, took a long pass from Nicolas Roy and scored on a breakaway to push the lead to 3-1 at 16:32.
"We let them score too many goals at key moments in the game," Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. "They got one on the first shift, and then one right after our power play. That just killed us. We've had too many games where we are close and just don't get two points."

Smith scored into an empty net off Eichel's pass at 17:00 for the 4-1 final.
"We won all three periods, which is exactly what you want," Hill said. "That was a good 60-minute performance, and now we can get on the plane, watch it again, and see what we need to fix for Boston (on Monday)."
Eichel left in the third period with an apparent lower-body injury.
"He was obviously in some discomfort and wasn't able to come back, but I can't give an update now," Cassidy said. "He's being evaluated, but I saw him in the room, which is good. If anyone wants to play Monday in Boston, it's Jack (a Massachusetts native and former Boston University player), so he'll do everything he can to be out there."
NOTES: Kessel has 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) in 31 games against the Red Wings. … Sundqvist has scored Detroit's past three goals, including the final two in the 5-4 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday. … The Red Wings had scored at least two goals in 15 straight games.