Thompson, Golden Knights hold off Senators for sixth straight win

OTTAWA -- Logan Thompson made 42 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights held off the Ottawa Senators 5-4 to win their sixth in a row at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Thompson stopped 27 shots in the final two periods to win his fourth straight start and sixth of the season.
"Logan's played well every game, so I expected him to give us another solid game," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "The numbers won't necessarily be great for him at the end of the night, but I thought he made a lot of good saves. He was a good player for us."

Mark Stone had a goal and an assist, Chandler Stephenson and Reilly Smith scored, and Jack Eichel had an assist for the Golden Knights (10-2-0), who haven't lost since Oct. 22 (3-2 to the Colorado Avalanche).
"That was not a perfect game from us by any means," Stone, the Vegas captain, said. "It wasn't close to our standard, but some nights you're not going to feel great, you're not going to have that execution as a team, but when you find ways to win, that's the difference between teams that win and teams that are on the outside. Last year, maybe we would've lost that game, but I think we're learning."
Claude Giroux and
Tim Stutzle
each had two goals, and Brady Tkachuk had three assists for the Senators (4-6-0), who have lost four straight.
"If you play like the way we played in the second and third period, you're going to win a lot of games," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "There's no such thing as moral victories in sports, but you get that effort from the guys that we got tonight, and you'll start winning a lot of hockey games."

Cam Talbot made his Senators debut after relieving Anton Forsberg at 10:14 of the second period. Acquired from the Minnesota Wild on July 12, Talbot made 13 saves after Forsberg allowed five goals on 19 shots.
"Not the ideal situation to get my first action of the year," said Talbot, who missed nine games with a broken rib. "But that's what I work towards, to be ready when called upon. It's five weeks' worth of work to put into action out there."
Stone gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 1:22 of the first period, burying a giveaway from defenseman Thomas Chabot in front.
Giroux tied it 1-1 at 4:12 when his dump-in from just above the Golden Knights blue line took an awkward bounce and beat Thompson glove side.
"I've probably tried that over 500 times in my career and it never went in," Giroux said. "When it went in, it was overdue. I get pretty excited when I see a goal like that."

Smith made it 2-1 at 9:19, scoring backdoor off a William Karlsson feed, and Zach Whitecloud extended it to 3-1 at 19:28 when he finished a give-and-go with Stone in the slot.
Stephenson scored on a short-handed breakaway to make it 4-1 at 5:15 of the second period, and William Carrier pushed it to 5-1 at 10:14 after Senators forward Alex DeBrincat misplayed the puck on a pass attempt in his own zone.
"I thought we were opportunistic tonight," Vegas forward Nicolas Roy said. "That was the difference in the end. It wasn't our best effort overall, but we found a way to win."
Giroux cut it to 5-2 at 14:23, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Jake Sanderson.
"They're not all going to be pretty," Cassidy said of his team's performance. "We're not a 60-minute team yet and we know that. I don't think there's any team in the league that has 60 minutes yet. So, we have to take the positives from it."

Stutzle made it 5-3 at 18:39, tapping in the puck after Tkachuk's shot squeaked past Thompson. He then cut it to 5-4 at 2:34 of the third period when he finished a give-and-go with Tkachuk.
"That's the identity we want to play with in the second and third," Tkachuk said. "Unfortunately, we just got down too much where we couldn't come back. That second and third period, I think, is some of the best hockey we've played all year. … There's a lot of positives to take from tonight."
NOTES: Thompson set a new career high in saves. … Eichel has six points (two goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak. … Giroux has five points (three goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Ottawa forward Derick Brassard had one shot on goal and one hit in 12:09 of ice time after being a healthy scratch Tuesday. ... Stutzle has six NHL multigoal games, trailing Martin Havlat for the most by a Senators player at age 20 or younger. He has 18 NHL multipoint games, tying Jason Spezza for fifth-most by a Senators player before age 21 and trailing Alexandre Daigle (25), Martin Havlat (22), Tkachuk (20) and Alexei Yashin (19).