Stone scores twice in third period, Golden Knights defeat Blues

ST. LOUIS --Mark Stone scored twice in the third period for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Max Pacioretty had a goal and two assists, Shea Theodore had a goal and an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves for the Golden Knights (18-6-1), who swept the back-to-back set following a 5-4 overtime win here Friday.
Vegas was 4-2-0 on a six-game road trip; it lost 2-0 and 4-3 at the Minnesota Wild on Monday and Wednesday.
"Four-and-two on a long, grueling road trip, a couple back-to-backs," Stone said. "Mostly we didn't like the way we played in Minnesota, [but] there were key points in the game [tonight] and I think we kind of won all those key matchups at critical times."

Ville Husso made 21 saves for the Blues (14-9-5), who have lost four in a row (0-1-3) and their past five at home (0-4-1).
"They're going to be a better team if we don't execute and do the right things that's needed," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "It doesn't matter who it is. It's just we don't have enough guys that are pulling on the same rope here, and we need that. … We need everybody in the lineup to do the right things and pull on the same rope, and right now, we don't."
It was Vegas' first-ever win against St. Louis in regulation. The Golden Knights won five games that required overtime or a shootout in the previous 11 between the teams.
"We responded exactly how I expected this group to respond," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "Nobody was happy coming out of the second Minnesota game. We had lost two in a row for the first time in a long time. We responded like I said in the opening of the press conference with two gritty, gutsy efforts from everybody."
Theodore ended a 16-game goal drought and gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game at 4:01 of the first period when Jonathan Marchessault passed to him in the slot. It was Theodore's first goal since Jan. 22.
Stone made it 2-0 at 1:32 of the third period on a rebound of Pacioretty's shot after the Blues failed to clear the puck.
Sammy Blais cut it to 2-1 when he scored off a backhand pass from Vladimir Tarasenko at 4:39.
"Sammy made a nice move in front and got us back into it, and [we] just didn't probably have the response as a team that we needed to," Blues center Brayden Schenn said.

Pacioretty gave the Golden Knights a 3-1 lead with a shot from the left circle at 7:25. Stone scored his second of the game at 12:09 with a backhand wraparound to make it 4-1.
"I think my success goes hand in hand with the team's success," Stone said. "When we're winning games, everybody's numbers get inflated. We're playing good hockey right now. When we're playing well, our depth allows everybody to have a good matchup."
Alex Tuch scored an empty-net goal at 19:30 for the 5-1 final.

The Blues were 0-for-4 on the power play, which included a two-man advantage for 53 seconds in the third period. St. Louis scored a power-play goal in each of its previous six games.
Fleury, who made his 15th start in 16 games, saved 14 of 15 shots in the third.
''For us it was about disrupting them,'' Stone said. ''I think when we box out and block shots and [Fleury] can see the puck, it just makes his life easier.''
NOTES: Blues forward David Perron had his eight-game point streak end (five goals, five assists). … Stone has scored 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past seven games against the Blues. ... With his assist, Tarasenko has scored four points (one goal, three assists) in four games since returning from offseason shoulder surgery.