Golden Knights end Maple Leafs winning streak at 7
Marchessault has 2 goals, assist to help Vegas stop 3-game skid
By
Dave McCarthy
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
“It’s a pretty good framework of how we want to play all the time, but given we are missing some of the dynamic players in our lineup, we just had to check better than we have lately," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Certainly against Toronto the last time we didn’t do a good enough job (in a 7-3 loss on Feb. 22). I thought we really focused on that part of the game and got above their guys in the middle of the ice, [showed] discipline for the most part and checked with our feet.”
Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and had an assist, William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and Shea Theodore had three assists for the Golden Knights (33-19-7), who had lost three in a row and were 1-4-1 in their previous six. Adin Hill made 29 saves.
“Pretty good game for us to be honest, especially when you are struggling to get some wins in the last five or six,” Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev said. “So, this feels really good and I think it’s really good for our group, especially when you win a game against Toronto.”
Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Reaves scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs (33-17-8).
“I loved our start. In fact, I thought it was our best start of the season the first seven, eight minutes,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “… Guys were flying, puck was moving well, our pace was outstanding, we had great scoring chances but didn’t score, line changes, shift length, like everything you wanted at the start of the game I thought we were tremendous there. Puck didn’t fall for us, and then because it was going so well, I thought we started to overdo it. I thought we got too comfortable in the game.”
Barbashev put Vegas ahead 1-0 at 9:11 of the second period. He took a stretch pass from Michael Amadio in the neutral zone and scored on a breakaway after getting behind Toronto defensemen Morgan Rielly and TJ Brodie despite the Golden Knights losing an offensive-zone face-off.
“It was just a simple face-off play, we lost it, and somehow I got behind them,” Barbashev said. “I don’t know, it seemed like I had quite a lot of time out there.”
VGK@TOR: Barbashev nets breakaway goal in 2nd period
Rielly said he was caught off guard when Barbashev took off out of the zone, leading to the breakaway.
“I don’t think we expected him to keep going,” Rielly said. “Most times on our offensive-zone face-offs, when we win it, the other team goes into a defensive-zone structure, they don’t leave. But it’s on us. It’s on me to be aware of that and adjust when that happens.”
Mason Morelli made it 2-0 at 12:20 when he deflected a point shot from Theodore in the slot.
“It was very cool, obviously, especially scoring here in Toronto. It was pretty cool,” Morelli said of his second NHL goal (fifth game). “Credit to Theodore. It was a really good shot by him. I just thought we played real hard tonight and everyone contributed to the win.”
Bertuzzi cut it to 2-1 at 17:45 when he took a pass from Jake McCabe and had his shot from just below the right face-off dot deflect in off Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez’s skate.
It was Bertuzzi’s fourth goal in the past two games. He had a hat trick in a 4-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
Karlsson extended the lead to 3-1 at 19:09 when he one-timed a pass from Marchessault between Samsonov’s pads from the left hash marks.
Marchessault made it 4-1 at 10:50 of the third period. He put in a rebound after Karlsson’s shot hit both goal posts and popped back into the slot. The goal was his 31st of the season, an NHL career high.
“I thought they did a good job, obviously, and we just kind of got away from our game I think,” Rielly said. “They were opportunistic and they took advantage of their chances.”
Reaves cut it to 4-2 at 14:25 when he put in a pass from Pontus Holmberg on a 2-on-1.
Marchessault scored into an empty net at 18:23 to make it 5-2, and Nicolas Roy converted a rebound at 19:29 for the 6-2 final.
“We definitely played a hard road game, and that’s what we knew we had to do coming in here,” Theodore said. “They have a lot of highly skilled players who like to fill the net and I thought we did a great job.”
NOTES: The Golden Knights became the fastest team in NHL history to reach 300 wins (514 games), surpassing the Edmonton Oilers (542). Vegas is 300-166-48 in seven seasons. ... Theodore extended his assist streak to four games (eight assists). ... Karlsson extended his point streak to five games (four goals, three assists). … Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner’s 10-game point streak ended (three goals, 18 assists), as did Toronto center Auston Matthews’ six-game point streak (10 goals, four assists). ... Samsonov had won six straight starts dating to Feb. 7. ... Maple Leafs forward William Nylander had the secondary assist on Bertuzzi's goal, extending his point streak to eight games (six goals, eight assists).
