Golden Knights top Canucks, close gap in Western Conference race

VANCOUVER -- The Vegas Golden Knights moved closer to first place in the Western Conference with a 5-4 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.
Shea Theodore scored in the fourth round of the shootout, and Brandon Pirri scored twice in his debut for the Golden Knights (51-22-7), who are four points back of the Nashville Predators for the top spot in the conference with two games to play. The Predators lost to the Florida Panthers 2-1 on Tuesday.

Vegas, which clinched first in the Pacific Division in their inaugural season on Saturday, has the tiebreaker over Nashville with more regulation/overtime wins.
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Canucks highlights]
Tomas Tatar also scored and Malcolm Subban made 21 saves for the Golden Knights, who are 9-3-2 in their past 14 games.
"We came into tonight's game and said, 'we don't know what is going to happen down the road so let's get as many points as we can,' and you never know," coach Gerard Gallant said.
Vancouver trailed 4-1 after William Karlsson scored his 43rd goal of the season for Vegas on a 5-on-3 at 2:17 of the third period. But Bo Horvat (4:06 on the power play to make it 4-2) and Brandon Sutter (8:21 for 4-3) started the comeback, and Nikolay Goldobin (10:53) tied it 4-4 with his second goal of game.
"We had control of the game, got up 4-1 and fell asleep a little bit," Gallant said.
Jacob Markstrom made 35 saves for the Canucks (30-40-10), who failed in their bid to win five games in a row for the first time this season. Daniel Sedin had one assist but twin brother Henrik didn't have a point, and neither scored in the shootout in their first game since announcing Monday they will retire at the end of the season.

"I thought we handled it well," Henrik Sedin said of a night that included video tributes throughout and a standing ovation midway through the third period. "The crowd was great. It's tough to keep your emotions in check when you hear that."
Vegas gave top-six forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula a maintenance day, called Pirri up from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Monday and put him on the top line in place of Marchessault. He made it 1-0 at 4:28 of the first period, beating Markstrom over the glove after collecting a loose puck in the slot.
"I was fortunate to be playing with some pretty good hockey players tonight and that opportunity only comes along so often so I didn't want to waste it," said Pirri, who had 51 points (29 goals, 22 assists) in 54 AHL games this season. "It was an absolute blast. I felt we played with the puck the whole night, we were playing fast and I feel like that goes with my game."
Goldobin tied it 1-1 with 21 seconds left, but Pirri made it 2-1 at 3:27 of the second period, finishing a 3-on-2 with a one-timer for his 100th NHL point in 227 career games.
Tatar made it 3-1 at 7:19 on a backdoor deflection, and Karlsson extended the lead to 4-1 on a 5-on-3 at 2:17 of the third period, moving three goals behind Alexander Ovechkin for the NHL lead.

Goal of the game

Goldobin's goal at 19:39 of the first period.

Save of the game

Markstrom's save on Colin Miller with 8.3 seconds left in overtime.

Highlight of the game

Theodore's winning goal in the shootout.

They said it

"It's just the amount of talent. All four lines are trying to go, all six [defensemen] are trying to move the puck quick. It makes a forward's life easy, you just have to get open." -- Golden Knights forward Brandon Pirri on adjusting quickly in his first NHL game of the season
"It takes us back to a playoff atmosphere. It was fun to be part of that again. It's been a while since this building has been this exciting to play in. It's a great feeling." -- Canucks forward Daniel Sedin

Need to know

Karlsson also had two assists and has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during a five-game point streak. … Vegas was also missing top-six forwards David Perron, who missed a fourth straight game with an undisclosed injury, and Reilly Smith, who missed his 14th straight game with an upper-body injury but skated Tuesday with teammates wearing a red no-contact sweater for the first time. … Golden Knights forward William Carrier returned after missing 27 games with an upper-body injury. He had two shots on goal in 9:39. … Canucks forward Brendan Leipsic, who was acquired in a trade from Vegas on Feb. 26, returned after missing five games with a neck injury.

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SN1, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)