Jack Eichel and Nic Roy each scored two goals, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
Pavel Dorofeyev also found the net for the Golden Knights, who had lost six of their previous seven games while being outscored 29-15. Logan Thompson made 28 saves in the win.
Eichel scored in the first and third periods, with his second goal assisted by rookie Lukas Cormier in his NHL debut. Roy scored his goals in the second and third periods, providing a much-needed boost to the team’s offense.
“Credit to the group, we’ve always been a good rush team, but we always want to continue to work on an offensive zone play and scoring goals out of a cycle,” Eichel said. “So it’s good to see a few goals … there were some good things to like about our offensive zone game. I thought it was just a good response for the group.”
Mathew Barzal and Matt Martin scored for the Islanders, who lost for the third time in four games (1-2-1). Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots.
“I thought, for about 2 1/2, three minutes I thought it was maybe our most solid game of the trip,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “Disappointing ending to (the trip), although I thought we did many good things tonight. We had a lot of scoring chances. We just couldn’t put it in. We have to get ready for our next game.”
The Islanders closed their road trip with three losses in four games (1-2-1) and will have two days off before starting a two-game homestand against Pacific Division-leading Vancouver on Tuesday.
Eichel, who leads all Golden Knights with 16 career points against the Islanders, put Vegas ahead 1-0 with a one-time blast that got past Sorokin 6:25 into the game.
The lead was short-lived, as an official replay ruled Barzal’s shot traced the top of the net just inside the crossbar, tying the game at 1-all with 8:47 left in the first period.
Starting his fifth consecutive game for Vegas, Thompson looked exceptionally sharp, more so than in recent performances. Despite being outshot 16-9 in the first period, Thompson kept the game tied 1-1 with crucial saves, including a key stop on Kyle Palmieri’s breakaway in the second period.
“That was a big moment in the game,” Eichel said. “We trade odd-man rushes there, they get a breakaway, and LT makes a huge save. Timely saves are so important in this game and he made them tonight, it was awesome to see. He’s battled for us, he made some big saves, not only then, but in other parts of the game. Tons of credit to Logan; he stepped up for us tonight.”
The Golden Knights took a 3-1 lead with goals from Dorofeyev and Roy 1:30 apart late in the second period. Dorofeyev tapped in a pass from Chandler Stephenson with 2:49 left, and Roy followed by snapping home a wrist shot from the left circle with 1:19 remaining.
Starting the third period on a power play, Cormier grabbed a loose puck off a faceoff and swung it to Eichel, who lasered a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to give Vegas a 4-1 cushion just 31 seconds in.
Martin scored a little more than two minutes later for the Islanders, but Roy responded at 4:20 to provide the final margin for the Golden Knights.
UP NEXT
- Islanders: Host Vancouver on Tuesday night.
- Golden Knights: At Colorado on Wednesday night.
