Trevor Connelly scored in the fifth round of the shootout and the Vegas Golden Knights came back from a three-goal deficit to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena, their third consecutive victory.
The game began as a rout in the wrong direction for the home crowd. Jack Roslovic opened the scoring 34 seconds into his 600th career game, banking the puck in from below the goal line for his 300th career point. Easton Cowan made it 2-0 at 3:20, getting behind the defence and roofing a wrist shot on a breakaway, and Nick Paul pushed it to 3-0 at 8:37 when he deflected a Darren Raddysh one-timer for his first goal with Toronto. Sergei Bobrovsky, who finished with 40 saves, protected the lead as Vegas began to tilt the ice.
Mark Stone started the comeback at 17:37 of the first period with a slap shot above Bobrovsky’s glove, fed by Jack Eichel. Brett Howden cut it to 3-2 at 1:12 of the second, driving to the far post to finish a Mitch Marner pass, and Eichel tied the game on a penalty shot at 4:58 after Morgan Rielly tripped him on a breakaway. Eichel finished with a goal and an assist, extending his season-opening point streak to five games, with three goals and twelve points through five games, a share of the league scoring lead.
The third period and overtime passed scoreless despite Vegas outshooting Toronto 43-24 on the night. The Golden Knights went 0 for 4 on the power play, their first game this season without a power-play goal, which kept the comeback incomplete until the shootout.
In the breakaway contest, Braeden Bowman scored his first career shootout goal and Kirill Marchenko answered for Toronto, leaving Connelly, a 20-year-old rookie, to win it in the fifth round with a backhand-forehand move past Bobrovsky, his first NHL shootout attempt. Adin Hill, who made 21 saves in regulation and overtime after the early barrage, denied John Tavares to end it, stopping four of Toronto’s five shootout attempts. Hill kept the Maple Leafs scoreless through the second period, third period and overtime after conceding three times in the first nine minutes.
For Toronto, playing its first road game of the season and opening a three-game western trip, the defeat was a study in a lead not managed. Roslovic, Cowan and Paul had built in eight minutes what the team could not defend for fifty-two, and although Bobrovsky’s 40 saves earned a point, the Maple Leafs fell to 2-2-1. Auston Matthews and Gavin McKenna each recorded an assist.
Vegas improved to 4-1-0. Both clubs play Saturday, Toronto visiting Colorado and the Golden Knights hosting Los Angeles. Early-season standings rarely remember October shootouts, but a team that believes it can erase any deficit is a dangerous one, and on Thursday the Golden Knights gave their dressing room fresh evidence for the belief.
