- Jack Eichel tied it 3-3 on a penalty shot after Vegas trailed Toronto 3-0 early
- Rookie Trevor Connelly won it in the shootout for the Golden Knights’ fifth three-goal comeback win
- Read below for Eichel’s NHL-leading start and Sergei Bobrovsky’s 40-save night
Jack Eichel dragged the Golden Knights out of a 3-0 hole on Thursday night.
The Vegas center scored on a penalty shot at 3:58 of the second period to tie the Maple Leafs 3-3, and Vegas finished the job with a 4-3 shootout win at T-Mobile Arena.
Eichel got loose on a breakaway early in the second, and Morgan Rielly tripped him to stop it. Eichel took his time on the penalty shot, waited out Sergei Bobrovsky and fired it in under the glove. Take a look at the goal:
Toronto came out flying. Jack Roslovic scored 34 seconds in, Easton Cowan made it 2-0 on a breakaway at 3:20, and Nick Paul got a piece of a Darren Raddysh one-timer to push it to 3-0 at 8:37.
Mark Stone cut the lead to 3-1 with a slap shot at 17:36 of the first, off a pass from Eichel. Brett Howden made it 3-2 at 1:12 of the second, driving the far post on a Mitch Marner feed.
Marner explained how the play came together after the game. “William Karlsson, with speed, kind of backs up the D-man, hits me on the outside, and then from there on, I just know both of them are driving the post,” Marner said. “Lucky enough to hit Howie on the foot there.”
Eichel has now had four multi-point games in five tries to open the season. His 12 points (three goals, nine assists) are tied with Connor McDavid for the NHL lead, as the Las Vegas Sun’s Case Keefer pointed out, and he has a point in every game so far.
Linemate Ivan Barbashev talked about watching Eichel on a night like this. “To see Jack go on fire, it’s fun to watch,” Barbashev said. “He’s an outstanding player, and he’s a leader for us.”
The penalty shot was only the seventh successful attempt in 20 tries in franchise history, according to Vegas Hockey Knight.
Eichel missed wide on his own shootout attempt, so the rookies finished it. Braeden Bowman scored for Vegas, then Trevor Connelly won it. Adin Hill stopped four shots in the shootout after making 21 saves in regulation.
Connelly is the third Golden Knights rookie to score a game-deciding shootout goal, joining Alex Tuch and Paul Cotter. He also scored in his debut, which we covered earlier this month.
Vegas outshot Toronto 43-24, and only Bobrovsky kept it close. The Leafs goalie made 40 saves, and he called the single point “a big point for us on the road against a good team.”
The Golden Knights are 4-1-0 and have won three straight. Toronto is 2-2-1 after its first road game of the season.
