NEW YORK (AP) — Tomas Nosek jumped on a loose puck to help the Vegas Golden Knights’ open their trip with a victory.
Nosek scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and the surging Golden Knights beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Wednesday night for their ninth win in 11 games.
Oscar Lindberg’s shot from the top of the left circle was stopped by goalie Robin Lehner. However, as the puck lay at the right side, neither Lehner nor defenseman Thomas Hickey immediately went for it, and Nosek put it in for his third 3:32 into the third.
“I saw the puck was loose so I just tried to go under [Hickey’s] stick, and I think I hit that and the post and then put it in.” Nosek said. “It’s great to have a win like that on the road.”
The play started with a turnover by defensemen Ryan Pulock in the corner and Vegas’ Ryan Carpenter got the puck to Lindberg.
“It was a quick turnover and Lindy did a good job getting open and he got a good, quick shot, maybe surprised the goalie,” Carpenter said. “And then Nosek did a good job outworking that guy and winning the battle in front.”
Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights, who are 10-3-1 at home but improved to 8-11-0 on the road in the opener of a four-game trip. Marc-Andre Fleury, who made his 11th straight start, stopped 23 shots to take over the NHL victory lead with 18.
Anthony Beauvillier and Adam Pelech scored for New York. The Islanders have lost six of eight (2-4-2). Robin Lehner finished with 14 saves to fall to 0-4-2 in his last seven appearances.
“We played well in so many areas of the game but we gave them things that were a little bit unforced,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “Turnovers cost us.”
On Nosek’s go-ahead goal, Hickey said there was miscommunication between him and Lehner.
“It’s on the both of us to communicate and get it out of harm or recover it,” he said.
Pelech nearly tied it about three minutes later, but his shot rang off the goalpost.
New York pulled Lehner for an extra skater with a little more than a minute remaining, but couldn’t get the equalizer.
Vegas’ 17 shots on goal was a season-low, eclipsing the 21 they had in a 1-0 win at Philadelphia on Oct. 13.
“We didn’t have a ton of shots,” Carpenter said. “Fleury made some big saves for us, we capitalized on some chances. Starting the road trip like this definitely feels good and gives us some confidence.”
The Islanders failed to score on their lone power-play chance to fall to 1 for 28 over the last 12 games.
Blackhawks 6, Penguins 3
CHICAGO — Jonathan Toews had a goal and two assists, and the Blackhawks snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Marcus Kruger, Brent Seabrook, Andreas Martinsen, Brandon Saad each had a goal and an assist for Chicago. Alex DeBrincat scored a power-play goal, and Corey Crawford made 40 saves.
Toews became the 16th active player to reach 700 career points with the same franchise. He assisted on Saad’s empty-netter for his 701st point.
Kruger snapped a 3-all tie when he beat Casey DeSmith from the front of the crease 3:49 into the third period.
Bryan Rust scored three times for Pittsburgh in his second career hat trick. DeSmith blocked 23 shots in his sixth straight start.
Flames 6, Flyers 5, OT
CALGARY, Alberta — Johnny Gaudreau scored 35 seconds into overtime, lifting the Flames to the win.
Calgary trailed 5-3 before Sean Monahan and Rasmus Andersson scored in the final 68 seconds of third period. Gaudreau then secured the Flames’ sixth win in seven games with his 13th goal of the season.
Matthew Tkachuk had four assists for the Flames (20-10-2), who leapfrogged idle Nashville for the top spot in the Western Conference. Monahan had two goals and an assist, and Gaudreau and Mark Giordano each had a goal and two assists.
Philadelphia (12-13-4) lost for the third time in four games. Sean Couturier had two goals and an assist for the Flyers in his return to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. Travis Sanheim, James van Riemsdyk and Dale Weise also scored.
Ducks 6, Stars 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ondrej Kase scored three times for Anaheim in his first NHL hat trick, and Brandon Montour had four points in the third period.
Anaheim trailed 3-2 midway through the third before scoring three goals in a three-minute span for its fifth win in six games.
Kase pounced on a loose puck in front and put it past Ben Bishop at 10:45. Montour, who also had three assists, gave Anaheim the lead 81 seconds later when he had a wide-open net after Bishop was knocked down by one of his own players.
Miro Heiskanen, Blake Comeau and Alexander Radulov scored for Dallas, which has dropped its last two after winning four straight. Bishop made 30 saves.
