The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the struggling Detroit Red Wings 5-3 on Saturday night in Las Vegas, capping a four-game losing streak with a hat trick from Jonathan Marchessault, which included the game-winning goal with 2:44 remaining.
Marchessault’s third of the season and eighth of his career came from that hat trick. With 35 goals, he is the team leader.
Vegas won for just the second time in nine games (2-6-1) and ended a five-game home losing streak. Jack Eichel had three assists, Brayden McNabb and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored goals, and Noah Hanifin and Ivan Barbashev each contributed two assists.
The Golden Knights’ three-game losing streak was ended by Adin Hill, who made 23 saves.
For Detroit, which has dropped a record-tying five straight games, Michael Rasmussen not only scored a goal and an assist but also set up goals for Shayne Gostisbehere and J.T. Compher. James Reimer finished with 31 saves, while David Perron and Moritz Seider each contributed two assists.
At 9:08 in the first period, Dorofeyev’s wrister from the top of the slot past traffic and Reimer’s pads for his eighth goal of the year gave Vegas a 1-0 lead. It was the first time the Golden Knights had led in a game in five encounters.
Marchessault scored the second goal of the game when he one-timed an Eichel pass past Reimer’s blocker side from the left circle.
With 28 seconds remaining in the period, Rasmussen, playing the second half of a back-to-back that started with a 4-0 loss at Arizona on Friday, deflected Seider’s shot from the left point past Hill’s glove side for his 13th goal, cutting the lead to 2-1 for Detroit.
Jonathan Marchessault racks up hat trick as Knights beat Wings Jonathan Marchessault racks up hat trick as Knights beat Wings Originally posted on Field Level Media | Last updated 3/10/2Originally posted on Field Level Media | Last updated 3/10/2
With his 16th goal of the game, Compher tied the score early in the third period by deflecting a wrist shot from Seider that was just inside the blue line inside the left post.
At 10:07, McNabb scored his first goal in 35 games, making it 3-2 after his wrist shot from the high slot deflected off Seider’s back and hit the crossbar.
In just 37 seconds, Gostisbehere’s 10th goal tied the score for Detroit when he backhanded in a rebound from a Compher shot.
Then, Marchessault scored on a rebound of an Eichel shot to put the Golden Knights ahead 4-3.
With two minutes remaining, Detroit pulled Reimer to make room for an extra attacker. With 1:07 left, Marchessault completed his hat trick and sealed the victory.