The Vegas Golden Knights overcame a three-goal hole in the first period to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in a shootout Thursday at T-Mobile Arena. Rookie Trevor Connelly scored the decisive goal in the fifth round of the shootout, while Braeden Bowman also converted and goaltender Adin Hill stopped four of five attempts.
Toronto struck quickly, taking a 3-0 lead within the first nine minutes on goals from Jack Roslovic, Easton Cowan and Nick Paul. Hill, who allowed the early goals, settled in to finish with 21 saves. Maple Leafs goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 40 stops.
The Knights' comeback began with a Mark Stone slapshot late in the first period. Brett Howden cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the second, and Jack Eichel tied it moments later by converting a penalty shot — the seventh successful penalty shot in franchise history. Vegas dominated the second period with a 21-8 shots advantage.
Eichel added an assist to finish with a goal and a helper, extending his league-leading point total to 10. The victory marked the third straight for the Knights (4-1-0), who played their first game without leading goal scorer Victor Olofsson. He is considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury suffered Tuesday against Seattle.
The announced attendance of 15,977 was the first non-sellout in the team's regular-season or postseason history at T-Mobile Arena.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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