Pavel Dorofeyev scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 3:11 left and Victor Olofsson had two goals to boost the visiting Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
William Karlsson earned three assists and Mark Stone had a goal and assist as the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (44-20-8, 96 points) stretched their winning streak to five games. Brett Howden also scored and Adin Hill stopped 18 shots for Vegas, which moved seven points ahead of the second-place Los Angeles Kings.
Chicago (21-43-9, 51 points) remained afloat behind Ryan Donato’s first career hat trick. Ilya Mikheyev had two assists and Spencer Knight made 17 saves as the Blackhawks took their ninth loss in 10 games (1-8-1).
The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead at 16:15 of the first period as Donato converted a second chance off a breakaway created by Ethan Del Mastro.
Stone and Olofsson scored 53 seconds apart in the second period to give Vegas a 2-1 lead. The flurry followed a superb save from Hill to deny Mikheyev on a breakaway.
Ivan Barbashev hit the crossbar moments later and the Golden Knights kept the puck in the zone, with Stone collecting a Barbashev pass to beat Knight with a wrist shot from the left circle at 6:41.
Olofsson netted his first goal in 21 games soon after, finishing a two-on-one opportunity with Karlsson.
Vegas led for about nine minutes before Donato scored the equalizer at 16:14 during a delayed penalty. With Chicago skating six-on-five, a crisp passing sequence set up Donato with a wrist shot from the low left circle.
The Blackhawks displayed more savvy passing on Donato’s go-ahead goal 15 seconds later. Connor Bedard weaved into the neutral zone and sent a drop pass to Mikheyev, who fed Donato for a slap shot from the right circle.
Vegas tied the game 2:06 into the third period on a long Olofsson wrist shot off a chip pass from Reilly Smith. The Golden Knights regained the lead for good when Dorofeyev finished a one-timer from Noah Hanifin on a power play at 16:49.
Howden’s empty-net goal capped the scoring with 44 seconds to go.
Olofsson has scored eight goals in 10 career games against the Blackhawks.
–Field Level Media
