Knights beat Utah in OT to stay excellent at dwelling

Brett Howden scored at 2:15 of overtime as the Vegas Golden Knights remained unbeaten at home with a 4-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Howden took a pass from Noah Hanifin at the bottom of the left circle, deked around Alexander Kerfoot and then cut in front of the net and beat Connor Ingram with a backhand shot on his glove side for the game-winner.

Hanifin finished with a goal and two assists, Howden had a goal and an assist and William Karlsson and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for Vegas, which tied its franchise record with its eighth straight home win (8-0-0), tying the mark set in its inaugural season of 2017-18.

Adin Hill made 16 saves for the Golden Knights, who broke a first-place tie with the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division with the win.

Logan Cooley had a goal and an assist, Nick Bjugstad had two assists and Ian Cole and Alexander Kerfoot also scored for Utah, which suffered its fifth loss in the last six games. Ingram finished with 31 saves.

Utah took a 1-0 lead at the 11:52 mark of the first period on Cooley’s one-timer from the left circle off a Bjugstad pass into the top far corner. It was Cooley’s second goal and came on just one of three first-period shots by the visitors.

Utah increased its lead to 2-0 midway through the second period on Cole’s first goal, a wrist shot from the left circle that flew past Hill’s glove and caromed in off Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague, who was jostling with Dylan Guenther near the left post.

Dorofeyev cut the lead to 2-1 when he put in a wrist shot off a Tomas Hertl crossing pass into a wide-open right side of the net for his seventh goal and third in the last two games.

Hanifin tied it, 2-2, with just a second to go in the period when he chipped in a rebound of a Nicolas Roy shot inside the left post for his first goal.

Karlsson then gave Vegas its first lead at the 5:37 mark of the third period when he finished an odd-man rush with a backhand shot from the right circle that beat Ingram five-hole for his second goal.

Kerfoot tied it, 3-3, at the 13:10 mark with his second goal, tapping in a rebound of a Bjugstad shot.

–Field Level Media