Ivan Barbashev had a goal and assist as the Vegas Golden Knights handed the Carolina Hurricanes their first loss of the season, 4-1 on Monday night in Las Vegas.
Jack Eichel, Pavel Dorofeyev and William Karlsson also scored goals and Mitch Marner had two assists for Vegas, which earned its fourth straight victory.
Golden Knights goalie Akira Schmid, who came on for the injured Adin Hill midway through the first period, stopped 22 of 23 shots to improve to 4-0-0. Hill, who had to be helped off due to a left leg injury sustained while stretching his left leg pad attempting to make a save on an Alexander Nikishin shot, made four saves.
Sebastian Aho scored a goal and Frederik Andersen finished with 21 saves for Carolina, which was playing the fourth game of a season-high six-game road trip. The Hurricanes had been the NHL’s last unbeaten team.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 8:42 mark of the first period when Eichel was credited with his sixth goal of the season. Eichel was attempting to make a crossing pass from the bottom of the right circle for Barbashev by the far post, but Carolina defenseman K’Andre Miller, trying to block the pass with his stick, instead redirected the puck though Andersen’s pads.
A little over a minute later, Hill left the game after landing face down trying to stop a Nikishin’s wrist shot that was blocked by Zach Whitecloud. Hill was then helped off the ice and back to the locker room.
The Golden Knights then made it 2-0 midway through the period. Dorofeyev gathered a Marner saucer pass, cut in front of the crease and slid a one-handed backhand shot around Andersen’s left pad for his seventh goal. Marner picked up an assist on the play, his 750th career point.
Carolina took advantage of a poor Vegas line change to cut the deficit to 2-1 early in the second period. Aho finished an odd-man rush with a wrist shot from the middle of the right circle that went through the legs of defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and under Schmid’s right arm for his second goal.
Vegas extended the lead to 3-1 midway through the third period when Barbashev stole the puck from Miller inside the Carolina blue line and then broke in and fired a wrist shot past Andersen’s blocker side for his third goal.
The Hurricanes pulled Andersen for an extra attacker with 2:29 remaining, and Karlsson sealed the win by finding the empty net with 1:37 to go.
