Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone, right, celebrates his goal with defenseman Zach Whitecloud during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings Monday, April 12, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Published Monday, April 12, 2021 | 9:33 p.m.
Updated Monday, April 12, 2021 | 10:30 p.m.
It had been a while since the Golden Knights’ best scorers had done their thing. There had been a few empty-net goals sprinkled in, but Alex Tuch hadn’t beaten a goalie in 19 games, Mark Stone hadn’t in 11 games and Max Pacioretty hadn’t in nine.
Those are the players at the top of the Golden Knights’ scoring list and the ones they rely on to score, so it’s fitting that when the Golden Knights needed a few goals Monday, those three stepped up.
Stone scored the game-tying goal, Tuch put them ahead and Pacioretty added another as the Golden Knights erased a two-goal deficit and rallied to beat the Kings, 4-2 at Staples Center.
“We said in the coaches’ room after the game that the right guys got goals tonight for us,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “They take a lot of responsibility for the offensive results of our team and they take that personally and it weighs on them. The fact that they all got on the board tonight and looked good doing it, I think that’s important for them and for us.”
Stone’s goal shifted the momentum of the game and came at a time the Kings were looking to counterstrike. Nicolas Roy had just scored to trim the Kings’ lead to 2-1, and going to the power play in the final two minutes of the second period, Los Angeles could feel an opportunity to restore their two-goal lead.
Instead, Stone picked the perfect time for his first short-handed goal of the season. He first tried for a short-handed assist, springing Chandler Stephenson for a breakaway, but when Stephenson’s shot went wide he returned the favor and set Stone up for a breakaway of his own.
It tied the game with 27 seconds left in the period, giving the Golden Knights a jolt heading to intermission.
“I can’t go 10 games, 11 games without scoring a goal,” Stone said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself, I put a lot of pressure on our line, I put a lot of pressure on our top players. Those are the guys that are going to win you games.”
While Stone isn’t as known for his blazing speed and breakaway prowess, Tuch sure is. He collected a Los Angeles rebound in his own zone and went coast-to-coast for an unassisted tally. He hadn’t scored at all in 15 games but hadn’t beaten a goalie in 19, and the relief on his face was evident.
“It feels really good honestly, I can’t lie. It had been a while,” Tuch said. “I know I haven’t been scoring but I’ve been trying to work on other aspects of my game, and honestly I thought that gave me confidence throughout the entire game to get to the point where I scored.”
Pacioretty’s goal-scoring drought depends on how you define it. He did score on Friday into an empty net, but including that had just one in his last nine games. He also hadn’t scored on the power play in 13, so he made sure to pick up a milestone goal in his signature fashion.
On the man advantage in the third period, Pacioretty curled around the left-wing boards, collected a pass from Shea Theodore, took two steps and a small glide and fired a wrister through a Stone screen to put the Golden Knights up 4-2.
It was the 300th goal of his career, becoming the 21st American-born player to hit the 300-goal plateau.
“I thought after hitting three posts in the last game that maybe it would take a while to get it,” Pacioretty said. “Luckily I had a great screen from (Stone) and made it a lot easier. I told him I was looking for a tap-in tonight and that was pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to that.”
It’s something Vegas has been working on, both generating more movement and more traffic in front of the opposing goalie. It worked on Friday on a similar play, where Pacioretty, stationed on the left instead of his usual one-timer side on the right, fed a streaking Jonathan Marchessault for the goal.
This time the goal boiled down to what Pacioretty did best: snapping a missile on the power play. Stone was there to make sure goalie Cal Petersen didn’t see it, and that was all the Golden Knights needed to clinch a victory.
“It’s the best shot I’ve ever played with, probably the best goal-scorer I’m ever going to play with,” Stone said of Pacioretty. “You see on that goal, he tells me, ‘Just park it in front and I won’t hit you,’ and it’s scary sometimes but he doesn’t hit me.”
