Mark Stone sets tone in Golden Knights win over Blues

By Justin Emerson

Published Monday, March 22, 2021 | 3 p.m.

Updated Monday, March 22, 2021 | 9:31 p.m.

When in need of a big goal, turn to the captain.

Vegas forward Mark Stone scored the go-ahead goal in the third period Monday, opening the floodgates and helping the Golden Knights take down the St. Louis Blues 5-1 at T-Mobile Arena.

His second goal later in the period gave him 12 on the season, and his three-point night gave him 38 on the year. His point total leads the team and is second in the West Division.

The Golden Knights have historically struggled against the Blues, but have won their last three meetings and have at least a point in all four this season.

Monday's game was another close game between them, and it was tied heading to the third before Stone's goal.

On it, Stone initially tried to pass the puck, but it bounced off a Blues defender and back to him. He took a shot on the second go-round, and it bounced off a different defender and into the net. It gave Vegas a 2-1 lead 80 seconds into the the third period, a lead it would not surrender.

Stone's goal put the Golden Knights on top, and Keegan Kolesar and William Karlsson made sure it stayed that way. Kolesar potted the first of his career at the 11:19 mark and William Karlsson scored on the power play at 14:56.

Vegas scored first in the contest, a seeing-eye goal by Jonathan Marchessault in the first period. St. Louis scored in the second on a Vince Dunn snipe, and the rest of the game was a strong defensive outing by the Golden Knights.

The Golden Knights led in shots on goal for the game 32-16, tied for the fewest shots allowed in a game this season.

Golden Knights, Blues tied heading to 3rd period

The Golden Knights were the better team through two periods against the St. Louis Blues on Monday. The scoreboard just didn't reflect it,

St. Louis scored the only goal of the second period to tie the game, and send the contest to the second intermission in a 1-1 draw at T-Mobile Arena.

Robin Lehner initially denied Vladimir Tarasenko's wrap-around attempt early in the period, but the rebound kicked out to a pinching Vince Dunn. He walked in and roofed it from the left faceoff circle through traffic that may have included a screen on Lehner. It came at 6:42 of the second and tied the game 1-1.

The Golden Knights continued to control puck possession, including a nearly flawless shift form the fourth line midway through the frame where Patrick Brown, William Carrier and Ryan Reaves spent their entire shift in the offensive zone. They only generated two shot attempts, both wide of the net, but kept the puck in the St. Louis end and allowed Vegas almost a full line change without losing the zone.

At one point, Vegas held the Blues without a shot for 7:28 of game time. Even a late Blues power play came and went without any danger.

The Golden Knights had one last chance to score at the end of the period, when defenseman Shea Theodore showed off some slick stickwork to dance through defenders and to the net, but goalie Jordan Binnington denied him with 27 seconds left in the period.

Vegas led in shots on goal 20-13 through two periods.

Golden Knights jump over Blues in 1st period

The Golden Knights may have played yesterday, but they made the Blues look like the tired ones through the first period.

Vegas was all over St. Louis early, and Jonathan Marchessault's goal put the Golden Knights up 1-0 after a period at T-Mobile Arena on Monday.

The Golden Knights had a great opportunity about six minutes into the first, where Reilly Smith and Nicolas Hague each had multiple looks at the net. Smith's was the best chance, as his one-timer pulled St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington way out of the crease, and only a few blocked shots kept the puck from getting by a sprawling Binnington.

Minutes later Alex Tuch followed up with two chances of his own, including his second one going off the crossbar and out of play. Shots on goal were only 2-1 in the Golden Knights' favor eight minutes in, but they led 9-5 in shot attempts and 5-3 in scoring chances.

All that pressure and it was a faceoff play that put Vegas on top early. William Karlsson won the draw and kicked it out to Marchessault, whose low shot snuck by Binnington and into the net at the 8:41 mark of the period.

Vegas led 13-6 in shots on goal after the period.

Pre-game

It feels like every time the Golden Knights and Blues get together, something bananas happens.

There was Vegas' two-goal comeback before a shootout loss in January, a two-goal lead turned into a comeback overtime victory two weeks ago and the 6-4 round-robin game in the postseason bubble, and that's just in the last calendar year.

Six out of the 12 all-time meetings in the regular season have gone to overtime, and considering that both teams will be playing their third game in four nights when they meet at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena, there's no reason to think this game won't be weird too.

"Our games always end up like that. I don't see tonight being any different," defenseman Shea Theodore said. "Coming off a back-to-back, it's going to be a tough game for our group, but I think if we're mentally and physically ready for it then it will be just fine."

The Golden Knights dropped a 3-1 decision in Los Angeles on Sunday after playing on Friday. The Blues played back-to-back games Friday and Saturday before tonight's game, a rescheduled version of the postponed Jan. 28 game.

While the Golden Knights have avoided an overly taxing schedule to this point, thanks in part due to multiple postponed games, the bill is coming due. They played their first 28 games of the season in 65 days. The final 28 are scheduled to be played in 50 days.

Even on "rest" days the players can hardly rest. Coach Pete DeBoer noted how today's optional morning skate still required all the players to come in for COVID-19 testing. The grind is physical with all the games, but mental as well.

"It was an earlier game (Sunday) so we got back at a decent hour so you can get a good amount of sleep," forward Keegan Kolesar said. "Personally for me I have a set routine of things I like to do to get ready for a game, so coming in this morning I was able to do it and feel pretty good."

The amount of hockey coming up also leads to the coaching staff wanting to rotate in new players, whenever possible. Vegas has already used 27 players this season and only six have played other games. While not naming anyone, DeBoer intimated he may shake up the lineup after Sunday's game.

"We're just trying to manage their schedule the best we can to get them to the rink with as much energy," DeBoer said. "We're going to look at lineup options in order to maybe throw in some fresh legs and some guys who can bring us a little bit of that energy."

The Golden Knights do have Tuesday and Wednesday off from games, the last time this season they'll have more than one day between games.

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-135, Blues plus-115; over/under: 5.5 (minus-120, EVEN)

Golden Knights (21-7-1, 43 points; 1st place, West Division)

Coach: Peter DeBoer (second season)

Points leader: Mark Stone (35)

Goals leader: Max Pacioretty (16)

Assists leader: Mark Stone (25)

Expected goalie: Robin Lehner (2.80 GAA, .894 save percentage)

Blues (16-10-5, 37 points; t-3rd place, West Division)

Coach: Craig Berube (third season)

Points leader: David Perron (33)

Goals leaders: David Perron, Brayden Schenn (12)

Assists leaders: Ryan O'Reilly, David Perron (21)

Expected goalie: Jordan Binnington (2.72 GAA, .907 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Alex Tuch—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Nicolas Roy—Tomas Nosek—Cody Glass

William Carrier—Keegan Kolesar—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Alec Martinez—Shea Theodore

Brayden McNabb—Dylan Coghlan

Nicolas Hague—Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Robin Lehner, Marc-Andre Fleury