Lavoie’s first goal lifts Golden Knights past Senators 4-1

LAS VEGAS – Raphael Lavoie scored his first NHL goal and Adin Hill made 25 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Tuesday night, ending a three-game losing streak.

Braeden Bowman, William Karlsson and Jack Eichel also scored for Vegas, which improved to 9-4-1. Karlsson and Eichel added empty-net goals in the final two minutes.

Shane Pinto scored on the power play for Ottawa (8-5-0), which had beaten the New York Rangers 7-4 on Saturday. Jonas Johansson made 25 saves.

Bowman put Vegas ahead on the power play with 11 seconds left in the second period. Pinto tied it 34 seconds into the third, also with the man advantage, with an assist from Drake Batherson, who extended his point streak to five games.

Lavoie broke the tie at 8:01 of the third period, with assists to Nic Dowd and Ville Heinola. Karlsson scored into an empty net at 18:00, with Mitch Marner collecting an assist, and Eichel added another empty-netter with seven seconds left.

Hill started in place of Carter Hart, who was injured at the morning skate, according to NHL.com. Lavoie said he had not expected to be in the lineup.

“I wasn’t thinking of playing tonight,” Lavoie said after learning he was playing shortly before leaving for the rink.

Pinto said the Senators had chances. “We had our chances, just didn’t convert,” he said.

Senators coach Travis Green noted the closeness of the game. “It’s a 2-1 game with two empty-netters. Pretty good,” Green said. Vegas coach Ryan Craig praised his goaltender: “‘Hilly’ was real good,” Craig said.

Marner returned to the Vegas lineup after missing two games for the birth of his son. He had an assist and played 21:40. Vegas outshot Ottawa 29-26.

Via NHL.com and ESPN.

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