VANCOUVER: Marc Gatcomb scored 34 seconds after Vancouver had pulled within a goal, and the Vegas Golden Knights held off the Canucks 3-2 on Sunday at Rogers Arena.
Vegas improved to 2-1-0 on the young season. The Canucks fell to 2-2-0, according to NHL.com.
Paul Cotter gave Vancouver the lead on the power play at 18:52 of the first period, with Filip Hronek getting the assist. The Golden Knights took over in the second. Mitch Marner tied it at 9:01, assisted by Brayden McNabb, and Victor Olofsson put Vegas ahead on the power play at 14:30, with Mark Stone setting it up.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki cut the deficit to 2-1 at 17:54, unassisted. Gatcomb answered at 18:28, finishing a pass from Braeden Bowman, and that proved to be the winner. Neither team scored in the third period.
Vegas went 1-for-3 on the power play, and Vancouver was 1-for-2, per NHL.com. Adin Hill started in goal for the Golden Knights and Kevin Lankinen for the Canucks.
“For us to respond that quickly and tilt momentum in our favor was huge,” Gatcomb said, according to NHL.com.
Hill acknowledged the Canucks’ second goal. “Obviously, the second goal there, I got to have that one back, but the guys responded well,” he said, per NHL.com.
Cotter scored in his 300th NHL game and has points in four straight games, with four goals and two assists in that stretch. Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson also extended his point streak to four games, with two goals and four assists, NHL.com reported. Cotter praised the dressing room afterward. “We have a great group, very egoless. A lot of skill,” he said.
Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk missed the game with an illness and is expected to join the team’s upcoming road trip, according to NHL.com.
The result comes days after the Edmonton Oilers beat Vancouver 9-7 on Oct. 1 in the second game of their season-opening home-and-home series.
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Sources: NHL.com game recap, ESPN game listing. Photo: file photo of Bo Horvat in a Canucks uniform at Rogers Arena, February 2015, by Bure’s Triple Deke via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. It does not show this game.
