Hill makes 29 saves, Golden Knights score 5 in win against Maple Leafs

Adin Hill made 29 saves – including 16 in the first period – for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at T-Mobile Arena.

Tomas Hertl, Noah Hanifin, Jack Eichel, and Tanner Pearson each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (37-18-6), who have won three in a row.

“Whether it’s our forwards going, our D going or the goalies going, we all kind of feed off of it,” Hill said. “Every position is important out there, and when the whole team is rolling, it has that snowball effect. It’s good to see.”

Auston Matthews scored to extend his point streak to 11 games (three goals, 12 assists) for the Maple Leafs (38-21-3), who had points in six straight games (5-0-1). Joseph Woll allowed three goals on seven shots before being relieved by Anthony Stolarz at 15:03 of the first period, who made 16 saves.

“Our intentions were right in the first period,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “We had chances. … You can’t give a team like that five odd-man rushes in the first period. That’s what I think of it. You’ve got to have a better structure. The guy’s got to reload hard and give up odd-man rushes like we did in the first period. It costs a lot.”

The Golden Knights scored the game’s first five goals.

“We were able to finish, so now they’re chasing the game,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “When you play good teams in this league and you start chasing the game, you can get yourself in trouble if they’re dialed in. We were. They got themselves in trouble, right, so we started getting some looks and even we’re able to extend it even more in the second.”

Hertl gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the first period when he one-timed a rebound at the left post after Brandon Saad’s backhand was turned away by Woll.

Brett Howden made it 2-0 at 11:18 with a backhand from the right circle that went underneath Woll’s right arm.

Eichel one-timed a Hanifin pass at 15:03 on the power play to give the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead.

Hanifin scored from the high slot 17 seconds into the second period to push it to 4-0, and Pearson made it 5-0 at 13:33 when he stuffed in a loose puck in the crease.

“I took the shovel out on that one,” Pearson said. “I saw the puck kind of laying there. I didn’t hear a whistle, so I figured I’d give it another stab at it.”

Matthews collected his own rebound and scored from below the right circle on the power play to make it 5-1 at 18:01.

Marner took the puck off Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo’s stick in the high slot and beat Hill with a wrist shot for the 5-2 final at 13:27 of the third.

“We were pretty flat at the start,” Matthews said. “That’s a good team over there. They’re the standard of the League. I just don’t think we really came out ready to play. Maybe we were hoping for an easy game. They’re a good team. They play all four lines. They all play similarly. They compete and they don’t make it easy on you. That’s on us. It’s a good wake-up call for us.”

Morning Skate

Game Highlights

Post-Game