Marner scores in OT, Golden Knights edge Kings for fourth straight win
Forward gets winner at 2:40, Connelly has first multipoint game for Vegas
By Paul Delos Santos
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
LAS VEGAS -- Mitch Marner scored at 2:40 of overtime and had an assist, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.
Marner collected a pass from Mark Stone following a face-off win in the offensive zone, glided into the high slot and buried a wrist shot glove side for his first overtime winner with Vegas.
“Just effort off the draw. It came back up to me,” Marner said. “Saw a gap going downhill, took the ice up ahead and got the shot off.”
Trevor Connelly had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game in the NHL, and Stone had two assists for the Golden Knights (5-1-0), who have won four in a row. Carter Hart made 26 saves.
“We just stick with it. Our game is as good as anybody when we play our game,” Hart said. “Their goalie made some big saves, and we just stuck with it, and Mitch scored a big goal."
Artemi Panarin scored for the Kings (0-2-2), and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves.
“We’re competitors in here. We hate losing, and we want to win,” Kuemper said. “We got to use that fuel the right way. Not going on our own pages, but use it as motivation to find that extra gear and extra level out to be difference-makers out there and find wins."
Connelly one-timed a cross-ice pass from Stone on the power play at 2:28 of the second period to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
“It’s a shooter’s spot because of how our power play is set up,” Vegas coach Ryan Craig said. “Trevor can make plays there. We’ve seen it a few times. That’s what we want him to do. Those four guys support him 100 percent with what’s he’s doing there. He can’t just be a shooter. We have to recover pucks and look to attack.”
Panarin tied it 1-1 at 6:21 with a wrist shot from the high slot that went in off the left post through traffic.
“Coming back getting that power-play goal to make it 1-1 was big,” Los Angeles coach Peter Laviolette said. “It wasn’t our best period, I thought we were really good in the first. Good in the third, even looks in overtime that we could have won it. It just didn’t happen.”
The Kings had a 5-on-3 opportunity for 1:31 late in the first period, but only managed three shots on goal.
“We needed quicker movement, more of a shot mentality in that 5-on-3,” Laviolette said. “We came back and got set in a period that wasn’t going our way. They were up, scoring a power-play goal. We came back with a power-play goal. It’s 1-1 deep into the game.”
NOTES: Marner's overtime goal was his eighth in the NHL. ... Jack Eichel had his season-opening point streak end at five games (three goals, nine assists). ... Panarin became the second Kings player in the past 25 years to score in each of the team’s first three road games of a season, joining Gabriel Vilardi (three games in 2022-23). ... Jared Wright had three shots on goal in 10:24 of ice time in his season debut for Los Angeles. The 23-year-old forward signed a two-year contract on Saturday. ... Kings forward Andre Lee had one shot on goal and one hit in 10:47 of ice time in his return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past two games. ... Los Angeles forwards Mats Zuccarello (upper body) and Alex Turcotte (undisclosed) were both placed on injured reserve Saturday.
