Reilly Smith scored the go-ahead goal with 3:38 remaining as the Vegas Golden Knights snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the host Dallas Stars on Sunday night.
Smith, a healthy scratch the previous five games, swatted in a rebound of Mitch Marner shot from the right side of the crease into the top right corner of the net for the game-winner.
Brayden McNabb and Ivan Barbashev also scored goals and Adin Hill finished with 13 saves for Vegas (32-25-14, 78 points), which with the win, leapfrogged idle Edmonton into second place in Pacific Division.
Wyatt Johnston set a franchise single-season record with his 23rd power-play goal and Justin Hryckowian also scored for Dallas (43-16-11, 97 points), which suffered just its second regulation in the last 19 games (15-2-2). Casey DeSmith made 30 saves for the Stars, who had a four-game win streak against the Golden Knights snapped.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead early in the first period when McNabb made an end-to-end rush up the middle of the ice and flipped a wrist shot past DeSmith’s glove side.
Dallas tied it midway through the period on Johnston’s power-play goal, a one-timer from the slot off a Matt Duchene pass past Hill’s blocker side. He broke the franchise single-season record set by Dino Ciccarelli in 1986-87 with the Minnesota North Stars.
The Stars took a 2-1 lead near the end of the period when Hryckowian wrapped a rebound of a Colin Blackwell shot around Hill’s right pad.
The Golden Knights tied it midway through the second period on a power-play goal by Barbashev, who roofed a tight-angle shot from just above the right goal-line over DeSmith’s glove and into the top far corner, setting the stage for Smith’s game-winner.
Vegas finished with a 33-15 edge in shots on goal and held the Stars without a shot on goal over the final 14:46 of the second period, including killing off a four-minute power-play when Jack Eichel was sent off for a high-sticking penalty on Mavrik Bourque.
