Golden Knights strike fast, beat Blues 4-2

ST. LOUIS — It only took 19 seconds to see how Thursday’s game was going to unfold.

Mark Stone intercepted the puck from Cam Fowler and scored a goal in the first 19 seconds of the game as the Vegas Golden Knights went on to defeat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Jan. 23 at the Enterprise Center.

The win for Vegas snapped a four-game skid and split a home-and-home series with St. Louis. The Golden Knights, two years removed from winning the Stanley Cup, maintain their Pacific Division lead.

“That’s a championship team,” Blues head coach Jim Montgomery said of Vegas. “Most of the guys on that roster won a Stanley Cup, and they came out and they show why. It’s a great opportunity for us to learn from them and realize there’s another level or two levels for us to grow to.”

Victor Olofsson also scored in the first period for Vegas before the Blues struck back with Jordan Kyrou’s team-leading 21st goal. The Blues only took four shots on goal in the opening period.

The Blues continued to struggle with shot selection in the second period while the Golden Knights added to their lead with a goal from Pavel Dorofeyev, his team-high 21st of the season.

The Golden Knights outshot the Blues 24-8 entering the third period.

“They won a lot of puck battles versus us,” Montgomery said. “We were something like 23 percent in the second period and that’s the period where I thought the game really got away from us. I know the first period wasn’t great either, but we were winning battles. We had some bad turnovers in the first but the second period and the third period were 50-50 puck battles. Their support and their determination on pucks, stronger on pucks, was very evident.”

The Blues took the goalie out with four minutes left in the game to provide maximum pressure offensively. It paid off when Robert Thomas scored his first goal since Jan. 9.

Vegas eventually found the empty net on a last-minute goal from Tomas Hertl to secure the win. Hertl has scored in each of his last four games and has six goals and five assists over a seven-game point streak.

Ilya Samsonov made 15 saves for the Knights while Joel Hofer made 27 saves for the Blues.

The Blues return to home ice to host the Dallas Stars on Saturday, Jan. 25, and the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, Jan. 27. For a team that is within a point of the second Western Conference wild-card spot, the Blues have not done a good job at controlling home ice, as they are 11-11-1 at home.

“That’s a big thing, and I think we have a good little stretch here,” Blues defender Colton Parayko said. “We got some good teams coming in, a lot of Western Conference teams too. So it’s an opportunity for us to try to win some home games.”