Raphael Lavoie’s first NHL goal was the go-ahead tally midway through the third period as the Vegas Golden Knights earned a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Braeden Bowman, William Karlsson and Jack Eichel also scored goals for Vegas, which snapped a season-high three-game losing streak (0-2-1). Adin Hill stopped 25 shots for the win.
Shane Pinto scored a goal and Jonas Johansson stopped 25 of 27 shots for Ottawa, which was playing the first game of a five-game road trip. The Senators have alternated wins and losses for eight games.
Ottawa, which outshot Vegas 11-4 in the opening period, nearly took a 1-0 lead at the start of the second period. However, Hill made a highlight-reel save on Tim Stutzle’s backdoor one-timer from the right side of the net, diving across the crease and sticking his arm out to block the shot.
Vegas jumped in front with 11 seconds remaining in the second period on a power-play goal by Bowman. He tapped in a rebound of an Ivan Barbashev shot in front of the crease. The score came just after Hill had raced out to the right circle to poke the puck away from Ridly Greig as he broke in on a breakaway.
Ottawa tied it 33 seconds into the third period on a power-play goal by Pinto. He went in on a breakaway and fired a wrist shot past Hill’s low glove side and inside the right post.
The Golden Knights regained the lead 2-1 at the 8:01 mark when Lavoie slammed in the rebound of a Nic Dowd shot inside the right post. Lavoie, 26, was playing in his 27th career NHL game, his 10th this season.
Vegas sealed the win with a pair of empty-net goals, the first by Karlsson on a breakaway with two minutes left, the second on Eichel’s backhand shot from the blue line with seven seconds to go.