(© Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)

On Monday, the Vegas Golden Knights hosted the Winnipeg Jets in the penultimate game of the 2025-26 regular season. In an all-important game in the battle for control of the Pacific Division, they came to play. They took advantage of a much weaker Jets team and, aided by a four-goal third period, rolled to a 6-2 victory.

Right from puck drop, the Golden Knights established themselves as the better team. They generated five high-danger scoring chances while holding Winnipeg to one, and controlled 86.81% of the expected goal share.

“We had a lot of pressure, but didn’t score,” said Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella postgame. “I think the shots were eleven to three, but it’s still zero-zero. I think sometimes teams get impatient, and that’s when they start opening themselves up… They just kept on point, and we found a way to score some goals.”

In the second period, the Golden Knights kept up their dominant play and capitalized on a few of their chances. They outshot the Jets 16-10 and generated 17 scoring chances.

The Golden Knights broke the ice at 7:38 in the second. Jack Eichel stripped the puck from Mark Scheifele and took off up ice in a 2-on-1 with Mark Stone. Eichel got the pass across, and Stone ripped it home for the 10th short-handed goal of his career.

The Golden Knights doubled their lead just as the penalty expired. Noah Hanifin fired a wrister from the point, and Reilly Smith redirected it home.

The wheels came off in the third period, with five goals scored in the first six minutes. The Golden Knights outshot the Jets 12-10, and both teams combined for 23 scoring chances.

The Golden Knights extended their lead just 31 seconds into the third. As he circled the wagon, Jack Eichel backhanded a drop-pass to Ivan Barbashev, who slammed the puck into the empty net.

The Jets got on the board at 2:34 in the third. Colin Miller fired a shot-pass to Gabe Vilardi at the goal line, who redirected it home.

The Golden Knights restored their three-goal lead just 1:03 later. Ivan Barbashev caught up to Brayden McNabb’s stretch pass and entered the zone. Barbashev left the puck for Mark Stone, who pulled up and threaded a cross-ice pass to Rasmus Andersson. Andersson flew deeper into the zone and wired a shot past Connor Hellebuyck.

The Jets answered back at 4:41 in the third. Mark Scheifele forced a turnover, and Gabe Vilardi threaded a pass to Kyle Connor, who was all alone in the slot. Carter Hart kicked out Connor’s wrister, but Scheifele banged in the rebound.

Scheifele took a high-sticking double minor just 24 seconds later, and the Golden Knights put the game away on the ensuing power play.

The Golden Knights restored their three-goal lead at 5:42 in the third period. After playing catch with Jack Eichel, Mark Stone found Pavel Dorofeyev all alone in the right dot. Dorofeyev dusted off the puck, picked his spot, and beat Connor Hellebuyck far-side.

The Golden Knights tacked on a sixth goal at 7:38 in the third. The puck took a hop off Dylan DeMelo over to Jack Eichel right in front of the net, and Eichel fired home his first power-play goal of the season.

“They’re joining together at the right time here,” said Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella after the 6-2 win. “They have a strong belief that they can play. So hopefully that’ll continue, bring us through our next game, and then get us ready for the real stuff.”

Three Takeaways of the Knight

1. As Jack Eichel pointed out, the Golden Knights’ power play hasn’t been cold over the past 10 games. However, it has been lukewarm at best. Tonight’s game was a penalty fest from start to finish, with 32 total PIMs– a perfect time for the dam to break. The Golden Knights went 2-for-7 on the power play, with both goals coming on the double minor right after the Jets scored their second goal of the game.

“You want to generate chances and momentum,” said Jack Eichel following the 6-2 win. “It seems like sometimes we’re struggling to get set up and kind of getting pushed out of the zone… There was some simplicity to it tonight. I think we just won a few battles, and were able to get a couple of shots, recover pucks, and move it around quickly.”

2. Towards the end of the second period, the Golden Knights scored a goal just 9 seconds after another power play expired. In the 1:54 leading up to Reilly Smith’s goal, the Golden Knights fired off 10 shot attempts. Seven of those ended up on goal, and three were blocked– two by Jets captain Adam Lowry, and one by Ivan Barbashev.

According to Golden Knights head coach John Tortarella, that shot-first mentality has been a point of emphasis.

“We sometimes try to pass the puck into the net,” Tortorella said. “We’re trying to concentrate not just on the power play but five-on-five, trying to sift more pucks to the net and not overpass. There’s a fine line there because there are a number of skilled players on this hockey team. We certainly want to let them make plays, but there are certain times you can just put it in the paint.”

3. Don’t look now, but the Golden Knights have a very real chance of winning the Division. If they secure one point in Wednesday’s game against the Seattle Kraken, they lock up first in the Pillow Fight– er, Pacific Division.

“I don’t think any of us would have expected to head into the last game of the year with the chance to win the division with the number of points we had– but here we are. It’s on us to go out there and do a job and try to win a hockey game,” said Jack Eichel. “I don’t think anybody would be upset if you said that we won the division this year.”