Tale of two games puts Golden Knights a point away from top seed

Vegas Golden Knights D Rasmus Andersson (4) points towards his teammate Vegas Golden Knights F Mark Stone (61) after Stone assisted on his goal against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, April 13, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

(RJ Forbus-The Sporting Tribune)

The 17,936-strong crowd at T-Mobile Arena must have felt like they were watching two different games. They witnessed a tight-checking, playoff-style game one moment, and then a wide-open barnburner the next.

All potential whiplash aside, what remains the case is that the Vegas Golden Knights are one point away from securing the top seed in the Pacific Division by virtue of a 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.

The first period played out more like a defensive showcase for the Golden Knights, who held the Jets to only three shots in the first 20 minutes.

“It was disjointed, we had a lot of pressure and didn’t score,” said Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella about the first period.

“Sometimes groups get impatient in the next period. They think they played well enough, but it’s still zero-zero. I think the shots were ten to eleven to three. I think the territorial advantage we pretty much had, but it’s still zero-zero. I think sometimes teams get impatient and that’s when they start opening themselves up. This is key for this group because they’re so well-versed in understanding those things.”

In the second, the Golden Knights would find a way in the most unlikely of circumstances. Taking advantage of a fortunate bounce off a referee, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone were able to get an odd-man rush going on the penalty kill. Stone would pick up Eichel’s pass for a one-timer that narrowly squeezed past Hellebuyck and crossed the goal line by mere inches.

The goal was Stone’s 10th shorthanded marker of his career, as well as his fifth in as many games.

“I break down the tape, and there is not too many other players on a team that gets to pucks quicker than he does. You know, he’s forechecking and he wins that battle,” said Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella about Stone.

“The subtle things in the game, that’s the guy you watch. And I’ve only coached against him. I’ve never been up close and personal when I’ve watched him play in these six or seven games, I’ve coached. He does so many little things great.”

It was a stroke of good fortune to remain ahead for the Golden Knights, who had no real chance to establish a rhythm in the second period with five penalties and needing to kill four Winnipeg power plays.

After the Golden Knights put pressure on Hellebuyck on their fourth power play of the game, Reilly Smith would make good on the chance. Smith, who was scratched in favor of Brandon Saad at points during the previous road trip, would tip a point shot from Noah Hanifin to double the Vegas lead just before the final minute of the second.

“I think it’s anytime you can establish shots,” said Hanifin about his team’s energy on the power play.

“It kind of breaks the kill down and I thought they did a good job of that. They made a lot of good plays. They have a great goalie here. That’s how you get them scrambling a bit.”

The third period would start with the Golden Knights coming out guns blazing. 31 seconds into the start of the final frame, Eichel would make an incredible behind-the-back pass to Ivan Barbashev to push the lead to 3-0. The goal was Barbashev’s seventh in the last nine games against the Jets.

“It’s a play we’ve run before. I think you get everyone kind of going one way and go back the other against the grain,” said Eichel.

“But it’s a great battle by him on the boards. He wins the puck and gets it low to me, and I kind of know where he is and he’s kind of hanging out in that that soft area. So kind of a bang bang play, and it was a big goal for us at the time.”

Gabriel Vilardi would cut the lead down to 3-1 after taking advantage of a penalty kill with a Golden Knight without their stick, deflecting a shot from Colin Miller to break Carter Hart’s shutout. Vilardi’s tally would be his 30th on the year, while Mark Scheifele would record his 100th point this season with the secondary assist.

The Golden Knights would quickly restore the three-goal lead thanks to a ‘bat out of hell’ type effort from Rasmus Andersson. The defenseman charged from the bench to the offensive zone before collecting a Stone feed to fire a laser past Hellebuyck on the short side.

“I’ve played with Rasmus for a long time. I’ve known him. He’s really dangerous when he gets moving up in the rush, and he has a phenomenal shot as well. So if he finds that soft ice and he’s coming in late, he’s really dangerous. We’re looking to continue to build on that,” said Hanifin about his defensive partner.

Scheifele would make it four goals in the first five minutes of the third with a tough angle shot, counting for the Jets center’s 101st point on the season.

However, Scheifele would suffer a cruel twist of fate with a double minor on a high stick of Andersson. Pavel Dorofeyev would make good on the first power play after the Jets penalty killers left him all alone by the right faceoff dot, giving him a clean lane for his 20th power play goal of the season. Then, Eichel would collect his first goal on the man advantage this season by taking advantage of some netfront chaos and firing the loose puck into the top corner.

“Sometimes it’s more so just getting a couple bounces. Obviously we get that that sort of thing on my goal, bounces off their guy’s stick or skate or whatever it was and kind of just on my tape,” said Eichel about his goal. “It’s just simplicity right? We win a couple battles at the blue line, and [Tomas Hertl] wins a battle down low.”

A few quality saves from Hart in the final minutes would close it out for Vegas, who have now won seven of eight games since Tortorella took over.

Five Golden Knights (Eichel, Stone, Barbashev, Hanifin, Andersson) would secure multi-point outings. Other milestones in the game would include Eichel’s fourth four-point game of the season, as well as Stone tying his career-high mark of 73 points.

With one point the sole difference to clinch the Pacific, it will come down to Game 82 for the Golden Knights on Wednesday against the Seattle Kraken.

“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 amount of points we had. But here we are,” said Eichel.

“It’s on us to go out there and do a job and try and win a hockey game…I don’t think anybody would be upset if you said that we won the division this year no matter how many points or wins it were accumulated. It’s been a season of ebbs and flows, but it seems like we’ve gotten things going in the right direction here.”