Knights finish successful road trip with 4-1 win over Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. — As the Vegas Golden Knights got on their flight to Boston a week ago, they did so with two key concerns.

One was their goaltending. The other was the team’s penalty kill.

A week and four games later, the Knights returned to Las Vegas with both concerns answered, at least for the time being.

They got excellent goaltending from both Carter Hart and Adin Hill. The penalty kill was successful in 14 out of 15 attempts, the lone goal against coming during a five-minute major assessed to Braeden Bowman against the Bruins.

The result? A three-game road win streak and seven out of a possible eight points on the four-game trip that wrapped up at KeyBank Center Sunday with a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

“It’s nice to see our guys get rewarded,” head coach ryan Craig said. “It starts with the goaltending. Both our guys played well on the trip. And I thought we elevated our level of play during the trip.”

Hill was outstanding Sunday, particularly in the first period as Buffalo had the Knights on their heels and had 15 shots at Hill. But he stood tall in his crease and it enabled Vegas to settle in, find its game and eventually take over.

The Knights were a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and a second-period shorthanded breakaway goal from Mitch Marner gave them a 1-0 lead. Marner would assist the first of Tomas Hertl’s two goals, for what would be his 100th point in a VGK sweater. Marner needed just 98 games to accomplish the feat making him the fastest to the century mark in team history.

Eighty-six seconds later, Jack Eichel made it 2-0 as Ivan Barbashev had just come out of the penalty box, got the puck, saw Eichel open and dished it to him. Eichel finished the play, beating Colten Ellis.

Hertl then took care of things in the final 20 minutes. The Sabres had cut it to 2-1 off a scramble in front of Hill as Beck Malenstyn was credited with the tally. Hertl answered shortly after to restore the two-goal edge as he beat Ellis high to the glove side 5:43 into the period.

At the halfway point of the third, Hertl finished things as he cruised the slot, took a great feed from Barbashev and made it 4-1. Turned out they didn’t need Trevor Connelly’s offense Sunday after the rookie had scored in three straight games.

But of bigger concern is the health of defenseman Noah Hanifin, who took a hard hit into the boards from Buffalo’s Tyson Kozak with 12:09 remaining in the third period and did not return. Craig didn’t have an update on Hanfin following the game.

Hill would stop 28 of the 29 shots he faced to improve to 7-2 as the Knights finished the trip in workmanlike fashion. They allowed just six goals in the four games.

“For me, we’re finding different ways to win games, which is important,” Craig said. “Our execution rose as we went through the trip and our level continues to climb.”

Now, they return to T-Mobile Arena for their longest homestand of the year, a five-game run that begins Wednesday against Utah. Vegas sits in second place in the Pacific Division with 26 points, one behind first-place Edmonton.

“It was a long trip,” Barbashev said. “I think everyone is looking forward to getting home and keep the momentum going.”