Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist, William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Maple Leafs 6-2 on Tuesday night to snap Toronto’s seven-game winning streak.
Ivan Barbashev and Mason Morelli scored just more than three minutes apart in the second period to build a 2-0 lead for Vegas, who got 28 saves from Adin Hill. Nicolas Roy added a late goal and Shea Theodore had three assists.
Without injured captain Mark Stone and center Jack Eichel, the Knights ended a three-game slide of their own that included Thursday’s 7-3 home loss to the Leafs.
Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA Today
“The leaders and the guys who’ve been in the league for a while now, we’ve all got to step up,” Barbashev said. “Hopefully today was a turnaround for us.”
Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Reaves scored for Toronto and Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 shots.
“Brought their game to a different level,” Leafs captain John Tavares said of Vegas. “We just made too many mistakes and just didn’t earn enough opportunities.”
The Knights opened the scoring 9 minutes, 11 seconds into the second period.
Barbashev took a pass from former Leafs winger Michael Amadio before beating Samsonov with a nice move to the forehand for his 14th goal of the season.
Morelli, a 28-year-old playing just his fifth NHL game, then tipped Theodore’s point shot for his second at 12:20.
“Same team, same guys... I guess those guys more wanna win today,” Samsonov said. “Those guys come to the net — good screen, good tip-in, rebounds. That what’s different.”
Hill stood tall on Toronto’s first power play later in the period, including a chance off the stick of Auston Matthews, but Bertuzzi, who had a hat-trick in Saturday’s 4-3 victory over Colorado Avalanche, fooled the goaltender at 17 minutes, 45 seconds through the pads for his 11th.
The defending Stanley Cup champions got that one back with 48.8 seconds remaining in the second when Karlsson took advantage of a turnover by Leafs captain John Tavares before burying his 20th.
Toronto, who scored 38 times during their win streak, tried to push in the third, but fell behind 4-1 when Karlsson hit both posts and Marchessault jumped on the loose puck to give him 31 goals at 10 minutes, 50 seconds.
Reaves scored with 5 minutes, 25 seconds left in regulation.
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was sent to the locker room by officials following a disagreement with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in regulation.
Keefe declined to explain what happened during his post-game press conference.
Asked about where the exchange ranked in terms of what he has said to officials in the past, he said: “Not going there, not going there.”
However, he did seem annoyed by a tripping penalty assessed to Toronto winger Mitch Marner on Vegas forward Chandler Stephenson with 4 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the third period after the Leafs cut the deficit to 4-2.
“We’ve got momentum on our side,” Keefe added.
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