Trevor Connelly scored on a backhand shot in the fifth round of a shootout as the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from an early three-goal deficit to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Thursday in Las Vegas.
It was the first career shootout try for Connelly, a 20-year-old rookie. He faked a forehand shot and then pulled the puck back and wrapped the backhand shot around the left pad of Sergei Bobrovsky for the game-winner.
Toronto’s John Tavares then had a chance to force a sixth round in the shootout, but Adin Hill made a pad save on his wrist shot.
The only other skaters who converted their shootout opportunities were Vegas’ Braeden Bowman and Toronto’s Kirill Marchenko, both in the first round.
Jack Eichel scored on a penalty shot and also had an assist and Mark Stone and Brett Howden also scored in regulation for Vegas, which won its third straight game. Hill made 21 saves.
Jack Roslovic, Easton Cowan and Nick Paul scored goals for Toronto, which was opening a three-game western road trip. Bobrovsky finished with a season-high 40 saves while falling to 0-2-1.
Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 8:37 of the game. Roslovic, making his 600th career NHL appearance, started the scoring just 34 seconds into the contest when he squeaked a backhand shot from the right side of the crease over Hill’s left pad and just inside the right post. It was his second goal of the season and his 300th career point.
Cowan made it 2-0 with a breakaway goal, taking a stretch pass from Chris Tanev and beating Hill with a wrist shot on his blocker side at 3:20.
Paul extended the lead to 3-0 when he deflected a one-timer by Darren Raddysh over Hill’s left shoulder for his first goal with the Maple Leafs.
Stone got Vegas on the scoreboard near the end of the opening period with his third goal, a slap shot from the top of the right circle off an Eichel drop pass.
The Golden Knights dominated the second period, outshooting Toronto 21-8 while scoring twice to tie it 3-3. Howden got the first goal when Mitch Marner’s crossing pass from the right circle deflected into the net off his skate at 1:12.
Eichel, awarded a penalty shot when he was tripped driving the net by Morgan Rielly at 3:58, fired a wrist shot under Bobrovsky’s glove from the slot for his third goal. It was his second successful penalty shot in four career tries.
