{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Vegas 5, Calgary 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Sunday, March 8, 2020
Where: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta
Referees: Wes McCauley, Dan O'Rourke
Linesmen: Shandor Alphonso, Brian Mach
Attendance: 18841

Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore scored the go-ahead goal with 1:10 left in the third period, and the Vegas Golden Knights won 5-3 over the host Calgary Flames on Sunday night.

With the game tied at 3 after Vegas blew a 3-0 lead, Theodore shot a puck that deflected in off the stick of Calgary's Andrew Mangiapane with 70 seconds left in regulation, and Jonathan Marchessault's empty-netter 52 seconds later iced the win.

Vegas (38-24-8) moved to 3-0-0 in the season series against Calgary (36-27-7) -- stretching its lead in the Pacific Division to five points over the third-place Flames.

Max Pacioretty notched his team-leading 32nd goal, Nick Holden had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Nosek netted a goal for the Golden Knights, who are 10-2-0 in their past 12 games and 8-3-0 all-time against Calgary. Robin Lehner made 19 saves to win for the third time in three games since joining Vegas.

Milan Lucic registered a goal and an assist, and Dillon Dube and Matthew Tkachuk scored for Calgary, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. David Rittich stopped 27 shots.

Ryan Reaves put a shot on Rittich and cleared out Flames defenseman Erik Gustafsson in the first period. The space was empty for Nosek, who grabbed the rebound and fired in his eighth for a 1-0 lead at 5:24.

The Golden Knights opened a two-goal lead at 11:49, using a quick passing game through all three zones to keep the Calgary home crowd quiet and getting a goal from Holden after passes by Nick Cousins and Brandon Pirri.

Mikael Backlund deflected a shot onto Lehner with less than five minutes left, then made contact and shoved the goalie before scoring. Vegas challenged for goalie interference, and the Golden Knights won the review to keep the score 2-0.

On the match's first power play early in the second, William Karlsson zoomed through the offensive zone, kicked the puck through defenseman TJ Brodie's skates and whipped a pass to Pacioretty, who fired home his team-best eighth power-play goal at 3:39 -- the 14th unanswered goal by Vegas in the season series.

Lucic broke that streak on a three-on-one rush, slipping a puck between Lehner's pads at 8:23 for his eighth tally. Dube scored on Calgary's next shot -- a wrister on the power play at 16:32 -- to trim the deficit to one goal.

Tkachuk's 23rd goal with three minutes left in regulation on a pass from Mangiapane tied it at 3, but Theodore and Marchessault put the game away.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Vegas   Calgary
Nick Holden 2 Points Milan Lucic 2
Nick Holden 1 Goals Milan Lucic 1
William Karlsson 2 Assists Milan Lucic 1
Max Pacioretty 1 Power Play Goals Dillon Dube 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Robin Lehner .864 Save Percentage David Rittich .871
Robin Lehner 19 Saves David Rittich 27
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Vegas 32 5 1-1 0-1 2 31
Calgary 22 3 1-1 0-1 2 30
Upcoming Games
  • Calgary will play their next game at home against NY Islanders. The Flames have a W/L % of .459 after a win and .576 after a loss.
  • Vegas will play their next game on the road against Edmonton. The Golden Knights have a W/L % of .553 after a win and .531 after a loss.