TORONTO (AP) 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 Torontoās seven-game winning streak.
Ivan Barbashev and Mason Morelli scored just over three minutes apart in the second period to build a 2-0 lead for Vegas, which 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 Thursdayās 7-3 home loss to the Leafs.
āThe leaders and the guys whoāve been in the league for a while now, weāve all got to step up,ā Barbashev said. āHopefully today was a turnaround for us.ā
Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Reaves scored for Toronto and Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 shots.
āBrought their game to a different level,ā Leafs captain John Tavares said of Vegas. āWe just made too many mistakes and just didnāt earn enough opportunities.ā
The Knights opened the scoring at 9:11 of 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.
āSame team, same guys ā¦ I guess those guys more wanna win today,ā said a frustrated Samsonov. āThose guys come to the net - good screen, good tip-in, rebounds. That whatās different.ā
Hill stood tall on Torontoās first power play later in the period, including a chance off the stick of Auston Matthews. But Bertuzzi, who had a hat trick in Saturdayās 4-3 victory over Colorado, fooled the netminder at 17:45 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, which scored 38 times during its 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 10:50.
Reaves scored with 5:25 left in regulation.
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was sent to the locker room by officials following a disagreement with 2:14 left in regulation.
Keefe declined to explain what happened during his postgame press conference.
Asked about where the exchange ranked in terms of what heās said to officials in the past, he replied: āNot going there, not going there,ā but he did seem annoyed by a tripping penalty assessed to Toronto winger Mitch Marner on Vegas forward Chandler Stephenson with 4:53 remaining in the third period after the Leafs cut the deficit to 4-2.
āWeāve got momentum on our side,ā Keefe added. āThatās a tough spot in the game.ā
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: Continue a five-game road trip at Boston on Thursday.
Maple Leafs: Continue a five-game homestand against Arizona on Thursday.
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