VANCOVUER, British Columbia — Cole Smith‘s goal midway through the third period proved to be the winner as the surging Vegas Golden Knights held on to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Vegas extended its winning streak to four games under new coach John Tortorella, who took over behind the bench March 31 after the club fired Bruce Cassidy. The Golden Knights, who have scored 17 goals under his leadership, are now tied with the Edmonton Oilers for first place in the Pacific Division with 88 points.
Max Sasson opened the scoring for the Canucks (22-47-8) with a wrist shot over the glove of Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart at the 12:50 mark of the second period. It was his 13th goal of the season.
Brayden McNabb replied for Vegas (36-26-16) less than three minutes later, sending a shot through traffic to tie the score at 1. Smith scored the go-ahead goal 12:13 into the third.
Vancouver had a prime chance to force extra time when Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson was called for interference with less than two minutes left. The Canucks pulled goalie Nikita Tolopilo in favor of an extra attacker, but failed to score.
Hart stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced for the Golden Knights. Tolopilo made 26 saves for the Canucks.
The Golden Knights swept the three-game season series between the teams after winning 5-2 on Feb. 4 and 4-2 on March 30 in Vegas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
