Golden Knights vs. Flames: Mark Stone's Natural Hat Trick Turns a Tight Game Into a 6-2 Rout

For two periods on Thursday night, Mark Stone was a supporting actor. Then the third period started, and he took over the whole show like it was his own Las Vegas residency.

Stone scored three straight goals in the third period for a natural hat trick, Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists, and the Vegas Golden Knights pulled away from the Calgary Flames for a 6-2 win at T-Mobile Arena. A game that was 3-1 heading into the final 20 minutes ended as a rout.

Vegas Comes Out Flying

The Golden Knights needed all of 25 seconds to get on the board. Mitch Marner won a battle along the wall and sent a backhand stretch pass to Brett Howden, who skated into the left circle and roofed a shot over Dustin Wolf's glove.

"We were ready to play. It's nice to get one early there," Golden Knights coach Ryan Craig said. "That got us going."

Calgary got the first power play of the night when Brayden McNabb was called for holding the stick at 7:58, and the Flames promptly turned it into a disaster. Eichel picked off a Yegor Sharangovich pass in the neutral zone, broke in alone and beat Wolf glove side at 9:34. A short-handed goal, unassisted, and a 2-0 lead.

Flames coach Ryan Huska knew exactly how much that start cost his team. "But you're down 2-0 and against good teams, you can't give them leads like that," he said.

Calgary Hangs Around, Briefly

To their credit, the Flames did not fold in the second period. With Vegas on the power play after Kevin Bahl's tripping minor, Jake Middleton turned the tables. He raced down the middle of the ice on an odd-man rush, took a pass from Joel Farabee and sniped Carter Hart at 10:15. It was a short-handed goal, Middleton's first as a Flame according to the AP, and it cut the lead to 2-1.

The good vibes lasted 48 seconds. On the same Vegas power play, Ivan Barbashev slid a pass to Braeden Bowman, who buried a one-timer from the right circle at 11:03 to restore the two-goal cushion. William Karlsson picked up the second assist.

Middleton was honest about the start afterward. "We didn't start as well as we could have," he said, adding that "we were a little flat early, a little disconnected."

The Turning Point: Stone's First Tap-In

The Flames were still within shouting distance at 3-1 when the third period opened. That lasted 1:06. Eichel slid a backdoor pass to Stone at the right post, Stone tapped it in, and the game was effectively over at 4-1.

From there, Stone just kept collecting. At 12:10, he swatted in the rebound of a Noah Hanifin shot for his second of the night. Then, after Mikael Backlund was called for high-sticking at 15:50, Stone completed the hat trick on the power play at 16:13, with Eichel and Marner assisting. Three goals in the period, none by anyone else in between, so it goes down as a natural hat trick.

Stone's own scouting report on the night was refreshingly modest. "Two backdoor tap-ins help, then good play from Jack and just make a good shot," he said.

Things got chippy shortly after. At 16:36, Martin Pospisil and Howden went to the box together, and Raphael Lavoie and Middleton were handed misconducts. Matt Coronato scored a power-play goal for Calgary at 18:40 off assists from Matvei Gridin and Morgan Frost, but by then it was strictly cosmetic.

The Stars of the Strip

Stone finished with three goals in 14:01 of ice time and is now tied for sixth in the NHL with six goals, per the AP. His explanation for the hot start was simple. "I like playing hockey, I like playing in this league, I like scoring goals," Stone said. "We won. So, I just really enjoy playing this game, so that keeps getting me out of bed in the morning and excited to go to the rink."

Eichel had a short-handed goal and two assists in 15:16 and ranks second in the NHL with 16 points, according to the AP. He has registered at least a point in seven of Vegas' first nine games.

Barbashev quietly had three assists, and he summed up the mood in the room. "It's fun to play right now. We're winning a lot of games, which makes it even more fun," he said.

Hart made 28 saves on 30 shots. Calgary actually stayed close in the shot column, 33-30, but Wolf was beaten six times on 33 shots, and the Flames could not keep up with the finishing.

Stats That Matter

• 25 seconds: How long it took Howden to open the scoring.
• 2: Short-handed goals on the night, one by Eichel and one by Middleton.
• 48 seconds: The gap between Middleton's goal and Bowman's answer.
• 3: Assists for Barbashev, who factored on two of Stone's goals.
• 14: Vegas' point total, the most in the NHL, per the AP.

What It Means

Vegas improves to 7-2-0 and has won six of its past seven games. The Golden Knights are 4-1-0 at home, Eichel is near the top of the scoring race, and the depth is producing, too. "Everybody's stepping up," Barbashev said. Vegas hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Calgary falls to 1-6-0 with two points. The Flames were coming off their first win of the season, a 4-2 victory at Anaheim on Tuesday, and could not build on it. They gave up a goal 25 seconds in, a short-handed goal on their own power play, and a power-play goal 48 seconds after finally scoring one of their own. The Flames return home to host Carolina on Sunday.

Closing Take

Stone said what gets him out of bed is the simple joy of playing. On Thursday, the Flames were the ones who woke up to a nightmare. When Stone goes into third-period residency mode and your goalie has already been beaten on a short-handed breakaway and a power-play one-timer, there is not much left to do except call for the bus. Stone, it turns out, still loves this game. Calgary's relationship with it is a little more complicated right now.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.