Golden Knights vs. Kings: Mitch Marner's Overtime Power-Play Goal Keeps Los Angeles Winless

Six seconds. That is how long Scott Laughton's tripping minor lasted as a problem before Mitch Marner turned it into a final. Laughton went to the box at 2:34 of overtime for taking down Shea Theodore, Vegas won the offensive-zone draw, Mark Stone moved the puck back up top, and Marner glided into the high slot and buried a shot glove side.

The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in overtime on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena for their fourth straight win. The Kings fell to 0-2-2 and are still looking for their first victory of the season.

"Just effort off the draw. It came back up to me," Marner said. "Saw a gap going downhill, took the ice up ahead and got the shot off."

Throwback Night, Present-Day Problems

This was a nostalgia show in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights, now in their 10th season, spent the night honoring their inaugural team, the "Misfits." Gerard Gallant, who coached that group to the Stanley Cup Final, was in the building along with several of his old players, and fan favorite Ryan Reaves, who retired last month after 16 NHL seasons, cranked the pregame siren. Think of it as a reunion tour where the original band shows up and the current lineup still has to play the encore.

The early part of the show belonged to Los Angeles. Brayden McNabb went off for tripping at 12:44 of the first, and Nic Dowd followed him 30 seconds later for slashing, giving the Kings a two-man advantage for 1:31. Los Angeles managed three shots on goal and nothing else. Coach Peter Laviolette liked his team's first period overall but not that sequence. "We needed quicker movement, more of a shot mentality in that 5-on-3," he said.

Power Play, Answer, Punches

The second period turned into a special-teams duel. Drew Doughty was called for slashing at 1:15, and Vegas needed just 82 seconds of the advantage. Stone threaded a cross-ice pass to Trevor Connelly, and the 20-year-old rookie one-timed it home at 2:37 for his second goal of the season, with Marner picking up the secondary assist.

Vegas coach Ryan Craig said that spot on the ice is built for Connelly. "It's a shooter's spot because of how our power play is set up," he said. "Trevor can make plays there."

Los Angeles answered on its own power play after Jeremy Lauzon was whistled for tripping at 5:21. Artemi Panarin found space in the high slot and fired a wrist shot through traffic that went in off the left post at 6:21, his third goal of the season. Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke assisted. According to NHL.com, Panarin became the second Kings player in the past 25 years to score in each of the team's first three road games of a season, joining Gabriel Vilardi in 2022-23.

Things got chippy at 9:07 of the second. Clarke and Rasmus Andersson were each called for roughing, and Laughton and Dowd dropped the gloves and received fighting majors.

The Turning Point: Laughton's Trip

The third period stayed tight. Brian Dumoulin went off for hooking at 7:08, and Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper held the line on the Vegas power play. Carter Hart did the same at the other end, and the teams went to overtime level at 1-1 after a regulation in which nobody could find an opening at even strength.

Then Laughton reached for Theodore. Of all the ways to lose an overtime game, handing a power play to a team built around Marner, Stone and Jack Eichel is one of the least survivable. The goal was Marner's eighth career overtime goal in the NHL and his first overtime winner with Vegas, per NHL.com.

Who Delivered

Mitch Marner: The winner plus an assist in 20:16 of ice time, along with two blocked shots. It was his second goal of the season.

Trevor Connelly: A goal and an assist for his first multipoint game in the NHL. He set up the overtime winner, too.

Mark Stone: Two assists, both on power-play goals, including the pinpoint cross-ice feed on the opener. Quietly the best passer on the ice.

Carter Hart: 26 saves on 27 shots for a .963 save percentage. "We just stick with it. Our game is as good as anybody when we play our game," Hart said. "Their goalie made some big saves, and we just stuck with it, and Mitch scored a big goal."

Darcy Kuemper: 30 saves on 32 shots, and he played well enough to deserve a better ending. "We're competitors in here. We hate losing, and we want to win," he said.

Artemi Panarin: The Kings' only goal and a road scoring run that is doing real work for a team searching for offense.

Stats That Matter

• 2 for 3: Vegas on the power play, with both goals assisted by Stone. The Kings went 1 for 3, including the empty 5-on-3.
• 34-24: Vegas in the faceoff circle, a 58.6 percent clip that helped set up the winner off a draw.
• 32-27: Vegas outshot Los Angeles over 62:40.
• 7-3: Vegas held the edge in takeaways.

What It Means

Vegas improves to 5-1-0 with 10 points and is 3-1-0 at home. The four-game winning streak has come with some drama, including back-to-back extra-time wins over Toronto and Los Angeles. One streak did end: Eichel's season-opening point run stopped at five games, during which he had three goals and nine assists, per NHL.com. The Golden Knights visit Minnesota on Monday night.

The Kings are 0-2-2, and two of those losses have come after regulation. The offense is the issue, with Los Angeles scoring one goal in each of its past two games, a 2-1 loss to Florida and this one. Laviolette took the positives where he could find them. "It wasn't our best period, I thought we were really good in the first. Good in the third, even looks in overtime that we could have won it. It just didn't happen," he said. Los Angeles hosts Edmonton on Tuesday night.

Closing Take

Vegas spent the night celebrating its origin story, and then the current roster wrote a new scene for the highlight package. That is the thing about the Golden Knights: they do not just honor the past, they keep adding chapters. For Los Angeles, a winless start has turned into a test of patience. Kuemper put it as well as anyone could: "We got to use that fuel the right way." Four games in, the Kings have plenty of fuel. What they need is a spark.

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