Golden Knights vs. Predators: William Karlsson's Go-Ahead Goal and Adin Hill's Penalty-Shot Save Lift Vegas

The save that shaped this game came barely 13 minutes in. Vegas led 2-1, Nic Dowd had just been called for holding Jack Drury on a breakaway, and the officials pointed to center ice for a penalty shot. Drury came in and fired a wrist shot. Adin Hill stopped it. Bridgestone Arena groaned, and the Golden Knights never trailed again.

William Karlsson scored for the second straight game, this time to put Vegas ahead for good late in the second period, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Nashville Predators 5-2 on Tuesday night. Hill made 26 saves, and Tomas Hertl, Jack Eichel, Trevor Connelly and Brett Howden also scored as Vegas bounced back from a 4-2 loss at Minnesota the night before.

Back-to-Back, No Hangover

Nashville landed the first punch. At 3:55, Filip Forsberg put a shot on net from the left circle, and Ryan O'Reilly backhanded the rebound into an open net for a 1-0 lead.

The Predators then got a power play when Howden was called for interference at 4:36, and Vegas killed it. Hertl made the kill count, ripping a wrist shot from the left circle over Juuse Saros' blocker at 6:46, 10 seconds after the penalty expired. Nashville got another power play after Ivan Barbashev's holding call at 10:44. Vegas killed that one too, and at 12:48, Eichel drove the net and tipped in a cross-ice feed from Brayden McNabb for a 2-1 lead.

Twenty-one seconds later came Drury's penalty shot, and Hill's stop.

Nashville did tie it in the second, and it did so while short-handed. Adam Wilsby went off for hooking at 7:41, and on the Vegas power play, Adam Edstrom broke in alone with Eichel chasing. He could not get a shot away, but he kept control behind the net, came out the other side and slipped the puck around an out-of-position Hill at 8:45. Per the AP, it was the first short-handed goal of Edstrom's career.

The tie lasted nine minutes. At 17:44, Karlsson wired a shot from the right circle into the top corner, with Mitch Marner and Rasmus Andersson assisting. In the third, Vegas killed a Marner hooking minor, then put the game away with two goals 1:35 apart. Connelly finished Noah Hanifin's cross-ice pass at 4:49, and Howden redirected a shot between his legs that went in off the left post at 6:24.

The Turning Point

Hill's penalty-shot save is the moment. Had Drury scored, Nashville ties the game 2-2 in the first period with the crowd fully engaged and Vegas playing its second game in two nights. Instead, the Golden Knights had a lead, a goalie on a heater and a penalty kill that went 3-for-3 on the night.

Vegas coach Ryan Craig connected those dots after the game. "I thought everybody, to a man, was ready to play, especially our goaltender," he said. "I think the early penalty kills and the penalty-shot save allowed us to kind of get our legs under us, and then we had some timely scoring."

Karlsson Finds His Shot, Howden Does Everything

Karlsson now has two goals on the season, and both have come in the last two nights. Craig liked what he saw. "It's good to see him score," he said. "Two good shots. He had the breakaway (Monday) night too. He's starting to shoot the puck, which we like to see."

Howden had a goal and an assist and finished plus-3, and he credited the depth chart. "We talk a lot about how much our depth means to our team, and how effective it is," Howden said. "It goes to show that we can count on anyone on any given night."

Andersson added two assists and also finished plus-3. Hill stopped 26 of 28 shots for a .929 save percentage. Marner's assist extended his point streak to four games, per NHL.com.

The scoring spread is what makes Vegas exhausting to play against. Hertl and Eichel each scored their fourth goal of the season, Connelly picked up his third, and nobody on the roster finished with more than two points. On the second night of a back-to-back, that kind of balance means nobody has to carry the load alone.

For Nashville, O'Reilly had a goal and an assist and won 11 faceoffs, and Edstrom's short-handed goal earned praise from coach Andrew Brunette. "He hounds pucks and gets on top of pucks with his size, reach and speed," Brunette said. Saros made 20 saves on 25 shots. According to NHL.com, Steven Stamkos and Roman Josi each saw five-game point streaks come to an end.

Stats That Matter

• 0-for-3: Nashville on the power play, plus an empty-handed penalty shot. Every Predators chance with an advantage fizzled.
• 1:35: The gap between Connelly's and Howden's third-period goals, which turned a one-goal game into a three-goal cushion.
• 24: Nashville's giveaways. Vegas had 15.
• 18-8: Vegas' edge in blocked shots, a sign of how willing the Golden Knights were to eat pucks on a back-to-back.

What It Means

Vegas improves to 6-2-0 with 12 points and is 3-1-0 on the road. The 4-2 loss at Minnesota on Monday snapped a four-game winning streak, and the Golden Knights responded the very next night. Hanifin loved the finish. "It was a really good third period for us," he said.

Nashville falls to 2-2-2 with six points and is 1-2-0 at home. Per the AP, it was the Predators' first regulation loss since their season opener against Minnesota, and they have now lost three of their last four. The Predators outshot Vegas 28-25 and outhit them 25-13, so effort was not the issue. Puck management was, and the home record is starting to look like a problem.

Vegas hosts Calgary on Thursday. Nashville hosts San Jose on Thursday.

Closing Take

Five different Golden Knights scored, which makes this one feel like an Avengers movie where every hero gets a moment. Hertl had the answer, Eichel had the go-ahead in the first, Karlsson had the one that stuck, and the depth guys handled the rest. But the scene everybody will remember is Hill, alone, staring down Drury and refusing to blink.

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