Golden Knights score 5 in first, hold on vs. Blackhawks

Ivan Barbashev scored two goals and had two assists and Keegan Kolesar also scored twice as the Vegas Golden Knights tied a team record with five goals in the first period and then held on for a wild 7-5 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night in Las Vegas.

It was the third career four-point game for Barbashev and his second of the season. Tomas Hertl had a goal and an assist, Brett Howden had three assists, Noah Hanifin collected two assists and Nicolas Hague and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for Vegas, which extended its Pacific Division lead to four points over the Edmonton Oilers.

Ilya Samsonov made 17 saves for the Golden Knights, who scored five goals in a period for the fourth time in team history.

Nick Foligno, Colton Dach, Ethan Del Mastro, Ilya Mikheyev and Philipp Kurashev scored goals, Connor Murphy had three assists and Frank Nazar added two assists for Chicago, which lost its fifth straight game (0-4-1).

Arvid Soderblom finished with 16 saves in relief for the Blackhawks. Starter Petr Mrazek was pulled for allowing five goals on 15 shots in the opening period.

Vegas needed just 66 seconds to take a 1-0 lead. Kolesar's wrist shot from the right circle clanged off the near post following T.J. Brodie's turnover in his own zone. It was Kolesar's first goal since Jan. 12, snapping a 15-game scoring drought.

Foligno tied it 1-1 at the 6:58 mark when he put in a rebound of his own wraparound attempt.

Hague then put Vegas back in front to stay just 1:59 later, with a rebound of Howden's shot into an open net. Barbashev made it 3-1 with a power-play goal when he redirected Alex Pietrangelo's point shot.

Hertl followed with another power-play goal, ripping a one-timer from the high slot off Jack Eichel's pass. It was the 51st assist of the season for Eichel, breaking the team record set by David Perron in 2017-18. Dorofeyev extended the lead to 5-1 with his team-leading 24th goal.

Chicago cut it to 5-3 early in the second period on goals by Dach and Del Mastro. Kolesar put Vegas back up by three goals midway through the period with a rebound of Barbashev's shot that caromed off the post.

The Blackhawks scored on consecutive shots by Mikheyev and Kurashev early in the third period to close to within one goal, 6-5. Barbashev redirected Howden's point shot in off the skate of Seth Jones with 4:15 to go to seal the win.

--Field Level Media