Utah gets off to fast start in lopsided win over Golden Knights

Jaxson Stauber made 29 saves for his first NHL career shutout and Nick Schmaltz scored twice as the Utah Hockey Club scored four in the first period and cruised to a 6-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley and Alexander Kerfoot each had a goal and an assist, Barrett Hayton had two assists and Michael Carcone also scored for Utah, which equaled its season high for goals in a game.

The 25-year-old Stauber was making just his seventh career start and first with Utah. He compiled a 5-1-0 record with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2022-23 season and spent last season with the Rockford IceDogs of the AHL.

Ilya Samsonov finished with 22 saves for Vegas, which suffered its third home loss in 12 games (9-3-0).

Utah, coming in off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday in Salt Lake City, took advantage of sloppy Vegas play to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first period.

Keller started the barrage at the 5:33 mark with his first goal in 13 games and seventh of the season. He fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle at the end of a two-on-one with Hayton after a Vegas turnover in the neutral zone.

Kerfoot made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal. Samsonov tried to clear the puck from the left corner of his zone with a long pass into the neutral zone intended for Jack Eichel but Kerfoot intercepted it near the blue line and then fired a shot past a diving Samsonov for his fifth goal.

Schmaltz snapped a 28-game goal drought dating back to last season just 69 seconds later when he scored off a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle. Cooley made it 4-0 at the 18:44 mark with his sixth goal when Olli Maatta's shot from the left point caromed in off his hip.

Utah then broke the game open with two more goals in the first 5:28 of the second period to make it 6-0. Carcone got the first when he finished a two-on-one rush with a wrist shot into the far corner from the bottom of the right circle for his first goal of the season. Schmaltz followed with his second goal of the game, firing a shot into an open net off Cooley's pass.

--Field Level Media