The Golden Knights spent the last night before the Olympic break doing the one thing that had been missing during their skid.
They grabbed control early and never gave it back.
Vegas scored four times in an eight-minute first-period blitz and rode Adin Hill’s 32-save night to a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena. The victory sent the Golden Knights into the break with back-to-back wins and still sitting on top of the Pacific.
“We’re sitting on top of our division. We’re going into the break with a couple of solid wins,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “But yeah, we got work to do.”
Four goals, eight minutes, game flipped
The night started with the kind of pace Los Angeles usually hates. Vegas played fast, got inside early and turned a tight matchup into a scoreboard problem.
Jack Eichel opened it at 8:22 of the first, wiring a wrist shot to make it 1-0. Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev earned the assists.
Then the top line stayed on the gas. Stone made it 2-0 at 11:49, finishing a backhand after Barbashev and Eichel connected the dots.
The next swing came on special teams. With the Kings called for hooking, Vegas went to work. Pavel Dorofeyev scored a power-play goal at 13:29 to push it to 3-0, with Stone and Tomas Hertl on the helpers.
Twenty seconds later, Vegas hit again. Mitch Marner hammered a slap shot at 13:49 to make it 4-0, finishing a feed from Dorofeyev.
Barbashev said the early burst was not complicated. It was overdue.
“To score four, it’s always nice,” Barbashev said. “We haven’t done that in a while. … It’s nice to score first. I think it gives some boost to us.”
Uchacz drops the gloves, Vegas keeps the edge
The first period also had a little extra bite.
Rookie Kai Uchacz fought Kings center Samuel Helenius at 6:09, an early jolt in a building that had plenty on its calendar. The Golden Knights were also celebrating Black History Month Knight, with in-arena programming and community spotlights throughout the night.
The fight did not change the game’s direction. The goals already had.
Los Angeles got one back late in the first, when Trevor Moore scored at 15:03 to cut it to 4-1. That was it.
Hill did the heavy lifting after the fireworks
The story after the first period was not Vegas padding the lead. It was Vegas protecting it.
The Kings outshot the Golden Knights 33-22 and forced Hill into long stretches of work, especially as penalties piled up. Los Angeles went 0-for-5 on the power play. Vegas finished 1-for-2.
Cassidy liked the finish line, but he did not pretend the middle of the game was clean.
“His game was excellent. … After that, I thought we didn’t execute at a very high level,” Cassidy said. “They had a push, and we didn’t have as much urgency, so he got the lion’s share of the work.”
Noah Hanifin saw the same thing from the ice.
“Anytime we were caught, he was there and made huge stops for us,” Hanifin said. “He was outstanding.”
Hill kept his own summary simple.
“I just kept things simple,” Hill said. “I felt like I was seeing the puck well.”
Stone drove the offense, Barbashev kept it simple
Stone finished with a goal and two assists, touching three of Vegas’ four goals. Eichel added a goal and an assist. Dorofeyev scored on the power play, then set up Marner right away.
Barbashev did not score, and his goal streak ended. Still, Cassidy pointed to what has changed in his game lately.
“He’s playing a little more direct game,” Cassidy said. “When they’re on, they tend to make crisp passing plays. They have a sense where each other are.”
Barbashev echoed that same theme, and it matched the way Vegas scored.
“We just try to keep it really simple,” he said. “Make plays when you have them.”
A milestone and a clean pause point
Hill’s night also came with a round number attached. He confirmed postgame that the win was the 100th of his NHL career, even if he does not treat it like a headline.
“It’s cool, but not like crazy,” Hill said. “Definitely not circling days in the calendar.”
The bigger picture, though, is where Vegas heads into the break. Two wins. First place. A reminder of how the Knights want to look when they are playing their game.
“It feels good,” Barbashev said. “To get those going into the break, it’s huge.”
Cassidy agreed, with one qualifier that sounded like a coach refusing to waste a clean lesson.
“We’ve dealt with a little bit of adversity,” he said. “But yeah, we got work to do.”
Up next for the Golden Knights
The Golden Knights and the rest of the NHL now head into the Winter Olympic break, with Vegas sending a full group to Italy for Milano Cortina 2026. The men’s tournament runs Feb. 11-22, and the Knights will have players spread across five national teams, plus their head coach behind Canada’s bench.
Team USA: Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin.
Canada: Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, Shea Theodore, plus head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Czechia: Tomas Hertl.
Denmark: Jonas Rondbjerg.
Switzerland: Akira Schmid.
Welcome to Dice City Sports — where we provide premium, exclusive, up-to-date news and analysis surrounding the Las Vegas sports scene. Follow along on social media, and check back for new articles daily!
Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
