The Golden Knights needed one to go their way, and they got it Thursday night.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored twice and added an assist as Vegas beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 at T-Mobile Arena, snapping a three-game skid and moving back into second place in the Pacific Division. As a result, Vegas improved to 30-22-14 with 74 points, one behind Anaheim and two ahead of Edmonton.
Fast start, right finish
Vegas grabbed the lead at 8:41 of the first period when Colton Sissons went to the net and finished a play created by Braeden Bowman. After pressure from Brett Howden forced the puck loose, Bowman found Sissons at the right post for his 100th career goal.
“It starts from a good faceoff execution,” Bowman said. “Howie puts pressure on the D and the puck just kind of sits there for me. Sizz with a nice goal.”
That early strike mattered. Just as important, Vegas answered every time Pittsburgh tried to push back.
Dorofeyev made it 2-0 at 5:02 of the second period. After Kaedan Korczak and Bowman helped keep the play alive, he gathered the puck near the right circle and snapped it over Arturs Silovs from a sharp angle.
Pittsburgh answered at 8:26 when Rickard Rakell tipped in a Bryan Rust pass at the right post. However, Vegas got that one right back.
After a Penguins turnover in the neutral zone, Mitch Marner fed Dorofeyev, got the puck back in stride and finished while falling down to restore the two-goal lead at 9:20.
“I thought tonight we kept the foot down,” Marner said. “When they responded, we stayed on our attack. We didn’t back up.”
Later in the period, the Penguins pulled back within 3-2 on Ben Kindel’s tip at 16:22. Still, Vegas never let the game drift.
Pav finds the quiet ice
Dorofeyev struck again at 4:35 of the third, and this one gave Vegas breathing room.
The play started with Dorofeyev winning a puck battle in his own end. Then Marner carried it forward on a three-on-one rush and slid a perfect feed into the middle, where Dorofeyev snapped home his second of the night for a 4-2 lead.
“He’s very good at finding that quiet ice,” Marner said. “You just try to put it on a silver spoon for him, and he usually puts those ones in.”
From there, Vegas kept coming. Eichel made it 5-2 at 6:20, ripping a shot under the bar from the high slot after Ivan Barbashev drove the rush and dropped the puck into space. Finally, Brayden McNabb closed it out with an empty-netter at 19:01.
That kind of finish had been missing lately. This time, Vegas cashed in.
“We were opportunistic offensively,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We needed that. It’s been a while since we’ve cashed in on quality chances at that kind of pace.”
Hill settles it down
Adin Hill stopped 24 of 26 shots and gave Vegas the calm it needed during Pittsburgh’s best stretches.
The Penguins outshot the Golden Knights 26-17, but Hill handled traffic well and Vegas controlled the dots all night. In fact, the Golden Knights won 68.9 percent of the faceoffs, with Tomas Hertl at 76.9 percent, Eichel at 80 percent and Sissons at 72.7 percent.
“I thought our D did a great job boxing guys out tonight,” Hill said. “We’ve been harping on that a bit lately, and I thought we did a great job.”
Cassidy also pointed to the penalty kill and the late-game defending as part of the win. Vegas finished 3-for-3 on the kill and, meanwhile, kept Pittsburgh from building any real third-period push after Dorofeyev’s second goal.
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Balanced look returns
The return of Mark Stone helped settle the lineup, even without a point on the scoresheet.
Stone came back after missing five games with an upper-body injury and finished plus-2 in 17:52. Cassidy said getting healthier again allowed Vegas to put players back into better slots and, in turn, gave the lineup more natural balance.
“It’s Mark coming back, but some of those guys getting healthy again as well,” Cassidy said. “That balances things out a little easier for everybody.”
Bowman’s two assists also stood out. Cassidy said the rookie’s pace and puck strength have come back, and it showed on the opening goal and again on Dorofeyev’s first one.
Overall, Vegas looked more like itself. The top line broke through, the support pieces chipped in, and the game did not wobble after Pittsburgh answered.
That was the point.
Up next
Vegas continues its four-game homestand Saturday against Chicago at 7 p.m. PT at T-Mobile Arena. Then the Golden Knights host Buffalo on Monday and Columbus on Wednesday before heading back to Dallas on March 22.
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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.
