Late goal hands Blackhawks 5-4 loss to Golden Knights
A late third period goal by Vegas’ Reilly Smith gave the Golden Knights a 5-4 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago.
Outshot, outplayed and outscored.
The Golden Knights were simply just better than the Blackhawks on Friday night.
The NHL’s youngest team, the expansion Golden Knights improved to 28-10-2, moving their point total to 58, the highest in the Western Conference.
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In an up-and-down scoring match, the Blackhawks lost their sixth of their last seven games with Friday nights loss.
Alex Tuch got the Knights on the board with a goal early in the first period. Vegas star center Jonathan Marchessault followed Tuch’s goal up with one of his own to improve the Vegas lead to 2-0 late in the first.
Vinnie Hinostroza cut the deficit in half with a big deflection with under 2 minutes remaining in the first period.
Vegas re-extended its lead to 3-1 on a William Karlsson goal, his 21st of the season a fourth of the way through the second.
The Blackhawks charged back from then, tying the game on goals from Patrick Sharp (5), and Nick Schmaltz (9). The score was even at 3 heading into the final period.
It's a tie game and we're feeling *excessively sentimental* about this goal#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/m9aHliL8Xh
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 6, 2018
Jonathan Toews gave the Hawks their first lead of the night with his 12th goal, coming just 30 seconds into the period.
In which @Hinostroza12 serves up the Captain #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/6iLqzNLFRY
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 6, 2018
The Blackhawks failed to take advantage from there, as it was all Vegas from then on.
Cody Eakin tied the game at 4 with a goal just five minutes later, and Reilly Smith gave the Knights the lead with 7 minutes remaining.
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Despite several “Golden” opportunities to tie the game late in the third, the Blackhawks could not convert, thus falling to one of the leagues best in the Golden Knights.
The loss snaps the Blackhawks 4-game home winning streak. The Golden Knights end their road trip with the win.
The Blackhawks will take on the Edmonton Oilers Sunday afternoon at 2:00 at the United Center. The Blackhawks now fall to 19-15-6 on the season.