Knights 4 Senators 2
OTTAWA — Mark Stone’s return was a memorable one as he scored a goal and picked up an assist in the Vegas Golden Knights’ victory over the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Thursday night.
Stone was playing his first game in Ottawa since being traded to Vegas last February.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Knights (25-19-6), who were playing their first game under head coach Peter DeBoer after Gerard Gallant was fired Wednesday morning.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 shots, while counterpart Craig Anderson made 39 saves in his first game since Jan. 7.
With the victory, Fleury tied Henrik Lundqvist for fifth place on the NHL all-time list with 458 career wins.
The Senators (16-23-8) are now mired in a nine-game losing streak (0-5-4). Ottawa has scored just 19 goals through the winless drought.
Vegas led 1-0 before Stone scored late in the second period on a wraparound effort.
Vegas made it 3-0 early in the third as Chandler Stephenson scored shorthanded after Thomas Chabot had an ugly giveaway.
Ottawa got on the board one minute later when Chris Tierney found Vladislav Namestnikov down low for the one-timer.
Vegas made it 4-1 after Anderson was caught behind the net and couldn’t get back in time to stop Ryan Reaves from picking up his sixth of the season, but the Senators managed to cut the lead in half as Connor Brown scored on the powerplay.
Vegas opened the scoring just 36 seconds into the game when Paul Stastny and Stone had a little give-and-go with Stastny beating Anderson for his 13th of the season.
Stone was given a video tribute during the first television timeout with fans giving him a standing ovation after which Stone took to the ice to thank the fans and gave them a thumbs up.
Notes: Jean-Gabriel Pageau was a late scratch due to an upper-body injury. Connor Brown played his 300th career game. Scott Sabourin returned to the Senators lineup after being a healthy scratch the last five games. Vegas will be without William Karlsson who is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.