Toffoli Hat Trick Propels Devils Over the Golden Knights in OT
The Vegas Golden Knights and New Jersey Devils put on a scoring clinic on Monday night at Prudential Center, as a combined 11 goals were scored in the exciting matchup. The Golden Knights were coming into the game having won three straight and looking to break a seven-game road losing streak. Meanwhile, the Devils were looking to grab a signature victory over the defending Stanley Cup Champions. In the end, a Tyler Toffoli hat trick would propel the Devils to a 6-5 overtime victory over the Knights. With the win, the Devils improved to (24-18-3) for 51 points and fourth place in the Metropolitan Division. Meanwhile, the loss for Vegas dropped them to (27-14-6) for 60 points and second place in the Pacific Division.
The Knights would start the scoring onslaught at 6:12 of the opening period, as Pavel Dorofeyev would score on a 2-on-1 rush to give Vegas a 1-0 lead. At 15:21, the Devils would tie the game up at 1-1, as Nico Hischier would score off a behind-the-net pass from Timo Meier. With 22 seconds left in the first period, the Devils would take their first lead of the game at 2-1, after Erik Haula connected with Curtis Lazar for his fifth goal of the season. The Devils would extend their lead to 3-1 at 1:37 of the second period, as Toffoli would score his first goal of the night on a shot from between the circles.
The Knights would begin a four-goal stretch in the second period, which began with Jonathan Marchessault scoring off a rebound near the net to cut their deficit to 3-2 at 7:39. Midway through the middle frame, Marchessault would score his second goal of the night on a 2-on-1 rush to tie it up at 3-3. The Knights would regain a 4-3 lead just 48 seconds later, as Chandler Stephenson would score on a 4-on-4 redirect pass from Mark Stone. At 19:08 of the second, Marchessault would find Nicolas Roy from behind the net for a one-timer to extend their lead to 5-3. The Devils would quickly respond just 36 seconds later to cut the Vegas’ lead to 5-4, as Toffoli would score his second of the game on a wrist shot that went past goalie Logan Thompson.
In the third period, the Devils would continue their comeback, as Lazar would put in a rebound from the left post for his second goal of the game and tie the game up at 5-5. The back-and-forth affair would head to overtime, as Toffoli would complete his hat trick on a shot from the right face-off circle off of a 2-on-1 rush and give the Devils a thrilling victory over the Knights. Despite an off night behind the pipes, Devils’ goaltender Vitek Vanecek would get his 15th win on the season and would have 27 saves on 32 attempts. The Devils will look to maintain their high-scoring offense as they head to Carolina to face the Hurricanes on Thursday night.
