NEW YORK (AP) — John Tavares kept up his scoring surge with two more goals and the New York Islanders handed the expansion Vegas Golden Knights their second loss of the season, 6-3 on Monday night.
Andrew Ladd, Mathew Barzal, Cal Clutterbuck and Nikolay Kulemin also scored, and Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots to help New York win for the fifth time in six games. Tavares has eight goals in the last four games.
William Karlsson, Alex Tuch and Colin Miller scored for Vegas, which snapped a five-game winning streak and lost another goalie to an injury. With starter Marc-Andre Fleury and backup Malcolm Subban already sidelined, Oscar Dansk left after Tavares scored the tying goal late in the second period with an apparent leg injury.
Dansk, who came in 3-0 with an NHL-best 1.34 goals-against average, made 17 saves. Maxime Lagace, the fourth goalie Vegas has used in its inaugural season, came on for his NHL debut and gave up four goals on 11 shots.
Vegas led 2-1 after one period and the teams played more deliberate hockey for the first 10 minutes of the second. Dansk made two nice stops on Tavares, who had two hat tricks in the previous three games, in close with about eight minutes to go.
However, Tavares tied the score with his 10th goal with 5:10 left, deflecting a shot by Nick Leddy past Dansk, who was injured on the play. The Golden Knights challenged for goalie interference, but the goal stood after a review.
With Reilly Smith off for high-sticking, Barzal gave the Islanders their first lead as he knocked in the rebound of a backhand by Anders Lee that went off the right post for his third.
Clutterbuck extended New York's lead to 4-2 at 4:44 of the third as he skated up the right side and fired the puck past Lagace's glove for his second.
Kulemin made it a three-goal lead with his first of the season at 8:26 of the third.
Tavares scored on a breakaway with 7:22 left for his 11th of the season, giving New York six goals for the second straight game.
Miller beat Halak from the right circle with 5:19 to go to pull Vegas to 6-3.
Vegas got on the scoreboard first with the first short-handed goal in franchise history. Cody Eakin beat Leddy to the puck in the corner and sent a pass in front to Karlsson. With Halak out of position after trying to disrupt the pass, Karlsson fired the puck into the open net at 9:31 for his third of the season. It was the sixth short-handed goal allowed by the Islanders, tying Buffalo for most in the NHL.
Ladd tied it with 6:10 remaining in the period as he fired a shot from the top of the right circle past Dansk's blocker side for his third.
The Golden Knights went back ahead 2-1 nearly two minutes later with a power-play goal when Miller's shot deflected off Tuch's skate in front and past Halak. It was Tuch's third of the season.