Golden Knights score 4 goals in 1st, defeat Kings

LAS VEGAS -- Adin Hill made 32 saves for the Vegas Golden Knights, who scored four goals in the first period en route to a 4-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

“I like my game,” Hill said. “I’ll definitely take a few days off, let the body recover. ... I’ll be on the ice just trying to make sure I’m working, that I can give the team the best chance to go on a long run this year."

Mark Stone had a goal and two assists, and Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (27-16-14), who have won two in a row, including a 5-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, after losing their previous five (0-3-2).

“[Hill] was excellent,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We gave him some run support early, which helps. After that, we didn’t execute at a very high level. They had a push, and we didn’t have as much urgency."

Trevor Moore scored, and Anton Forsberg made 18 saves for the Kings (23-19-14), who have lost three in a row, including 4-2 to the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, and four of five (1-3-1).

“We didn’t like the start,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “Buried ourselves, but then there’s still a lot of hockey left. If you can get one, you get momentum. Now, you’re only down by two. You get another one, you get to pull the goalie, whatever is going to happen is going to happen. ... The best part of the game is the last 40 minutes.”

Eichel put Vegas ahead 1-0 at 8:22 of the first period. After winning a face-off, Eichel's attempted saucer pass for Stone hit off Brian Dumoulin and landed in the left circle, where the forward skated into it before scoring glove side off the far post.

Stone made it 2-0 at 11:49. Ivan Barbashev couldn't tap in a backdoor feed from Eichel, but he got his own miss and passed out front to a cutting Stone, who lifted a backhand past Forsberg near the left post.

“It’s nice to score first,” Barbashev said. “It gives some boost to us. We haven’t done that in the first period for a long time. It was huge, get first two quick.

“Since Mark came back to our line last game, we tried to keep it simple. Make plays when you have them and just keep going.”

Dorofeyev extended the lead to 3-0 at 13:29, scoring a power-play goal with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle.

Mitch Marner scored just 20 seconds later to make it 4-0, scoring with his own one-timer from the bottom of the left circle off a spinning pass from Dorofeyev.

Moore cut it to 4-1 at 15:03 of the first. He skated down the right wing, held off Shea Theodore, and lifted the puck over Hill, who had attempted a poke check.

“Everyone’s looking toward the (Olympic) break, but at the same time, you’ve got to be ready to play those games. These points are just as important as the points coming out of the break,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “We didn’t get the job done.”

NOTES: Kopitar's secondary assist on Moore's goal was his 1,300th NHL point (446 goals, 854 assists in 1,495 games). He is the eighth player born outside of North America to reach the milestone in League history. ... Stone is the first player in Golden Knights history to get 100 multipoint games.