Hertl has 4 points, Golden Knights defeat Kings to end 3-game skid

LAS VEGAS -- Tomas Hertl had two goals and two assists for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 6-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

“He knew that he needed to bring a little more offense,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s not like he’s not trying. Sometimes it takes a while to click. ... It’ll give him a little confidence. He looked a little down coming off the road. He wants to help us win.”

Mark Stone had a goal and two assists, and Alex Pietrangelo had three assists for Vegas (4-2-1), which had lost three straight. Ilya Samsonov made 32 saves.

“We were attacking better tonight with puck possession and in the O-zone,” Cassidy said. “We weren’t one and done like on the road. We were defending way too much, whether it was in the neutral zone or back in our net, because we weren’t hard enough in the O-zone."

Warren Foegele scored, and David Rittich made 24 saves for Los Angeles (3-2-2), which ended a season-opening seven-game road trip.

“We started the game all right,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We broke down a few times on the penalty kill. That took some momentum away. Puck found a way to land on their stick a few times. We weren’t strong enough in front of our own net. There weren’t a lot of breakdowns, outside of we let our guy go and he tapped one in from 6 inches. Funny game. We had our chances.”

Hertl gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 9:07 of the first period, lifting in his own rebound in the crease on the power play.

Stone made it 2-0 with another power-play goal at 13:51. He scored on a deflection in front after Noah Hanifin's initial shot was redirected by Hertl.

“The game changer was special teams,” Hertl said. “Two great power-play goals. ... We’ve been talking a lot about special teams. Special teams can win the game. We did a really good job.”

Pavel Dorofeyev pushed it to 3-0 at 15:12 of the first, jamming in a rebound in front.

Foegele cut the lead to 3-1 at 19:07 of the second period, chipping in a rebound after Joel Edmundson's point shot caromed back off the end boards.

“The two power-play goals early was tough,” Kings forward Trevor Moore said. “We’re just not executing. The effort was there tonight. We didn’t execute.”

Alexander Holtz scored his first of the season on a one-timer from the high slot to make it 4-1 at 2:59 of the third period.

“It was really nice to get that first one out of the way,” said Holtz, who was acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on June 29. “It was a really good pass from [Pietrangelo] there, and it was nice to get a goal.”

Hertl scored his second goal of the game at 8:26, tapping in the rebound of Pietrangelo's shot at the left post to make it 5-1.

Ivan Barbashev scored at 13:25 for the 6-1 final.

“Great performance from everybody,” Hertl said. “Four lines, big win. It’s nice to start a homestand like that.”

NOTE: Golden Knights defenseman Kaedan Korczak drew into the lineup in place of Shea Theodore, who was a late scratch due to an illness. Korczak had an assist and was plus-1 in 17:22 of ice time.