Golden Knights edge Blackhawks despite Donato's hat trick

CHICAGO – Pavel Dorofeyev scored a late power-play goal in the third period to break a 3-3 tie and helped the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Friday.

Victor Olofsson had two goals, and William Karlsson had three assists for the Golden Knights (44-20-8) who have won five straight. They remain seven points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division. Adin Hill made 18 saves.

Dorofeyev sent a wrist shot over Spencer Knight's glove into the top right corner on the power play at 16:49 for the 4-3 lead.

“Listen, I didn’t think we were at our best in terms of awareness,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Guys were behind us a lot tonight, breakaways. That’s not us. We’re usually more on our toes. Credit to Chicago. They’ve got speed. They’ve got some guys who can separate.”

Ryan Donato scored his first NHL hat trick, Ilya Mikheyev had two assists, and Knight made 17 saves for the Blackhawks (21-43-9).

“Obviously the win’s most important, right?” Donato said. “It's nice to obviously have that milestone, it’s really cool for me. Obviously feel super blessed to have that happen, but still need to win.

“I think we've generated a lot of chances obviously against a good team. Puck's going in, that's good. But I think there's obviously a few things that we can clean up at the same time.”

Donato’s breakaway goal gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 16:15 of the first period. Donato took a long pass from Ethan Del Mastro at the blue line and skated in on Hill, who stopped Donato’s first attempt. Donato picked up the rebound and slipped it past Hill's right pad.

Mark Stone tied the game 1-1 at 6:41 of the second period. He took a cross-ice pass from Ivan Barbashev and scored from the left face-off circle.

Olofsson gave Vegas a 2-1 lead at 7:34, taking a backhand pass from Karlsson and scoring from in front of the net.

With the Blackhawks having six skaters on the ice during a delayed penalty call, Donato scored from the bottom of the left circle after taking a feed from Joe Veleno at 16:14 to tie it 2-2.

Donato got the hat trick 15 seconds later, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Mikheyev. The three goals gave Donato a career-high 28 for the season. His previous high was 16 in 2021-22 with Seattle.

“I didn't even have time to really think about it, to be honest with you,” he said of scoring the two goals so quickly. “I've had two (goals) a couple times, and you have time to sit after and think about, ‘Oh gosh.’ … You're thinking about the third. And this time, I really didn't have time to think about it because we were right back out there. And then once it went in, I was relieved, obviously.”

Olofsson scored his second of the game at 2:06 of the third period to tie the game 3-3.

“It was definitely nice to get a couple here,” said Olofsson, who had not scored a goal since Jan. 23. “I haven’t scored in a while, so it definitely helps the confidence and gives me a good boost going forward.”

Olofsson credited his linemate Karlsson.

“Definitely,” Olofsson said. “He’s a great player for us, a great leader. He can do it all out there. He definitely showed his vision and passing skills tonight.”

Brett Howden scored into an empty net at 19:16 for the 5-3 final.

“I think we were just committed to playing a little harder, harder on the puck battles, defending the front of our net,” Cassidy said of the third period. “If you look at Olofsson’s tying goal, we do a good job blocking a shot. We box out well, we get a loose puck. That’s always been a big part of our offense -- playing good defense.

“'Olie' has had a tough go lately, but tonight he was rewarded. He’s been working hard and found a way to get a couple. So good for him. And our power play came through. Timely goals. We’ve talked about that a lot. It’s been good all year. We don’t get a ton of opportunities, but we were able to bury that one.”

NOTES: The Golden Knights recorded their eighth third-period comeback win of the season to match the Flyers and Canadiens for the most among all teams. … Jack Eichel had an assist to extend his points streak to five games (five goals, six assists).