Golden Knights hang on to defeat Maple Leafs in Marner return to Toronto

TORONTO -- Mark Stone had two goals and an assist in extending his point streak to 14 games for the Vegas Golden Knights, who defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.

Mitch Marner did not have a point, finishing with one shot on goal and playing 17:25 in his first game at Toronto since the Maple Leafs sent him to the Golden Knights in a sign-and-trade on July 1. He faced his former team for the first time Jan. 15, when he had two assists in a 6-5 overtime win in Las Vegas.

The forward played his first nine NHL seasons with the Maple Leafs, who selected him No. 4 in the 2015 NHL Draft. He is fourth in Toronto history in assists (520) and sixth in points (741).

“He’s one of our own,” Stone said of Marner. “We play for each other, we always have and always will. That’s the motto of our locker room so we definitely wanted to win it for him. We wanted to win it for (Rasmus) Andersson playing his first game and we had a bit of a stinker last night (a 4-3 loss at the Boston Bruins). We didn’t play very well in Boston so we wanted to get back on the saddle and get going. We knew how much this meant to [Marner].”

Marner played his first nine NHL seasons with the Maple Leafs, who selected him No. 4 in the 2015 NHL Draft. The forward is fourth in Toronto history in assists (520) and sixth in points (741).

“It was really kind of in warmups where it felt odd and weird,” Marner said. “It was a little bit of an odd day but happy to get the two points. Yeah, completely, definitely, honestly (relieved it’s over). Don’t have to talk about it anymore and I’m sure their guys are relieved for having not to talk about it too.”

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, Ivan Barbashev had two assists, and Adin Hill made 18 saves for the Golden Knights (25-13-12), who had lost two in a row. Stone has 12 goals and 11 assists during his streak, which is the longest in Vegas history.

Andersson had an assist and played 21:34 in his Golden Knights debut. The defenseman was acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames on Sunday, but he was delayed in joining the team due to visa issues.

“A good puck-mover, on his toes, real assertive with is decision-making,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said of Andersson. “At the end of the game, you can see a bit of that money-type player like Alex Pietrangelo when the game is on the line he is going to find a way to block a shot or make the right play. … He probably should only get better with us.”

Matthew Knies had two assists, and Anthony Stolarz made 25 saves in his first game since Nov. 11 for the Maple Leafs (24-18-9), who are 1-3-2 in their past six. The goalie missed the previous 33 games with an upper-body injury.

“Just wasn’t 60 minutes from us,” Toronto forward John Tavares said. “We were slow to start, our pace wasn’t there. … We really started to come on and get ourselves back in the game and we just weren’t able to maintain that level in the third to find a way to tie it up.”

The Golden Knights went up 1-0 at 1:06 of the first period. After Barbashev sent a pass from behind the net to Stone at the bottom of the right face-off circle, Stone immediately found Eichel with a cross-slot pass, and he one-timed it from the bottom of the circle past Stolarz, who was out of position. The goal extended Eichel's point streak to 11 games (seven goals, 12 assists).

Keegan Kolesar made it 2-0 at 4:31. After Stolarz made a blocker save on Kolesar’s shot from the point and stopped Jonas Rondbjerg’s rebound attempt from the left dot, Kolesar put in a rebound at the top of the crease.

Tavares cut it to 2-1 at 13 seconds of the second period when he backhanded a rebound at the side of the net after Knies’ shot hit the post.

Pavel Dorofeyev extended the lead to 3-1 at 3:32. His initial shot from the slot hit the post, but Tavares fell while trying to clear the rebound, allowing Dorofeyev to get to the loose puck and shoot over Stolarz’s right shoulder.

Braeden Bowman pushed it to 4-1 at 5:16 when he took a pass from Tanner Laczynski and shot high to the glove side from just inside the right dot.

Scott Laughton cut it to 4-2 at 10:04 when he deked and put a backhand between Hill’s pads on a breakaway, and Bobby McMann deflected a shot from Max Domi just inside the left circle to make it 4-3 at 18:19.

“That bothers me more than anything,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “We have the momentum and it doesn’t look like we carried the momentum into the third period. This team played last night in Boston and we have an opportunity to really put the pressure on them in the third period.”

Stone put the Golden Knights up 5-3 at 15:11 of the third with his 250th NHL goal. He took a pass from Barbashev on a 2-on-1 and shot from low in the right circle past a sprawling Stolarz.

Stone scored again with 59 seconds left when he shot into an empty net for the 6-3 final.

“I get starting slow sometimes,” Berube said, “but for me, the third period when the game is right there for us and we have the momentum, we have to push.”

NOTES: Stone has 20 or more goals for the eighth time in his 14 NHL seasons. … Rondbjerg had an assist in his season debut.