Golden Knights cap busy day with victory over Senators

There have been dark days for the Golden Knights this season, with injuries and losses piling up.

But Thursday, the clouds parted, the birds sang and the sun shined down on the Knights.

Energized by the acquisition of All-Star center Jack Eichel, the Knights pulled away for a 5-1 victory over the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

“Obviously it’s been a pretty big day, right?” goaltender Robin Lehner said.

Lehner made 38 saves and won for the third time in his past four starts. The Knights offered support in the form of three goals in the second period. They had been outscored 12-3 in the middle period prior to Thursday.

Jonathan Marchessault finished with two goals, including an empty-netter, and forward Brett Howden scored for the first time with the Knights.

William Carrier and Alex Pietrangelo added a goal apiece as the Knights set a season high for goals in regulation and bounced back from Tuesday’s shutout defeat at Toronto that snapped a three-game win streak.

Twelve players recorded at least one point, while Michael Amadio and Mattias Janmark were the lone players not to record a shot on goal.

The Knights (5-5) continue their road trip Saturday with the first of back-to-back games at Montreal and Detroit.

“It was exactly what we needed,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “That’s how we’re going to have to win games. We’re not going to have the luxury of having lines that we can’t play or that don’t show up to play.”

Here are three takeaways from the game:

1. Lehner’s leap

It wasn’t quite a flying save, but Lehner dived across his crease and swept Austin Watson’s shot off the line in the opening minute of the second period, keeping the score 0-0.

“I got lucky,” Lehner said. “I think he fanned a little bit on it, but it’s always nice.”

He also made a windmill glove save on Tim Stutzle early in the third and turned away all 16 Senators shots in the opening period, improving to 9-0-3 lifetime against the club that drafted him in 2009.

Lehner improved to 4-5 with a 2.89 goals-against average and .915 save percentage in nine appearances.

“That’s when we needed him the most was in the first period or that game could have gone sideways quickly,” DeBoer said. “It’s a different game if you’re chasing it all night. He was our best player in the first, kind of allowed us to get our feet under us.”

2. Roy rewarded

When William Karlsson went down with a broken foot, DeBoer tried Howden between Marchessault and Reilly Smith in Toronto. That experiment didn’t work, but it looks like he found the answer against the Senators.

Nicolas Roy moved up in the lineup and tallied two assists while winning nine of 15 faceoffs in 18:02 of ice time.

When that line was on the ice at five-on-five, the Knights had 66.7 of the shot attempts and outchanced Ottawa 11-6 while producing two goals.

“It should be an easy decision on who goes in there because Nic’s been excellent since training camp,” DeBoer said. “He deserves that opportunity and played really well.”

3. Many milestones

Rookie Jonas Rondbjerg picked up an assist on Howden’s goal for his first career NHL point. He wasn’t the only player to hit a significant mark.

Marchessault’s first goal was his 300th career NHL point.

“That’s always fun, but I think I got a couple (milestones) left in the tank,” he told AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.

Leading scorer Chandler Stephenson assisted on Carrier’s goal for his 100th career NHL point, most of which have come since he was traded to the Knights during the 2019-20 season.

Defenseman Nic Hague also appeared in his 100th career NHL game.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.