3 takeaways from Golden Knights’ win: Road trip wraps up on high note

As the offense was struggling to get out of the starting gate Saturday night, the Golden Knights had to rely on defense and goaltending to keep them in the final game of a five-game road trip.

That bought the Knights enough time to score twice in the third period and cap off an impressive road run with a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

“I would say we’re not at the top of our game now, but we’re in every game,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We know how to play in these games. We don’t usually take ourselves out of it.

The Knights trailed Columbus (13-13-6) 2-1 at 4:49 of the third after Blue Jackets right wing Yegor Chinakhov broke the tie. The blue line took matters into its own hands.

Defensemen Ben Hutton and Brayden McNabb gave the Knights the lead, with Hutton tying it 1:03 after Chinakhov’s goal. McNabb scored the winner with 6:47 remaining for his first goal of the season.

Pavel Dorofeyev added a power-play goal, and Mitch Marner had all three primary assists to give the Knights (16-6-9) nine of a possible 10 points on the seasonlong trip.

“A lot of different moving parts. A lot of different hotels. Late nights, early mornings,” Marner said. “I think our team’s done a good job of adapting quickly to that, though.”

Goaltender Carter Hart finished with 27 saves to improve to 3-0-1 in four starts since joining the Knights.

“We did a good job boxing guys out and tying up some sticks for second chances,” Hart said on the Knights’ postgame show. “I thought we really competed around our net, got some big blocks.”

McNabb’s heroics offensively almost were for naught. The Knights’ ironman, in his 291st consecutive game, was called for a high-sticking double minor with 2:59 remaining that caused Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli to bleed.

The Knights killed it, including the final minute at six-on-four. The penalty kill went 4-for-4.

“Stressful,” McNabb said. “That was not a great play by me. The guys did a heck of a job killing it.”

Here are three takeaways from the win:

1. Night of the defensemen

The two blueliners who aren’t known for their offense are why the Knights got the win.

Hutton scored his fourth goal of the season, one away from tying his career high, when he took the pass from Marner in the slot and beat Columbus goalie Jet Greaves glove side.

“I kind of took the ice that I had there,” Marner said. “(Hutton) was coming late and the D had to make a decision of where he wanted to go and he was playing the two-on-one.”

Marner capped off his second three-point game with the Knights by finding McNabb near the goal line, firing a sharp-angle shot.

“I kind of knew I was going to shoot it, regardless of where I got it,” McNabb said. “I haven’t really chipped in much this year. It hasn’t been there, so to see it go in, it helps, for sure.”

2. Hart keeps it tied

The Knights’ offense struggled to get things going through two periods. Columbus, meanwhile, attacked off the rush with ease.

Their goaltender came up huge when the Knights needed a spark.

Hart made three massive stops in succession midway through the second period, starting with a breakaway stop on Cole Sillinger and the rebound attempt on center Charlie Coyle.

On the ensuing shift, Hart robbed Columbus captain Boone Jenner with a glove save on a partial two-on-none opportunity.

Hart gave the Knights a chance going into the third much like he did Sunday against the New York Rangers with 14 saves on 16 shots in the second.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Hart said. “My first road trip of the year with the boys, and it’s a lot of fun to be part of.”

3. Dorofeyev didn’t return

The Knights had to finish the game down a forward with Dorofeyev missing the third period.

There was no update postgame.

Dorofeyev blocked a shot with his foot Thursday against Philadelphia that had him hobbling, but he remained in the game. It’s unclear if that was in relation to that, or something else entirely.

Dorofeyev has appeared in 126 consecutive games. He played all 82 last season in his first full NHL year. The Knights will be off Sunday, so there likely won’t be an update until Monday.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.