Hurricanes outlast Knights in shootout
LAS VEGAS -- Carolina left winger Phil Di Giuseppe scored the decisive goal in a shootout to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 win over Vegas on Tuesday night, snapping the Golden Knights' four-game winning streak.
The Hurricanes (12-11-7) won the shootout 2-1 at the T-Mobile Arena behind the goals of Di Giuseppe and Brock McGinn. Reilly Smith scored a shootout goal for Vegas (19-9-2), which was defeated by veteran goalie Cam Ward, who notched his 300th career win.
Ward finished with 22 saves.
Marcus Kruger and Trevor van Riemsdyk scored in regulation for the Hurricanes. Both were traded by Vegas to the Hurricanes during the summer for draft picks. The goals were the first of the season for each player.
Deryk Engelland and Reilly Smith lit the lamp for the Golden Knights.
The game marked the return of Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who missed 25 games since Oct. 13 with a concussion. Fleury, a 14-year veteran, started and made 35 saves, including four stops during two Carolina power plays in the third period.
Both goalies, Fleury and 12-year veteran Ward, defended their net well in the third period. Fleury had 15 saves in the period and Ward seven.
The Hurricanes struck first at 16:25 in the first period after Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb attempted to clear the zone but struck Kruger's stick and the puck ricocheted past an unsuspecting Fleury.
After Vegas tied the game with an Engelland wrist shot close to the blue line at 1:07 of the second period, Van Riemsdyk picked up a loose pick and wristed it past Fleury. The goal at the 4:38 mark of the middle period gave Carolina a short-lived 2-1 lead.
Vegas defenseman Colin Miller's stretch pass caught Smith in stride, and Smith beat Ward to tie the game at 2 at the 12:48 mark of the second period. Smith has nine goals this season.
NOTES: Vegas activated G Marc-Andre Fleury from injured reserve and assigned G Maxime Lagace to Chicago of the American Hockey League. Lagace started for Chicago on Tuesday night, three days after he earned the victory with a career-high 36 saves for the Golden Knights in a 5-3 win over Dallas. ... Carolina C Victor Rask scored a goal in three consecutive games before Tuesday, matching his career-high streak set last season from March 24-27. He came close to scoring another Tuesday, but his shot hit off the right post with 3:54 left in the first period. ... Vegas F William Carrier (upper-body injury), G Oscar Dansk (lower-body injury), F Mikhail Grabovski (concussion) and D Clayton Stoner (undisclosed) are on injured reserve.