Tomas Hertl scored twice in the third period as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 at KeyBank Center on Sunday afternoon.
After a scoreless opening period, Vegas broke through midway through the second frame. Mitch Marner netted an unassisted shorthanded goal with a wrist shot at 12:17. Just 86 seconds later, Jack Eichel extended the advantage to 2-0 with an even-strength wrist shot off a pass from Ivan Barbashev.
Buffalo cut the deficit early in the third period when Beck Malenstyn beat Adin Hill with a wrist shot at 4:26, assisted by Tyson Kozak and Mattias Samuelsson. The response from Vegas came quickly. Hertl restored the two-goal margin at 5:43 on a wrist shot setup by Marner, then added his second wrist shot of the frame at 10:00 with assists from Barbashev and Shea Theodore to cap the scoring.
Hill stopped 28 of 29 shots to earn the victory for the Golden Knights, while Colten Ellis made 22 saves on 26 shots for Buffalo. Neither team capitalized on the man advantage, as both clubs finished 0 for 3 on the power play.
The win extended the Golden Knights' winning streak to three games and improved their regular-season record to 12-5-2. Buffalo dropped to 8-6-3 on the season, while Malenstyn's third-period tally marked his first goal of the campaign.
Both teams return to the ice on Wednesday, November 11. The Sabres will host the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:00 PM ET, while the Golden Knights will host the Utah Mammoth at 9:30 PM ET.
