ST. LOUIS — Reilly Smith’s overtime goal lifted Vegas to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night that snapped a two-game losing streak for the Golden Knights.
Smith’s power-play goal with 2:22 left in the extra period came off a off-timer from Jonathan Marchessault’s pass.
Mark Stone, Tomas Nosek, Alec Martinez and Marchessault also scored for Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury, playing after being removed from COVID-19 protocol due to a false positive, made 19 saves.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Zach Sanford each had a goal and an assist, and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington made 35 saves as St. Louis lost its third straight game in overtime.
The teams complete a two-game set on Saturday.
Peron’s power-play goal, set up by a falling Brayden Schenn, gave the Blues a 4-3 lead with 9:20 left in the third.
Martinez answered 47 seconds later, scoring off a rebound of Shea Theodore’s shot to tie it at 4.
Vegas took control with two goals in a 35-second span late in the first period.
Stone got it going with a tip for his seventh of the season. Marchessault banged home a rebound off Smith’s shot to make it 2-0 with 4:31 left in the first.
O’Reilly got the Blues back in it with a one-timer at the 5:14 mark of the second period, set up by some slick tic-tac-toe passing by Justin Faulk and Zach Sanford.
Nosek regained the two-goal advantage for Vegas with a one-timer that made it 3-1 midway through the second.
Tarasenko, playing in just his third game of the season after rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder, cleaned up a rebound off a rush by Sammy Blais to cut Vegas’ lead to 3-2 with 6:24 left in the second. It was Tarasenko’s first goal in nearly 17 months, dating to Oct. 21, 2019.
Sanford’s power-play goal at the 4:53 mark of the third period tied it at 3. The Blues have scored a power-play goal in six straight and entered the game No. 1 in the NHL with the man advantage in March.
HOMECOMING ON HOLD
Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was supposed to play his first game at Enterprise Center against his old team, but instead returned home after suffering an upper body injury against San Jose last Saturday.
Pietrangelo played his first 12 seasons for St. Louis and was the captain on the Blues’ 2019 Stanley Cup champion team. He signed a seven-year, $61.6 million contract with the Golden Knights in the offseason.
BLUE NOTES
St. Louis signed Binnington to a six-year, $36 million contract extension on Thursday. … Blues center Oskar Sundqvist returned to the lineup after missing the last two games due to an undisclosed injury.
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