WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) 鈥� Ivan Barbashev broke a late tie and added an empty-netter, Logan Thompson made 39 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Thursday night.
Barbashev made it 2-1 with a high backhander past Connor Hellebuyck with 5:29 left, then scored into the empty net with 1:45 remaining.
鈥淎t the end of the day, those types of wins mean a little bit more,鈥� Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a playoff team. It鈥檚 a team we鈥檙e starting to develop a mutual hatred for. It was physical and those bring the best out of us, I think, those types of games.鈥�
Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring late in the first period, and Jack Eichel also had an empty-net goal. Defending champion Vegas improved to 40-25-8, going 7-3-1 in its last 11 and 2-0-1 on a four-game trip.
Sean Monahan tied it for Winnipeg early in the second, and Hellebuyck made 23 saves. The Jets have lost five straight to match their worst skid of the season and fall to 44-23-6.
鈥淭hat was a good team we played tonight and we outplayed them. We just didn鈥檛 score,鈥� Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said.
The intensity kicked in early when towering Jets defenseman Logan Stanley traded punches with mismatched Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar.
鈥淭hat all started from the first shift out there,鈥� Barbashev said. 鈥淩eally physical game and it just felt like a playoff game, to be honest.鈥�
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: At Minnesota on Saturday.
Jets: Host Ottawa on Saturday night.
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AP NHL:
The Associated Press
