Lehner gets first shutout of season, Vegas beats Devils 3-0

LAS VEGAS (AP) — William Karlsson scored his 100th career goal, Robin Lehner stopped 27 shots in his 300th career game and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Tuesday night.

Lehner, who was acquired in a trade with Chicago on Feb. 24, recorded his first shutout of the season and improved to 2-0-0 since joining the Golden Knights. He beat Buffalo is in first start for Vegas.

Max Pacioretty and Ryan Reaves also scored for the Golden Knights.

New Jersey’s Mackenzie Blackwood, who went 6-0-1 with two shutouts, had a .967 save percentage and a league-best 1.27 goals-against-average during the month of February, made 29 saves but fell to 0-2-0 against Vegas. In his two starts against the Golden Knights this season, Blackwood has allowed seven goals.

After a flawless first period by both goaltenders, the Golden Knights opened the second period by scoring quickly. William Karlsson gathered a loose puck near the high slot in New Jersey’s offensive zone, and sent a perfectly placed no-look, backhand pass to Pacioretty, who raced in and beat Blackwood with a wrister from the top of the left circle.

Pacioretty came close to making it 2-0 with 1:43 left in the second period, but Blackwood stonewalled the attempt from in front of the net with a point-blank save.

Karlsson took care of putting Vegas up by two just 37 seconds into the third period. Nicolas Roy carried the puck into the slot before dishing to Karlsson, who rifled a one-timer past Blackwood to hit the century mark for his career.

Reaves notched his eighth goal of the season later in the third, when he punched in the loose puck during a scramble in front of Blackwood.

NOTES: Vegas F William Carrier played in his 200th career game. … Devils F Nikita Gusev was signed to a one-year, entry-level contract by the Golden Knights during the 2019 playoffs, but never played for them. Vegas traded the restricted free agent to New Jersey last July, and he’s now the Devils’ second-leading scorer with 42 points. … During an impressive late third-period shift for Vegas, rookie D Zach Whitecloud blocked two vicious shots. He went straight to the locker room after the shift to get checked out.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host St. Louis Blues on Friday.

Golden Knights: Open a five-game trip in Winnipeg on Friday.