Marner finds his scoring touch in Golden Knights’ rout of Flames

LAS VEGAS — You really didn’t think Mitch Marner would go an entire season without scoring a goal, did you?

Only a hated Toronto Maple Leafs fan would have hoped for that. But after failing to light the lamp in his first five games as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, Marner scored twice in Saturday’s game against the Calgary Flames at T-Mobile Arena.

It was a night of firsts for the Knights, who rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Flames to remain undefeated in regulation and atop the Pacific Division with a 4-0-2 record.

In addition to Marner’s first Vegas goal, which gave the Knights their first early lead thus far when he scored 46 seconds later, Mark Stone scored twice – the first on a nice pass from Jack Eichel late in the first period for his first goal of the year.

Goaltender Adin Hill had his best outing of the season, earning his first win of the year by stopping 26 of the 27 shots he faced.

But on a night where many players had big performances, Marner was at the top of the list. He doubled his scoring output late in the second period with a nifty move on a power play, swinging the stick in the clear, then switching from forehand to backhand and slipping the puck past a helpless Dustin Wolf to give Vegas a 5-1 lead.

“It’s getting there,” Marner said of his comfort level playing for his new team. “Our trio, me, Herts and Pat (Pavel Dorofeyev), have made great progress in the last two games. We’ve done a good job finding ourselves in the open spots. I’ve become more comfortable with the system, I’ve gotten to know the guys in the locker room. It feels good.”

Stone’s second goal came on the power play early in the third period, as Vegas played a perfect 3-for-3 with the man advantage. But Stone left the game shortly after his second goal after falling and appearing to injure his wrist. Coach Bruce Cassidy had no update on his captain after the game and said he would know more on Sunday. The Knights host Carolina on Monday night.

Eichel played a big role in that success as he contributed to all three power play goals and had four assists that night. It was his second game with four assists and the 10th time a Golden Knights player has done so.

“It’s obviously pretty fun,” Marner said of working on such a deadly power play. “There are so many different players to make plays. For me, it’s just about finding open ice for Jack to make his play and they did a great job down there finding open guys.”

Marner was never afraid of not scoring from the start. He knew the goals would come eventually.

“I knew I would get looks and opportunities,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right things to put myself in a position to have those opportunities.”

Cassidy said he was happy to see the entire line generating offense and making good shifts consistently.

“I think the 5-on-5 with Hertl is starting to work,” he said of Marner playing with Hertl and Dorofeyev. “I’m sure he couldn’t wait to score that first goal. His second goal was unreal.”

Perhaps their exploits on Saturday night will be the catalyst Marner and Stone need to find the back of the net more often. Not that they were devoid of input, mind you. Stone entered the game as Vegas’ second leading scorer behind Eichel with nine assists in the first five games, while Marner had six assists in his first five games. And as veterans, both understand the ebbs and flows of a long season. Neither was pressing in itself. It hadn’t yet gotten to the point where either of them were gripping their sticks a little too tightly.

“I think it was just a matter of patience,” Marner said.

The other big positive from Saturday was Hill’s performance in net. He was solid after Jonathan Huberdeau beat him on a first-period power play, including a save on Joel Farabee after the Knights took a 2-1 lead. If this puck goes in, the Flames are tied and maybe they have a different outlook on things. Instead, they found themselves trailing 3-1 late in the first half and continued the game until the end.

Indeed, there was a lot to like about the team’s performance against the struggling Flames, who are 1-5 so far. And with a tough game coming up Monday against the Hurricanes followed by a three-game, four-day Southeast road trip through Florida and Carolina, the Knights, who have scored six times in back-to-back games and lead the NHL in goals with 26 in six games, may have found a model for success. Score early, score often and let your best players show you the way.

It worked pretty well on Saturday.