Eichel’s 3-point game sparks Vegas to 7-4 win over Blues

By WARREN MAYES
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jack Eichel had two goals and an assist, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to a 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night in the regular-season finale for both teams.

The Blues, who finished third in the Central Division, will open the postseason at Minnesota next week. St. Louis, which lost its final two games, finished with a record of 49-22-11 and 109 points.

For the first time since entering the NHL as an expansion franchise in the 2017-18 season, the Golden Knights missed the playoffs. Vegas ended the season at 43-31-8 with 94 points.

William Karlsson scored the go-ahead goal 3:40 into the third period on a wrist shot, handing the Blues just their second loss (14-2-2) in their last 17 games. Jonathan Marchessault’s 30th goal, which was unassisted, came at 6:41.

Zach Whitecloud and Mark Stone also scored for Vegas. Max Pacioretty added an empty net goal at 17:44.

Ryan O’Reilly had two goals and Jordan Kyrou and David Perron also scored for St. Louis.

Logan Thompson faced just 18 shots in making his 17th NHL start in goal and first against the Blues.

St. Louis goalie Ville Husso fell to 9-1-2 in his last 12 appearances. He faced 44 shots.

O’Reilly scored the lone Blues goal in the final period. His power-play score at 13:20 made it a one-goal game.

Each team scored twice in the second period.

O’Reilly gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead at 4:40. That was his 20th goal. O’Reilly became the ninth Blues skater with at least 20 goals, the most in a season since St. Louis 10 in 1980-81. A power-play goal by Kyrou gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead at 12:24. His 27th goal came on a hard wrist shot from the slot.

Vegas got the goal back when Eichel tipped a wrist shot by Whitecloud from the blue line at 9:08. The Golden Knights made it 3-3 on a goal by Whitecloud from the right circle. Eichel assisted on the score at 15:32.

Each team scored a goal in the first period.

Stone got Vegas on the board at 13:41 with a power-play goal. Alex Pietrangelo shot was blocked, but Stone was parked on the doorstep for the rebound and put it in. Stone has 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) in 22 games against the Blues.

St. Louis tied it 1-1 when Perron wristed in a rebound of his own shot at 16:05. It was his 27th goal this season.

ICE CHIPS

Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog watched the game from a suite and drew a rousing ovation when he was shown on the videoboard. … Blues D Robert Bortuzzo returned to action after missing one game with an undisclosed injury. … The Blues won the season series 2-1-0 against Vegas. They are 6-3-1 against the Golden Knights at Enterprise Center since they entered the NHL in 2017-18.

INJURIES

Knights: LW Reilly Smith (knee). RW Keegan Kolesar (undisclosed). G Robin Lehner (shoulder).

Blues: Brayden Schenn (upper-body) and Marco Scandella (lower-body).

___

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports