Golden Knights report: Ex-Vegas forward gets tribute video
Golden Knights vs. Bruins
RJ’s three stars
3. Bruins right wing David Pastrnak — He scored twice to give him 31 goals this season, the sixth-most in the NHL. It’s the fifth time in the past six seasons that he’s hit the 30-goal mark. He scored 20 in 48 games last season.
2. Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman — The NHL’s rookie of the month for February made 34 saves for his 14th win of the season. He hasn’t allowed more than two goals in his past seven starts.
1. Bruins right wing Craig Smith — He snapped a 12-game goal drought by recording the third hat trick of his career and second with Boston. He scored in all three periods.
Key play
Smith’s second goal.
The 32-year-old set up his second game-winning goal with his forechecking. He and Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb raced for a loose puck behind the goal line, and McNabb fell down. The puck stayed loose. Smith cut off center William Karlsson from getting to it, leading Karlsson to fall.
Smith was free to head to the other side of the net with two defenders on the ice after center Charlie Coyle recovered the puck. Coyle sent a pass across the zone to his open linemate, and Smith buried it for his eighth goal of the season.
Key stat
19 — The number of goals the Knights have scored since the All-Star break.
They have the third-fewest in the NHL in that span. Their 2.11 goals per game are also the third-fewest. It’s a major reason they are 3-5-1 in this nine-game stretch.
The Knights scored 3.35 goals per game before the All-Star break, the eighth-most in the NHL. They’ve since seen captain Mark Stone (back), left wing Max Pacioretty (lower body) and left wing Mattias Janmark (upper body) come out of the lineup with injuries.
Nosek returns
T-Mobile Arena’s first goal scorer returned Thursday.
Center Tomas Nosek made his first appearance in the building since signing with Boston as a free agent in the offseason. Nosek played for the Knights in their first four seasons after being selected from Detroit in the 2017 expansion draft. He scored the first goal in the team’s first game in its home building, a 5-2 win over Arizona on Oct. 10, 2017.
Nosek tallied 31 goals and 34 assists in 240 games with the Knights. The team played a tribute video for him on the videoboard during the first media timeout.
Knights’ next 10
At Anaheim, 7 p.m. Friday
Vs. Ottawa, 5 p.m. Sunday
At Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Tuesday
At Buffalo, 4 p.m. Thursday
At Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. March 11
At Columbus, 3 p.m. March 13
At Winnipeg, 5 p.m. March 15
Vs. Florida, 7:30 p.m. March 17
Vs. Los Angeles, 1 p.m. March 19
At Minnesota, 5 p.m. March 21
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.