Golden Knights defeat Predators to clinch Pacific Division 

LAS VEGAS – The Vegas Golden Knights clinched the Pacific Division title with a 5-3 victory against the Nashville Predators at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

After Nashville came from two goals down in the third period, Noah Hanifin put the Golden Knights ahead 4-3 at 18:05 with a one-timer from the point.

“We're trying to get the puck to the net, and that's something we've been focusing on as a D corps. Just getting more shots from the blue line,” Hanifin said. “Fortunately, we got one by there.”

Ivan Barbashev added an empty-net goal for the 5-3 final with two seconds remaining.

Brett Howden, Nicolas Roy and Alexander Holtz also scored for the Golden Knights (49-22-9), who secured home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Adin Hill made 14 saves.

“This is just the beginning,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “But it's good when you have high expectations and standards. That is a good thing. Pressure, people talked about that before, all pressure's on. … So, we'll welcome the pressure. That probably means you're doing well in something, right? It means you're playing in high-stakes games. That's what's there for us around the corner. The way we approach things. We want to be held to a standard and have a reasonable chance to meet it, and we did.”

Jonathan Marchessault scored in his return to Vegas, and Jordan Oesterle and Marc Del Gaizo also scored for the Predators (29-43-8), who had won back-to-back games. Justus Annunen made 24 saves.

“It was a disappointment,” said Marchessault, who spent seven seasons in Vegas and is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. “They were all over us, and we couldn't manage to make a play. In the third period, we battled back, and I give credit to one of the best teams in the League. They find a way to win hockey games, and they got the fourth goal, and we couldn't come back.”

Oesterle gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 8:11 of the first period, one-timing a centering pass from Luke Evangelista on the rush.

Howden tied it 1-1 at 4:02 of the second period when he roofed a wrist shot from the left face-off dot, then Roy controlled a centering pass from Keegan Kolesar with his skate and beat Annunen with a quick shot from the slot to make it 2-1 at 5:36.

Holtz extended it to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 11:09. Reilly Smith got the puck in the high slot and slipped a backhanded pass to William Karlsson at the bottom of the left circle, who hit Holtz with a cross-crease touch pass for a backdoor tap-in.

Marchessault cut it to 3-2 at 1:02 of the third period with a tap-in at the left post after Zachary L'Heureux spun around Brayden McNabb in the right circle and sent a pass across the crease.

Marchessault had 417 points (192 goals, 225 assists) in 514 games with Vegas and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP en route to lifting the Stanley Cup in 2023.

“It definitely never happened to me, scoring in ‘The Fortress’ and being that silent,” he said. “It was just a great atmosphere, great building, happy to see the fans and the organization. I mean, I couldn't say more good things about top to bottom here.”

Del Gaizo tied it 3-3 at 4:58 when Andreas Englund’s point shot redirected off his helmet.

“We didn't quit again tonight,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “It's really disappointing how we let a goal in late in the game. We had a lot of breakdowns on that shift. If we could have kept that tight, I'd like our chances in overtime and shootout."

NOTES: Marchessault recorded his eighth 20-goal season, which trails only Artemi Panarin (nine) for the most by an active undrafted player. …. The Golden Knights became the second franchise in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) with four or more division titles within their first eight seasons, joining the Edmonton Oilers (six from 1979-87).