LAS VEGAS — Shea Theodore scored the lone goal in a shootout — in the fourth round — giving the Golden Knights a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night before an announced crowd of 18,033 at T-Mobile Arena.
Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist and Jack Eichel also scored for Western Conference-leading Knights, for the eighth time in 11 games (8-1-2).
Adin Hill had a career-high 46 saves.
“Tonight was kind of a playoff-type game,” Hill said. “I’m glad we got the win. They have some good players and a lot of skill in their lineup. They’re a fast team.”
Coach Bruce Cassidy said his Golden Knights weren’t initially ready to handle the Devils’ speed, which showed as they were outshot 16-4 in the first period and fell behind 2-1.
“Tonight we weren’t prepared to play, but Adin sure was,” Cassidy said. “It was a great performance. Good for Adin. He was really on tonight.”
The victory was the Golden Knights’s eighth straight at home; their last loss at T-Mobile was 3-2 to Detroit on Jan. 19.
Dawson Mercer, Jesper Bratt and Miles Wood scored for New Jersey, which is 9-2-2 in its last 13 games. Akira Schmid had 25 saves.
After an overtime period in which New Jersey had an 8-0 edge in shots, the first seven shooters in the tiebreaker were stopped before Theodore beat Schmid.
Wood tied the score 3-3 with 7:07 left in the third as he converted his rebound from in front after a centering pass from Jesper Boqvist.
Eichel had given the Golden Knights the lead 3:47 into the third as beat Schmid through the five-hole after a pass from Marchessault on a 2-on-1 rush.
Marchessault got the Knights’ opening goal 7:48 into the game. It was his 400th career point (178 goals, 222 assists).
Bratt tied it 1-1 on a power play with his 25th goal with 4:44 left in the first, and Mercer put the Devils ahead with 28 seconds left in the opening period as he scored for the eighth straight game.
“I liked the way we started the game,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “But their goalie made a couple of big saves.”
Marchessault tied it 2-2 with his 19th with 7:10 remaining in the second.