Utah gets off to a fast start with a lopsided win over the Golden Knights

Jaxson Stauber made 29 saves in his first shutout of his NHL career and Nick Schmaltz scored two goals as the Utah Hockey Club scored four goals in the first period and cruised to a 6-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night in Las Vegas .

Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley and Alexander Kerfoot each had a goal and an assist, Barrett Hayton had two assists and Michael Carcone also scored a goal for Utah, matching the season high for goals in a game.

The 25-year-old Stauber started for only the seventh time in his career and his first time in Utah. He posted a 5-1-0 record with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2022-23 season and spent last season with the Rockford IceDogs of the AHL.

Ilya Samsonov finished the game with 22 saves for Vegas, which suffered its third home loss in 12 games (9-3-0).

Utah, coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Salt Lake City on Friday, took advantage of sloppy play in Las Vegas to take a 4-0 lead in the first period.

Keller opened the barrage at 5:33 with his first goal in 13 games and seventh of the season. He fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle at the end of a two-on-one with Hayton following a Vegas turnover in the neutral zone.

Kerfoot made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal. Samsonov attempted to clear the puck from the left corner of his zone with a long pass into the neutral zone intended for Jack Eichel, but Kerfoot intercepted it near the blue line and then fired a shot past a flying Samsonov for his fifth goal.

Just 69 seconds later, Schmaltz broke a 28-game goal drought from last season when he scored a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle. Cooley made it 4-0 with his sixth goal at 18:44, when Olli Maatta’s shot from the left tip bounced past his hip.

Utah then opened the game with two more goals in the first 5:28 minutes of the second period to increase the score to 6-0. Carcone opened the scoring when he capped a two-on-one rush with a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle into the far corner for his first goal of the season. Schmaltz followed with his second goal of the game, firing a shot into the open net after Cooley’s pass.

–Field level media