Golden Knights hang on to beat Canucks, tied for 1st in Pacific Division

Danny Webster, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Apr 8, 2026

Published in Hockey

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It wasn’t the easiest of wins for the Vegas Golden Knights, but difficulty is never the priority.

What matters is the Knights will wake up in the morning winners of four straight and tied for first place in the Pacific Division after a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

Fourth-line winger Cole Smith broke the tie with 7:47 remaining after he forced a turnover at the blue line, played give-and-go with center Nic Dowd and sniped his eighth goal of the season from the slot.

“It feels great. This was a big game for our team, too,” Smith said. “It feels really good to be able to contribute.”

The win moves the Knights (36-26-16) to 4-0 under new coach John Tortorella and tied with the Edmonton Oilers atop the division with four games remaining.

It’s the first time a Knights coach has opened his tenure with four victories.

Edmonton lost 6-5 in overtime to the Utah Mammoth, with the Knights and Oilers now even at 88 points.

The Anaheim Ducks dropped to third place after losing 5-0 to the Nashville Predators.

The Oilers hold the tiebreaker over the Knights due to regulation wins (30-28).

Brayden McNabb scored, and goaltender Carter Hart recorded his third straight win in his third consecutive start, but only needed to face 10 shots.

All stats but the scoreboard will read the Knights did what they were supposed to do against the NHL’s last-place team.

The shot chart showed the Knights spent most time in the offensive zone with a 22-7 edge through two periods.

“We’re doing a good job going north,” Dowd said. “I think when you do that and stay out of your end, you don’t play defense, you don’t mess around with the neutral zone, and you end up playing more offense.”

But the Canucks broke through first off a harmless wrist shot from Vancouver center Max Sasson that beat Hart blocker side at 12:50 for a 1-0 lead.

The goal came on Vancouver’s fifth shot of the game.

McNabb tied it 2:56 later on a wrist shot from the left circle on a screened Tolopilo to tie it 1-1.

Three of McNabb’s five goals this season have come since March 12.

The Knights had to kill a 6-on-4 in the final 1:41 thanks to an interference penalty on defenseman Rasmus Andersson.

Vancouver goaltender Nikita Tolopilo finished with 26 saves and kept the last-place Canucks (22-47-8) in the game, but the Knights still won for the seventh straight time over Vancouver.

“You have to bear down,” Smith said. “We had a lot of confidence. Everybody contributed toward the end and we finished it off.”

Winger Brandon Saad had an assist in his first game since March 8, replacing Reilly Smith.

The Knights continue their four-game road trip Thursday against the Seattle Kraken.

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