Barbashev's 4-point night helps Golden Knights hold off Blackhawks 7-5

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ivan Barbashev had two goals and two assists, Vegas scored five times in the first period and the Golden Knights held off the Chicago Blackhawks 7-5 on Thursday night.

The Golden Knights increased their Pacific Division lead to four points over Edmonton. They have won four of their past five games.

Chicago has lost four consecutive games, but the Blackhawks got within a goal midway through the third period after trailing 5-1 through one.

Keegan Kolesar also scored twice for the Golden Knights. Tomas Hertl finished with a goal and an assist, and Nicolas Hague and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal. Brett Howden added three assists and Noah Hanifin had two. Ilya Samsonov made 17 saves.

Nick Foligno, Colton Dach, Ethan Del Mastro, Ilya Mikheyev and Philipp Kurashev scored for the Blackhawks. Connor Murphy had three assists and Frank Nazar contributed two. Petr Mrazek was pulled after allowing five goals in the first period. Arvid Soderblom finished the game and made 16 stops.

Jack Eichel became the first Golden Knights player to reach 50 assists in a season, and the third to hit 70 points.

Vegas' five first-period goals tied a team record set three other times.

Golden Knights forward Tanner Pearson appeared in his 700th game.

Blackhawks: Chicago showed fight by nearly pulling off what would've been the second-largest comeback in franchise history.

Golden Knights: Samsonov has allowed nine goals on 29 shots over the past four periods.

Barbashev's goal from the slot with 4:15 left gave the Golden Knights a 7-5 lead.

Hertl's 11th power-play goal of the season tied a Golden Knights record, also set by Eichel in 2023-24 and Erik Haula in 2017-18.

The Blackhawks play their third road game in five days when they visit Anaheim on Saturday. The Golden Knights host New Jersey on Sunday.

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