Mark Stone had two goals and an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights evened up their Western Conference First Round playoff series with the Winnipeg Jets following a 5-2 victory at T-Mobile Arena.
Stone, who missed the final 39 games of the regular season with a back injury, hadn't scored since January 5th.
"You can get energized by your line by a point or a goal, so it's good to get that one out of the way", the Vegas captain said. "I don't want to miss this. I want to be a part of it.
"I've said since I got traded here, 'This is the team I want to play for, [the] team I want to win with, go to war with.' So, to be back there means the world to me."
Game 3 is Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg.
Chandler Stephenson and William Karlsson each had a goal and an assist and Jack Eichel scored his first career Stanley Cup playoff goal. Laurent Brossoit made 31 saves for the Golden Knights.
Vegas took 39 shots after being held to 17 in Game 1.
"In the first period, we weren't on our game at all. Some of our veteran guys pulled us into the fight", said head coach Bruce Cassidy. "We recognized after the first that we had to clean up some things to be better. We did.
"We moved some pieces around. You never know how that will impact certain lines, but we realized that it was time to get ot our game. You don't want to dig yourself too deep of a hole.
"You'll have some ups and downs. Give the players credit for that. It was time to get to our game."
Stone's huge game propels Vegas to Game 2 victory
Adam Lowry scored for the third time in the playoffs and Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves for the Jets.
"They were the better team tonight", head coach Rick Bowness said. "They deserved to win that game, there's no question. Did we make it too easy on them? Yeah, we did.
"The most disappointing thing was the execution. Giving up the goals that we gave up. The way we gave them up, that's disappointing. We'll fix it and get ready for Saturday."
Lowry put the Jets in front 1-0 9:18 into the game, tipping in a Neal Pionk slap shot from the point.
Karlsson tied the game in the second period on a wrist shot from the slot, his second goal of the playoffs after scoring just 14 during the regular season.
"I want to contribute and score again. It's always fun and a great feeling", Karlsson said. "I tried to get us on the board, give us energy to the players and the crowd."
Eichel redirected an Alex Pietrangelo shot with 9:25 left in the second period to put the Golden Knights ahead 2-1.
On scoring his first playoff goal, he said "it felt great. It was a long time coming. It's good to contribute. It's a good win by our group. We stuck with it. We won a third period. We won a game."
Kevin Stenlund tied the game as he poked home a pass from Saku Maenalanen on the rush.
Stephenson broke the deadlock with a goal from a rebound and Stone increased the lead to 4-2, tipping in a cross-ice pass from Stephenson right in front of goal.
You can see that [Stephenson] and Mark Stone have great chemistry together", Cassidy said. "When Mark's in the lineup, they bring out the best in each other. ... Together, they're like 'Karly' and [Reilly Smith] to me. They just fit. They know where each other are on the ice."
Stone completed the scoring on a wrist shot from the high slot that was re-directed in off the stick of Winnipeg defenseman Nate Schmidt.
"It's great to see him have a great game", Karlsson said. "He was huge from us tonight. That's what we need."