WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and said the expansion Vegas Golden Knights sent a message, bouncing back with a 3-1 series-evening victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference final.
"Every time we need a big game as a group, we show up," Marchessault said. "We showed the hockey world we earned the right to be here."
Tomas Tatar scored 6:37 into the game for the Golden Knights, and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 30 saves.
Kyle Connor scored midway through the third period to pull Winnipeg within a goal. Marchessault restored the two-goal lead 1:28 later.
Connor Hellebuyck had 25 saves for the Jets.
After losing the series opener, Marchessault told reporters the team faced a must-win game.
"If you're going to talk out there in the media that you have to be better, I think you need to lead by example," he said. "I tried to do that."
Game 3 is Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
"I don't think anybody is panicking," Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "We like our road game. We like where it was in the Nashville series."
Winnipeg won three times on the top-seeded Predators' home ice, including Game 7 last week.
Fleury, who helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win three Stanley Cups, made key stops early.
"Fleury had to make three or four really good saves in the first seven minutes," Vegas Coach Gerard Gallant said. "We rebounded after that. We got that 2-0 lead, and it was a different game for us. When teams are chasing the lead, it's tough for teams to battle back."
Vegas generated offense by making plays without the puck, forcing turnovers to set up goals.
"We were on them," Golden Knights forward Erik Haula said. "That's our game. We're a fast team. I think we showed that."
After the Jets failed to control the puck out of a corner in their end, Tatar ended up stuffing the puck in the net after hitting the side of the net with a shot.
Connor was pressured into turning over the puck near center ice late in the opening period and Reilly Smith set up Marchessault, his former Florida Panthers teammate, at the blue line and he scored on a breakaway backhander.
"There was about 57 minutes of that game that was pretty good for us," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "Three minutes of it got away from us."
The Jets closed the scoreless second period and started the third on the power play but still couldn't get the puck past Fleury.
Winnipeg kept the pressure on by relentlessly forechecking and drew another penalty early in the third. Connor took advantage, squeezing a shot between Fleury and the post from the bottom of the left circle 7:17 into the third.
That whipped the white-clad fans into a frenzy, but they were quickly quieted by another Marchessault backhander.
The Jets pulled their goaltender to add another skater over the last couple of minutes, but Fleury didn't let the puck get past him again.
Sports on 05/15/2018