LAS VEGAS — The Kings looked like a team that could use several weeks off.

Mark Stone had a goal and two assists and the Vegas Golden Knights took control early Thursday night by scoring four times on their first six shots for a 4-1 victory over the Kings, the final game for both teams before the NHL’s Olympic break.

The Kings have lost four of their past five games and sits three points behind the Ducks in the race for the final Western Conference wild-card playoff spot. Vegas goes into the break with back-to-back victories after losing seven of eight games. The Golden Knights have a four-point lead over Edmonton for first place in the Pacific Division.

Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights. Mitch Marner scored a goal for his 799th career point and Ivan Barbashev extended his points streak to five games with two assists.

Barbashev’s four-game goal streak, however, ended. Eichel extended his points streak to four games and now has 200 assists in a Golden Knights uniform.

Vegas’ Adin Hill made 32 saves for his 100th career victory, his most stops since having 34 in a March 15, 2025 game against Buffalo.

Trevor Moore scored for the Kings and Anton Forsberg stopped 18 shots. Anze Kopitar picked up an assist for his 1,300th career point, the 39th skater in NHL history to accomplish that feat.

Adrian Kempe’s eight-game points streak came to an end.

The Golden Knights, plagued by slow starts during the eight-game stretch when they went 1-5-2, scored their four goals in the span of 5:27 midway through the opening period – and they came on four consecutive shots.

Eichel, alone in the left circle, started the spurt at the 8:22 mark with a wrist shot past Forsberg’s glove side. Stone, skating down the slot, then put in a backhand shot off a Barbashev pass at 11:49.

Dorofeyev made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 13:29, blasting a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle for his team-leading 26th goal, 14 of which have come on the power play.

Marner scored 20 seconds later with a one-timer short-side from the lower left circle off a spinning pass from Dorofeyev.

Moore cut it to 4-1 at the 15:03 mark of the first period when he sped past Shea Theodore on the right wing and chipped in a shot over Hill.

Kings forward Andrei Kuzmenko had to be helped off the ice with 1:42 left in the first period after being hit in the upper left jaw with a puck. Kuzmenko returned briefly in the second period before being declared out with an upper-body injury.

The Golden Knights won despite taking six penalties, though one was a fighting major shared by both teams. The Kings couldn’t make the hosts pay, going 0 for 5 on the power play. The last time the Golden Knights committed six penalties was Nov. 20 against Utah, also a 4-1 victory.

Kings winger Artemi Panarin, acquired on Wednesday in a trade with the New York Rangers, was not in the lineup, as expected. He had 57 points in 52 games for New York, but hadn’t played or practiced in about a week.

More to come on this story.

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The Kings host the Golden Knights on Feb. 25, which is expected to be Panarin’s debut.