The Vegas Golden Knights (37-26-17) clinched a playoff berth for the eighth time in franchise history thanks to a 3-2 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche (52-16-11) Saturday night at Ball Arena.
Jack Eichel scored 1:19 into extra time to seal the victory for the Golden Knights’ 37th win of the year.
Vegas improves to 5-0-1 under new head coach John Tortorella.
The Avalanche opened the scoring midway through the first period on a deep goal that got through Carter Hart on the power play.
It was one Hart would like to have back, though he made an especially strong stop on a Valeri Nichushkin one-timer and stopped 14 out of 15 in the opening frame.
The Golden Knights reset the score on a power play of their own less than five minutes after falling behind thanks to a fantastic individual effort by Mark Stone, who knocked the puck out of the air after a deflection and then backhanded the puck over MacKenzie Blackwood at 13:47.
It was Stone’s fourth goal in the last four games.
There were five combined power plays in the first period, but the two clubs walked away with one goal apiece.
The Golden Knights grabbed their first lead of the night just over two minutes into the second period on a laser by Pavel Dorofeyev for his 36th of the year, which set a career high for the young Russian.
Tortorella went back to the loaded top line of Stone, Eichel and Mitch Marner, and the trio had some excellent shifts but were unable to break through.
Instead, the Avalanche responded with another deep goal, this one off the stick of Nick Blankenburg, whose shot hit the post and then Hart before bouncing into the cage. Former Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy recorded the lone assist on the play.
Vegas controlled things at the start of the period but ultimately yielded momentum to Colorado, who led 26-17 in shots through 40 minutes.
The Golden Knights’ pace kicked up a gear in the third period.
They had a flurry of great chances nine minutes in but were stonewalled by Blackwood, who kicked aside several pucks and got some help from the post on a Tomas Hertl bid that barely missed.
Eichel had a clean look from the slot, but Blackwood stood tall once again to keep things tied at 2-2. Brandon Saad then got behind the defense but hit the crossbar on the breakaway, though he drew a slashing penalty to set up a critical power play for Vegas.
However, Blackwood continued to shine, stopping Hertl on a point-blank chance on the man-advantage and preventing Vegas from potting the go-ahead goal.
Nathan MacKinnon came close to doing just that for Colorado when he got around Shea Theodore and had a glorious opportunity in front, but Hart came up with his biggest stop of the night, making a sprawling save to keep things tied with 3:44 to go.
Blackwood responded with his biggest save of the night when he shut down Keegan Kolesar in front shortly thereafter.
The Golden Knights slowed things down and played a much safer game in the final minutes of regulation in order to reach extra time and secure at least one point in Denver.
Another big save by Hart in overtime preceded what proved to be the biggest goal of the year for Vegas in overtime. Eichel beat Blackwood in transition to help Vegas come away with the second point and also secure a trip to the postseason for the eighth time in nine years.
This was a fantastic effort by the Golden Knights, who played fast and kept up with the Avalanche at every point in the contest.
They didn’t allow the game to spin out of control when Colorado scored, and they played patiently, cleaned things up in the neutral zone as the game wore on and looked like a true playoff contender.
Hart is 4-0-0 in his last four starts and has solidified his role as the Golden Knights’ starter moving forward. He finished the night with 30 saves on 32 shots for a .938 save percentage. He made timely saves when he needed to, including in the waning minutes of regulation and in overtime.
Once again, Tortorella leaned heavily on Rasmus Andersson, who led the team in ice time with 25:51, playing more than four minutes more than everyone else on the team.
The Golden Knights went 1-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. It wasn’t a perfect effort, but it was an impressive performance against the league-best Avalanche for the final road game of the regular season. Vegas played with pace, confidence and skill, and everyone chipped in.
The Golden Knights are currently in first place in the Pacific Division standings with 91 points through 80 games. The Oilers also clinched on Saturday after Philadelphia defeated Winnipeg 7-1. The third-place Ducks have 89 points with a game in hand, though Vegas owns the tiebreaker.
Utah locked up one of the Western Conference wildcard slots, and the Kings are the second wildcard team for now with 87 points in 79 games.
The Golden Knights have just two games remaining in the regular season and will wrap things up on home ice against Winnipeg on Monday and Seattle on Wednesday.