The Vegas Golden Knights are one win away from the third Stanley Cup Final appearance in nine seasons after defeating the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 in Game 3 Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights now lead the best-of-seven series 3-0 after pulling off a miraculous come-from-behind win, their second straight of the series.
It was all Avalanche in the first period, and the road team made it count with a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes. However, Vegas stormed back with three goals in the second, adding two more in the third to secure the win.
Both Mark Stone and Cale Makar returned to their respective lineups. Makar was still visibly nursing an injury, as he was hesitant with the puck and turned down many opportunities to shoot. Nathan MacKinnon suffered a leg injury after blocking a shot in the second period, which limited his effectiveness for the rest of the game.
But the Vegas captain had himself quite a night after missing five straight games. Not only did he score a power-play goal and add an assist, but he also recorded three shots and four hits in 15:45 to make his mark (pun intended).
Even though the Avalanche outshot the Golden Knights 35-23 and led 73-47 in shot attempts at all strengths, the Golden Knights led in high-danger chances in all three periods, including the first one, which was Vegas’ worst of the round.
The Avalanche came to play, recording eight of the first nine shots on goal. MacKinnon was gifted a clean look early, but Carter Hart made a massive save to hold off Colorado’s superstar.
However, the Avalanche still managed to score twice in the first 7:03 of the contest.
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog opened the scoring for the road team on a rebound just 3:21 into the game. Devon Toews started the play, using a speed burst to get around Noah Hanifin and then throwing the puck on net. Hart made the initial stop, but a driving Landeskog put home the rebound from the top of the crease.
The two clubs traded back-to-back 2-on-1’s, but neither side was able to get a shot off due to excellent defensive plays by Colorado’s Logan O’Connor and Vegas’ Brayden McNabb.
However, the Avalanche scored again thanks to a spectacular play made by Josh Manson behind his own net. Manson danced around a Vegas defender, skated into the zone and then hit Martin Necas with a stretch pass. Vegas caught up to Necas, who was forced to turn away from the net. However, he sent a behind-the-back pass across the zone to a streaking Nazem Kadri, who beat Hart short-side to make it 2-0.
The Golden Knights appeared to score on a power play with 7:29 remaining in the opening frame, which would have made it a one-goal game. Pavel Dorofeyev used a cross-check motion to knock the puck out of mid-air and into the back of the cage. The goal was immediately waived off, but Dorofeyev indicated he hit the puck with his stick, which triggered a review.
A lengthy review ultimately upheld the call on the ice. The league explained after the fact that Dorofeyev did use his glove to direct the puck into the net, though the video evidence on the broadcast didn’t conclusively show that.
In any case, the Golden Knights still had time left on the power play, but it was Colorado that took advantage. Jack Drury got a shorthanded breakaway less than a minute after the extended stoppage, beating Hart on a backhand move along the ice to give the Avalanche a three-goal advantage in a stunning sequence of events.
It was quite a deflating swing for the home team, and T-Mobile Arena grew surprisingly quiet.
The Vegas penalty kill then had to go back to work to kill off a Rasmus Andersson hooking penalty, which it took care of. The Golden Knights then got another power play of their own, and Jack Eichel had some daylight and a step on the shorthanded Avalanche. However, Artturi Lehkonen hooked him just enough to make him lose his balance, shutting down the opportunity.
With no call made, the Golden Knights entered intermission down by three with 1:19 of carry-over time on the power play to start the second.
In the end, Vegas only needed 19 of those 79 seconds, as Stone beat Scott Wedgewood on a tip in front off a pass from Mitch Marner. The goal, Stone’s fourth of the postseason, made it a two-goal game early in the second.
Vegas turned the game upside down when William Karlsson scored his first of the postseason at 4:05 to cut the deficit to one. Karlsson knocked home a rebound to make it 3-2 with his first goal since Oct. 26.
It was Marner’s second assist of the period, adding to his league-leading total of 21 points in the playoffs.
The Golden Knights continued to win races to loose pucks, outworking Colorado in the second period.
The Avalanche got another power play at 3-2, but the Vegas penalty kill came through once more, with Hart making a big stop on Kadri.
MacKinnon then blocked a Shea Theodore shot, which caused him to stay down on the ice for a while. He was able to skate off on his own, but he looked to be in considerable pain.
Just 40 seconds later, Keegan Kolesar scored his first of the playoffs on the rebound to reset the score at 3-3 and make it a brand new ballgame.
Kolesar got away with interference at the blue line but proceeded to the net and stood at the top of the paint. He got his stick on a point shot from Dylan Coghlan and then cleaned up the rebound in the crease. Kaedan Korczak recorded the secondary assist on the play, which made it a 3-3 game at 12:46.
The Golden Knights were outshot 12-8 in the second, but they scored three goals on those eight shots to tie things up ahead of a crucial third period.
MacKinnon was not on the bench to start the third but eventually returned, though he was in obvious pain and couldn’t take regular shifts.
Cole Smith sustained an injury after getting checked by Brent Burns, which sent him straight to the locker room.
But the Golden Knights were focused on playing their game, and they potted what proved to be the game-winner just 8:21 into the third period.
It was Tomas Hertl, who had two glorious chances early in the first period but was unable to convert. This time, however, he made no mistake.
It was vintage Hertl, as he deked around a defender, cut to the net and lifted a gorgeous backhand shot over Wedgewood to give Vegas its first lead of the night. Stone set up the play with a touch pass, and Korczak picked up his second helper of the game with the secondary assist.
Just ahead of the midway point of the period, Marner was called for tripping, setting up a critical Colorado power play in a one-goal game. MacKinnon was on the ice but had severely limited mobility. The penalty kill capitalized, killing off the Avalanche’s fourth man-advantage of the night and preserving the one-goal lead.
Brett Howden later buried an empty-netter from downtown to seal the win at 5-3 with 59 seconds remaining.
This was a remarkable comeback for the Golden Knights, who are no strangers to finding themselves in 3-0 holes after making it a trend during the regular season.
But all of those situations in which the Golden Knights found themselves trailing by multiple goals paid off in Game 3, as the unfazed Golden Knights reset in the first intermission and came out playing Golden Knights hockey at the start of the second.
The return of Stone was significant, and he got things started with the power-play tally right off the bat. The rest of the team followed the leader and eventually added two more to erase the first-period stumble.
Vegas won countless battles in the second period, and the Golden Knights took advantage of their opportunities. They calmed things down defensively and went to work. There was no overwhelm over the deficit; after all, it was familiar territory.
Instead, Vegas was methodical and precise in its response, slowly but surely climbing out of the hole. In the third period, Hertl helped them scale the hill, and the Golden Knights closed out the impressive comeback win.
Hart gave up three goals in a busy first period that was controlled by the Avalanche. Colorado took advantage of Vegas missteps, and the Avalanche were well on their way with a dominant showing and a three-goal edge.
But the Golden Knights clearly didn’t get the memo, as they calmly flipped the script in the second. Hart did his part by not letting another puck get past him. He stopped all 19 shots he faced the rest of the way and finished the game with a save percentage above .900 thanks to his 32 saves on 35 shots (.914).
The fact that MacKinnon and Makar were injured is relevant. They are Colorado’s two best players, and they’re two of the most dynamic players in the game. However, it’s playoff hockey, and playoff hockey leaves every team with injuries. It happens.
What’s also important to mention, though, is that the Golden Knights were able to take advantage of it.
They had to.
After erasing the three-goal deficit, Vegas had to win this game. MacKinnon could barely move, Makar clearly wasn’t close to 100 percent, and the Golden Knights had the raucous crowd behind them.
They did just that, with Hertl scoring his biggest goal of the season for the game-winner. The Golden Knights didn’t give up that lead, and Howden bolstered it when he scored his 10th of the playoffs to pull into a tie with Dorofeyev for the most in the postseason.
Many teams would have folded after a one-sided and frustrating three-goal opening frame.
But not this Golden Knights team.
In fact, head coach John Tortorella summed it up quite well after the game.
“This is a game where we showed some balls,” he said.
Much like Game 2 when Vegas scored two quick goals in the third period, there were moments in this win where one could almost sense that Vegas has something special going on. The club’s determination and lack of fear were obvious. There was a quiet confidence that slowly grew, and the Golden Knights were able to fuel that and find a way to win. That’s what winning teams do, and the Golden Knights are now one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
The fact that the Golden Knights did so by getting goals from Stone (in his first game back) as well as from the bottom nine in Karlsson and Kolesar — who hadn’t scored yet this postseason — is telling about how well the Golden Knights are playing right now. Plus, Korczak had two helpers, and Coghlan had the primary assist on the equalizer in the second.
At the same time, Marner added two more points to his playoff resume, and Eichel led the way with six individual shot attempts.
Once again, the Golden Knights won as a team.
In the end, Vegas scored five straight goals to deliver a crushing blow to the Avalanche and take a 3-0 lead in the series.
But the fourth win is always the hardest to get. Vegas will have a chance to close this series out Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena, but the Golden Knights will need to maintain focus in order to execute to the best of their ability.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
Photo courtesy of @GoldenKnights on X