Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Blog: Golden Knights rally to down Avalanche in Game 3

vgk vs colorado

Wade Vandervort

The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate after scoring against the Colorado Avalanche during the third period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Friday, June 4, 2021.

Updated Friday, June 4, 2021 | 9:52 p.m.

The Golden Knights are alive and well in this series.

After the Avalanche scored to quiet the crowd and give Colorado a lead in the third period, Jonathan Marchessault tied the game with 5:18 to go and Max Pacioretty tipped in the game winner 45 seconds later as the Golden Knights rallied to take down the Colorado Avalanche and win Game 3 by a 3-2 final score at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

Vegas picked up its first win of the series and trails 2-1. Game 4 is set for 5:30 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

For the second game in a row Rantanen netted a power-play goal to give Colorado a late lead. The Game 2 goal came in overtime, so the Golden Knights didn't get a comeback chance like tonight. This one came just seven seconds after Nicolas Roy was called for hooking, and Rantanen scored his third goal in three games this series.

Vegas was ready this time. Marchessault tied the game by whiffing on his initial try when he went in alone on Philipp Grubauer, but recovered in time to bank the shot off Colorado's goalie and into the net for the game-tying goal.

Then Pacioretty scored the winner. He got enough of his stick on Nick Holden's point shot to redirect it by Grubaer and send the crowd into a frenzy.

It was the first game this season with a capacity crowd at T-Mobile Arena with an announced attendance of 17,504.

The Golden Knights had their best period of the series in the first, outshooting Colorado 14-3, but were unable to find the net. They grabbed their first lead of the series on a William Karlsson rebound 4:38 into the second, but Carl Soderberg answered 1:29 later for Colorado.

Check back to lasvegassun.com later for more coverage and read below for live updates from the game.

Golden Knights, Avalanche trade goals in second period

The Golden Knights finally grabbed a lead over the Colorado Avalanche and it lasted fewer than 90 seconds.

Vegas scored, Colorado answered and Game 3 of their second-round series will head to the third period in a 1-1 tie at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

After a period-plus of dominating the game, the Golden Knights finally broke through at the 4:38 mark of the second. Alex Pietrangelo had the initial shot, and William Karlsson was in the right spot to back-hand home the rebound for his third goal of the playoffs and second of the series.

In the first round against Minnesota, the Golden Knights did a good job of turning on the jets whenever they coughed up a goal. The Avalanche clearly didn't like falling behind for the first time in the series, and scored 1:29 after Karlsson did.

Vegas dominated the Avalanche fourth line in Game 2 so they responded by inserting veterans Carl Soderberg and Kiefer Sherwood into the lineup, both of whom played a role in Colorado's first goal. Former Golden Knight Pierre-Edouard Bellemare fired a blast off Marc-Andre Fleury's pads, and Soderberg crashed the net and put home the rebound at 6:07. Sherwood had the secondary assist.

The Golden Knights had an unlucky break with 5:19 remaining in the period as the Avalanche were attacking on a rush. Shea Theodore batted away a centering pass but because it went over the glass and into the netting, it was ruled delay of game and the Avalanche picked up their first power play. It didn't hurt the Golden Knights as they killed it off with relative ease.

Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty produced Vegas' best chance to grab the lead again with about two minutes left in the period after Stone's head-man pass set Pacioretty up for a breakaway, but he couldn't beat Philipp Grubauer on the one-on-one look.

Shots were even 9-9 in the second, giving Vegas a 23-12 edge for the game.

Golden Knights start hot but don't score in first vs. Avalanche

The Golden Knights played their best period of the series to start Friday's Game 3 but couldn't come out of it with the lead.

Vegas dominated possession and held Colorado to just three shots on goal, but two power plays and the rest of the period came up empty as the teams headed to the first intermission in a 0-0 tie at T-Mobile Arena.

The Golden Knights picked up right where they left off after the second and third periods of Game 2, forechecking Colorado hard and not allowing the Avalanche to exit the zone with control. Colorado didn't record its first shot until 7:05 into the game, and Vegas even had the first power play — a slow-developing one with two good looks at the end.

Colorado only had two shots on goal in the final 13 minutes of the period, and one was an attempted pass that went on goal and the other was a shot from the neutral zone. Vegas bottled up Colorado in the first in a way few teams have this season.

The Avalanche had one good look in the frame and it came from their top line, which has been a menace this series. Nathan MacKinnon stormed into the zone and found a streaking Mikko Rantanen across the ice. Rantanen had the open net to shoot at, but his deflection batted harmlessly off the outside of the post.

Vegas led in shots on goal 14-3 for the period, and had six high-danger chances to Colorado's zero, according to stats site Natural Stat Trick.

Golden Knights looking to slow Avalanche power play in Game 3

The Colorado Avalanche, with their stable of offensive talent, naturally have a pretty good power play. The Golden Knights have seen what that unit can do far too often in this series.

Vegas held the Avalanche to just one power-play goal in 21 opportunities in the regular season but have already given up four goals on 11 chances in the first two games of the series. The Golden Knights' penalty kill, the top-rated unit in the league in the regular season, has had its work cut out of it so far in the second round, and the Golden Knights will look to limit the Avalanche power play in Game 3 at 7 p.m. today at T-Mobile Arena.

"Their power play is really good for them. They got two goals for them last game, a couple the game before that," Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar said. "They have a very dangerous power play, so we've got to do everything we can to stay out of the box."

Part of allowing the four power-play goals is having an extra man in the box 11 times, an uncharacteristic number for Vegas.

The Golden Knights were one of the least penalized teams in the league in the regular season, going short-handed an average of 2.57 times per game, fourth-least in the league. It was even better in the first round against the Wild, as the Golden Knights were short-handed just 11 times in seven games, or 1.57 times per game.

The 11 power-play chances Vegas has given the Avalanche is the most by any team in the second round. Putting Colorado on the power play at least five times a game is a recipe for disaster, even with a regular season penalty-killing unit that was successful at a league-best 86.8% clip.

"We've got to do a better job," coach Pete DeBoer said. "Our PK depth has been tested with (Tomas) Nosek and (Mattias) Janmark out of the lineup, and the guys that are getting some of those minutes in place of those guys have got to get the job done for us when they get in there."

The Golden Knights are expecting the same lineup as Game 2, with one possible exception. Alex Tuch did not take the ice for morning skate, putting his status for tonight into question. DeBoer said Tuch and everyone else not on the ice for practice are game-time decisions.

If Tuch can't go, the Golden Knights will turn to Cody Glass, who skated in his spot at practice. Glass made his postseason debut in Game 6 against the Wild, and if he skates on the third line with Dylan Sikura and Nicolas Roy, that will form a line with 31 combined games of postseason experience. Roy has provided 29 of those.

Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to start after saving 22 of 25 shots in Game 2. The Vezina Trophy finalist started all seven games of the first round but did not play Game 1 when Vegas allowed a franchise-high seven playoff goals.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2

Series: Avalanche lead 2-0

TV: NBC Sports Network (DirecTV 220, Cox 38, CenturyLink 640)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-115, Avalanche minus-105; over/under: 5.5 (minus-105, minus-115)

Golden Knights (4-5, West Division No. 2 seed)

Coach: Pete DeBoer (second season)

Points leader: Mattias Janmark (6)

Goals leader: Mark Stone (4)

Assists leader: Chandler Stephenson (5)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (1.86 GAA, .924 save percentage)

Avalanche (6-0, West Division No. 1 seed)

Coach: Jared Bednar (fifth season)

Points leader: Nathan MacKinnon (13)

Goals leader: Nathan MacKinnon (8)

Assists leaders: Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen (7)

Expected goalie: Philipp Grubauer (1.66 GAA, .943 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Max Pacioretty—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Dylan Sikura—Nicolas Roy—Alex Tuch

William Carrier—Patrick Brown—Keegan Kolesar

Defensemen

Alec Martinez—Alex Pietrangelo

Nick Holden—Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague—Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Robin Lehner

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