Golden Knights escape Chicago with two points after shootout victory

By Justin Emerson

Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 | 9:05 p.m.

Until there was 1:33 left in the third period, it was a pretty safe bet the Golden Knights were going to come up short. They were down 1-0 and Chicago’s goalie looked unbeatable.

Instead, Nick Holden scored with 93 seconds left and the Golden Knights defeated the Blackhawks 2-1 in a shootout Tuesday at United Center. The Blackhawks remain the only team in the league to have never beaten Vegas, which is 7-0 all-time.

“It was long fight to getting that goal late,” defenseman Shea Theodore told AT&T SportsNet. “Big win for our group.”

Holden’s goal was his second of the season, a ripper that trickled through Robin Lehner’s legs. Assists went to Paul Stastny and Mark Stone, the latter of whom has recorded at least one point in 10 of 11 games this season.

Theodore scored the deciding goal for Vegas in the shootout. Jonathan Marchessault also scored and Brandon Pirri missed.

Marc-Andre Fleury was tremendous again for Vegas, making 31 saves and keeping the Golden Knights close as they clawed back.

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

Relentless third period

The Golden Knights started the third period with 29 seconds of 4-on-4 time before 3:07 on the power play. Even when the power play ended, it didn’t feel like it.

The Golden Knights were dominant in the third period, spending nearly all of it in Chicago’s zone. They had an 15-8 edge in shots in the third, 24-11 in shot attempts and 8-3 in scoring chances.

“We tweaked a couple things in the intermission, and we started to get out feet moving,” Theodore said to AT&T SportsNet. “I thought we turned over the puck a lot less in the third, and I thought we were able to play a lot better.”

It built momentum leading to the equalizer. With Fleury out of the net, Stone found a seam with three Blackhawks on one side and two on the other and slipped it to Holden, who fired at the net and finally beat Lehner.

Vegas led in shot attempts in overtime, 8-2.

Running into a hot goalie … again

The funny thing about the Blackhawks’ “backup” netminder is that he was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season. Chicago signed Lehner to a one-year deal this offseason with Corey Crawford still on the roster, so he became the de facto No. 2.

And for the fourth night in a row, the No. 2 goalie on the depth chart locked down the Golden Knights. Lehner didn’t have to face too many chances, but he batted away the ones he did. William Carrier had a nice play in the second to force a chance, Reilly Smith had a breakaway and a third-period power play saw Mark Stone generate two good looks.

It was Ottawa’s Anders Nilsson on Thursday, Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry on Saturday and Philadelphia’s Brian Elliott on Monday. Combined, Vegas scored one 5-on-5 goal against the trio, versus Nilsson. The Golden Knights were shut out in that department on the three-game road trip. They scored on the power-play goal, at 5-on-3, at 4-on-4, at 6-on-5 and on two empty-netters.

"I don't care how many 5-on-5 goals we score,” coach Gerard Gallant said to AT&T SportsNet. “It was a big goal at the end by (Holden), and a good play by the guys, and the win in the shootout again is huge."

New look for Carrier

When the Golden Knights changed their lines after the first period (for the second game in a row), they returned to the standard top-six, but flipped their bottom-six left wingers. William Carrier, a fourth-line mainstay for years, hopped up on the third line alongside Cody Eakin and Cody Glass.

He had a play in the second period where he chipped the puck around Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy and created a breakaway chance for himself. The shot was saved, but Carrier is deceptively fast for a big player known as a bruiser.

He had a few games on the third line last season and scored a long-distance deflection goal on a shot from new linemate Eakin. With Carrier playing well and Brandon Pirri struggling to start the year, the change made sense. It could be a move with some staying power.

Carrier finished the night with two shots, two hits and a takeaway in 8:49 of ice time. He, Eakin and Glass held a 6-5 Corsi edge when together at 5-on-5.