Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Golden Knights stay hot, beat Rangers in a shootout

VGK at Rangers

Mary Altaffer / Associated Press

New York Rangers defenseman Libor Hajek (25) and Vegas Golden Knights right wing Evgenii Dadonov (63) fight for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Once the Golden Knights found the game-tying goal late in the third period Friday at the New York Rangers, it was pretty clear which way the game was trending.

Vegas tied the game with 5:16 remaining in regulation, then after a thrilling five minutes of overtime without a goal, finished the job in the shootout. Jonathan Marchessault had the lone goal in the three-round shootout, and the Golden Knights defeated the Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

The Golden Knights improved to 3-0 in overtime and the shootout this season. They went 10-2 after regulation last year, and are 16-4 under coach Pete DeBoer.

Down 2-1 heading to the third period, the Golden Knights did a good job holding the offensive zone for most of the period, but didn’t generate much in terms of chances.

That was until Brett Howden, who was traded from the Rangers in the offseason, won the draw and worked the puck to Nicolas Hague, who flipped it over to his defensive partner, Dylan Coghlan. Coghlan took two steps and fired, scoring for the second game in a row.

“There was a guy kind of in front of me but off to the side a little, so just pulled it to the middle and found its way through,” Coghlan said.

That brought the game to overtime, which was five minutes of what the league intended when they instituted the 3-on-3 format with end-to-end action from the initial puck drop.

The Golden Knights had four shots on goal, not including a Max Pacioretty breakaway chance that went wide with 28 seconds left. The Rangers had seven shots on goal, and Vegas needed goalie Laurent Brossoit to be on his game.

The shootout was less thrilling, as each side missed their first two chances. Marchessault connected on his, then Brossoit squeezed his legs to prevent a five-hole try by Ryan Strome and secure the win for the Golden Knights.

“Every time he’s come in he’s stood on his head for us,” Coghlan said of Brossoit. “Shootouts aren’t easy on goalies and it’s a lot of pressure, but he looked super confident and mking them look easy. He was tremendous for us tonight.”

With all the talk of a revenge game for Rangers forward Ryan Reaves and coach Gerard Gallant, both of whom were beloved in their times in Vegas, it was the former New York forward Howden who got the last laugh.

He tipped a William Carrier feed right into goalie Alexandar Georgiev, but picked up his own rebound and deposited into the net to start the scoring at 6:49 of the first.

With his assist on Coghlan’s goal he had two points in a game, something he only did four times in three seasons with the Rangers. He was sent to Vegas this summer for a fourth-round pick.

“Obviously I had a lot of excitement coming back here but I’m just happy we got the win,” Howden said. “It’s pretty fun to be back here, see a few of my buddies and get to play here again. It’s a pretty iconic building, just a really fun night.”

It was Vegas’ third victory in as many games on the road trip and fourth win in a row. They’ll have a chance to sweep the road trip on Sunday afternoon against the Islanders.