Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Golden Knights cap series of thrills with victory over Colorado

0610_AP_VGKAvalanche2

Steve Marcus

Vegas Golden Knights fans cheer during the third period in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Thursday, June 10, 2021.

Golden Knights Beat Avalanche, Advance To Semifinals

The Vegas Golden Knights give a stick salute to fans after defeating the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Thursday, June 10, 2021. Launch slideshow »

You likely could watch hockey for a hundred years and maybe never again see flamingos — plastic or inflatable, they were both there — shower the home team on the ice after a victory. 

Yes, Las Vegas is indeed a special place.

The Golden Knights treated T-Mobile Arena like a Strip nightclub Thursday night, as their 18,149 fans rowdily partied from start to finish as Vegas finished off the Colorado Avalanche in a second-round playoff series.

And once the buzzer sounded, the celebration went to another level. 

It was so loud that fans seated next to each other had to scream to their neighbor to be heard. Beach balls and those inflatable flamingos hit the ice, and players embraced in the accomplishment of their fourth straight win, a convincing 6-3 closeout victory.

Vegas will play the Montreal Canadiens on Monday in the Stanley Cup semifinals, but Thursday night was for the party, and showing that in the clash of the titans that was the Colorado-Vegas series, the Golden Knights reigned supreme.

Remember, Vegas once trailed 2-0 in the series.

“We had to earn this and work hard to get where we are right now and it feels good,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “It’s a nice feeling and I think we deserve it.”

Vegas was a betting underdog coming into the series for just the second time ever, joining the 2018 Western Conference Final against Winnipeg. Just like in that series, the Golden Knights dropped Game 1, fueling chatter that maybe they weren’t up to the task, chatter that only got louder after losing Game 2.

Then a funny thing happened: The Golden Knights won Game 3. Then Game 4. Then stunned the Avalanche in Game 5, setting up a clinch game at home in Game 6.

“There was a lot more talk about us being swept and embarrassed and ‘Could we even win a game?’” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think we’ve got a group with a lot of pride and they just blocked out the noise and went to work, and battled and scraped and scratched and found a way. What a night.”

It turned into one of those games where people that weren’t in the building, years from now, will say they were. Colorado scored 23 seconds into the game only for Vegas to answer 52 seconds later and never trail again. The Golden Knights led by a goal after the first period, answered both Colorado goals in the second with tallies of their own, and put the game to bed in the third.

And it was the crowning night of Alex Pietrangelo’s first season in Vegas. The former Stanley Cup champion and St. Louis Blues captain left the only organization he’d ever known last year to sign an eight-year deal with the Golden Knights, and was as big of a factor in the outcome as anyone in Game 6. 

He set up Keegan Kolesar’s goal in the second period, collecting the primary assist on the deflection. Then, he netted a goal of his own with 18 seconds left in the period, giving Vegas a 4-3 lead and holding up as the game-winner.

“I think it’s a winning culture that’s been built here since the first year, and different guys have come in and that culture has stayed and it’s important,” Pietrangelo said. “Everybody here wants to win. We all share that same passion.”

It was a passion that was clear with every goal that hit the net. 

Whether it was Pietrangelo dropping to a knee and pumping his fist, William Karlsson raising his stick into the air, or Kolesar throwing both his arms to the sky and bringing them down in a double-barreled pump, the emotions were obvious.

Consider those three goals. 

A rebound by Pietrangelo, a one-timer by Karlsson and a redirect by Kolesar — all goals in different ways, all to give the Golden Knights the lead at different points in the game. 

For a team that had trouble scoring in different ways last postseason, and for whom some felt was guilty of a quantity-over-quality approach in shot selection, this performance helped answered the skeptics.

“We talked about it, we knew what we did wrong last year and regrouped,” forward William Carrier said. “I think this year we did the same thing against Minnesota and tonight’s the same.”

Carrier also stressed the importance of scoring from in close, as his third-period goal was measured at 7 feet from the net. That’s a little longer than a dagger, but his goal served as a metaphorical one, putting the Golden Knights up by a pair with 8:14 to play in the game.

The four wins against the Avalanche will go down as one of the most impressive things the Golden Knights have done in the short, four-year existence. They manhandled Colorado at times, handing the President’s Trophy winners their first four-game losing streak of the season. Colorado had a Hart Trophy finalist, a Norris Trophy finalist and a Vezina Trophy finalist on the ice for every game, and they couldn’t overcome the Golden Knights.

“It still hasn’t sunk in,” DeBoer said. “We beat a team that maybe has the best analytics in the last 10 years, a team that people were pretty much handing the Stanley Cup to, preseason, all season, and for sure once the playoffs started, and for sure after they rolled through the first round. If anyone ever questioned our group, I think they answered the bell. What they just accomplished is huge.”

In his next breath, DeBoer reminded everyone that the Golden Knights are only halfway to the Stanley Cup. This may be the best team on paper Vegas will face, but Montreal won’t be an easy out and should they make it past them, the Islanders or the Lightning will be waiting.

The Golden Knights, though, can hang with any of them. They proved as much in the series against the Avalanche, taking their early lumps and rolling through the final four games, ending any doubts about who the best team in the West is.

That’s worthy of recognition, as anyone wearing gold on the Strip could attest to. There wasn’t a party anywhere in the Entertainment Capital of the World that could match the 2-hour, 31-minute hoedown the Golden Knights put on Thursday, and the players were appreciative of the atmosphere of celebrating at home.

“It changed the series for us, getting back for Game 3 to a sold-out rink,” captain Mark Stone said. “I really think the tide changed when we got (the fans) involved, so it was pretty awesome to acknowledge them after a big series win.”

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