Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Late mistake dooms Golden Knights in Game 3 loss to Canadiens

Montreal

Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press via AP

Montreal Canadiens’ Jesperi Kotkaniemi, left, and Joel Armia celebrate a goal by Josh Anderson on Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury during the third period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey semifinal series, Friday, June 18, 2021, in Montreal.

The Golden Knights had Friday’s game in the bag.

The Canadiens would have had the 1:55 to throw out an extra attacker to try to tie the game, sure. Maybe they would have tied it and Game 3 would be remembered as a heroic comeback by Montreal instead of the far worse reality it turned out to be for Vegas.

Marc-Andre Fleury fumbled the puck on a routine dump-in and stick-handled it into his skates. The puck couldn’t have been more appealing for Josh Anderson if it was nestled under a tree on Christmas Eve, and he had no trouble unwrapping it and sending the game to overtime.

Anderson struck again 12:53 into overtime and just like that it was over. The Golden Knights lost a game they dominated, a game they led with under two minutes to play, a game they should have won at Bell Centre in Montreal. They trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup semifinal series.

“He’s stood on his head for us all season, so goals like that are going to happen with bad bounces and ice when you’re playing into the summer,” forward Reilly Smith said. “It’s not really a big deal. We just have to move forward, and we should have done a better job in overtime closing it out.”

Fleury didn’t talk to the media after the game, but his teammates were quick to rush to his defense. The thought was similar among those who discussed it: bounces happen, Fleury has been the lifeblood of the team, and they had plenty of chances to ensure that mistake didn’t impact the game.

Golden Knights Lose Game 3 in OT

Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury lies on the ice with the puck in the net on a goal by Montreal Canadiens' Josh Anderson during overtime in Game 3 of an NHL hockey semifinal series, Friday, June 18, 2021, in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP) Launch slideshow »

That last part is true. The Golden Knights, after two games of slow first periods to start the series, were electric in the opening 20 on Friday, outshooting the Canadiens 17-3, but failing to score. When they did score, a Nicolas Roy quick strike off a turnover 3:16 into the second, the Canadiens answered with a Cole Caufield breakaway tally 38 seconds later.

Vegas had to have been frustrated after two periods seeing how different the shot sheet was from the scoreboard. The Golden Knights led 30-8 in shots on goal and 51-21 in shot attempts, yet were locked in a 1-1 tie. Alex Pietrangelo let them exhale 2:22 into the third with a frozen rope of a wrister that beat Carey Price, which looked like it would hold up as the game winner as minutes and seconds ticked away in regulation.

The Canadiens had just over a 4% chance to win with two minutes left in the third, according to stats site Moneypuck.com. Vegas led 2-1 when Anderson tipped a Shea Weber breakout pass at the line, negating the icing and sending Fleury out to play the puck like he’s done umpteen times in his career.

It was a one-in-a-million fluke, but Friday was the night for that one. Fleury stopped the puck on his forehand, went to backhand it around to the other side and sent into his left skate. It was angled at just the wrong position so it trickled to the center of the ice, where Anderson was there to put it home while Fleury was still trying to find it: 2-2 game.

“Those types of events are tough to recover from,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I didn’t think we were poor in overtime, but there’s no doubt that that carried into the overtime, for us a little on the negative side and, for sure, gave them some pop going out to overtime.”

Overtime is where the Canadiens found their legs. It was the only period where they had more scoring chances than the Golden Knights, ratcheting up pressure in earnest for the first time in the game.

It proved to be enough, as Anderson batted a puck out of the air on a Vegas line change to set up a 2-on-0. Paul Byron fed him the puck, and Anderson became the overtime hero.

Game 3 will be remembered for a gaffe at the end, but it’s true the Golden Knights missed opportunities to put themselves up by more than one. The power play is still an issue — now 0-for-10 in the series after an 0-for-4 showing Friday — but for much of the hour the game was played at 5-on-5, Vegas showed why it was such a heavy favorite coming into the series.

“I loved our game,” DeBoer said. “If we can play like that for the next week, I have a hard time believing that they’re going to beat us two more times.”

The Golden Knights need to win three out of the next four games to make sure the end of Game 3 is remembered as a speed bump that can be laughed off instead of the turning point in a lost series.

There’s no reason to think that they can’t. There was a major talent discrepancy between the two clubs in the regular season, and the Golden Knights flattened Montreal in Game 1. They couldn’t overcome a poor first period in Game 2, but there were reasons to feel good afterward.

Game 3 is more of the same. No one in the Golden Knights room was feeling good after letting that one slip away, but that’s the thing about one-in-a-million flukes: They’re unlikely to hurt a team again.                                                                                                                                       

“We needed to capitalize on a few more chances in regulation and we aren’t even talking about that,” captain Mark Stone said. “Fleury’s played great for us all year. That’s one mistake. We had to bail him out and we did not play the way we played for the first 60, in overtime.”

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