Blog: Golden Knights squander chance to lead series, fall in OT to Canadiens

By Justin Emerson

Published Friday, June 18, 2021 | 3 p.m.

Updated Friday, June 18, 2021 | 8:25 p.m.

The Golden Knights will want to forget what happened Friday night at Bell Centre. The problem is, it might be awhile before they can.

The Golden Knights missed a chance to take a lead early in the game, allowed the game to get to overtime on a misplay by Marc-Andre Fleury, then lost on a Josh Anderson winner in overtime. The Golden Knights lost 3-2 to the Montreal Canadiens and fell into a 2-1 hole in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

Vegas was closing in on the victory when a routine dump-in by the Canadiens turned into a disaster for the Golden Knights. Fleury played the puck behind the net, but sent it right into his skates and it kicked away to open ice. Anderson was there to put it into the empty net, and the Canadiens tied it to force overtime.

Montreal was the aggressor in overtime and was rewarded at the 12:53 mark. Anderson batted a bouncing puck out of the air at the Vegas blue line, and Paul Byron went in on Fleury on a 2-on-1. Byron slid the puck over to Anderson, who finished to complete the unbelievable comeback by the Canadiens.

The Golden Knights started the game with a 17-3 edge in shots on goal after a period, but did not score in the opening frame. It took until the 3:16 mark of the second, when Nicolas Roy capitalized on a Canadiens turnover behind the net and put Vegas on top.

Montreal answered right away, though, when Cole Caufield went the other way and scored on a breakaway 38 seconds later. It was just the Canadiens' fifth shot of the game, and the shot total was 22-5 at the time, but Montreal had tied it, where it stayed 1-1 until Alex Pietrangelo put the Golden Knights on top early in the third period.

Vegas finished with a 45-27 lead in shots on goal.

Game 4 is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday in Montreal.

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

Misplay by Fleury sends Golden Knights, Canadiens to OT in Game 3

The Golden Knights were 1:55 from a Game 3 victory. Then the craziest of bounces tied the game for the Canadiens.

It was an easy enough dump-in by Montreal, but Marc-Andre Fleury played the puck into his own skates, allowing an easy tap-in for the Canadiens to tie the game and send it to overtime on Friday, 2-2 at Bell Centre in Montreal.

It negated what had been a strong third period by the Golden Knights that looked like it would hold up as the winner. Alex Pietrangelo allowed the Golden Knights to exhale after a frustrating 40 minutes, beating Carey Price clean on a snipe from the high slot 2:22 into the third.

It was Pietrangelo's third goal of the series, and fourth in his last four games. He has 11 points in 16 games this postseason.

Vegas kept the pressure on Montreal for the rest of the third, and despite the Canadiens' push, they didn't generate enough to beat Fleury. That is until Fleury's gaffe sent the game to overtime.

Golden Knights, Canadiens tied heading to third period of Game 3

There has to be some frustration in the Golden Knights' room after two periods. They again were the far better team in a period, but again it ended in a tie.

Vegas and Montreal each netted a goal in the second period, and despite a 51-21 edge in shot attempts for the Golden Knights, Friday's Game 3 will head to the third period in a 1-1 draw at Bell Centre in Montreal.

It took until the Golden Knights' 22nd shot of the game to score, but they finally did at 3:16 of the second period. Nicolas Roy nwas in the right place in front of the net, and a strong Vegas forecheck forced Eric Staal to quickly get rid of the puck behind the Montreal net. It went right to Roy, who didn't miss on his quick strike, and the Quebec native playing in his first playoff game in his home province gave the Golden Knights the lead.

Unfortunately for Vegas, the lead didn't last long, and Montreal scored on its fifth shot of the game. Nick Suzuki blocked a Vegas shot and fed the counter to Cole Caufield to do the rest. Caufield, the rookie who started the year at the University of Wisconsin, had a clean breakaway and buried his chance 38 seconds after Vegas scored to tie the game.

The game started to open up a bit with about seven minutes to go in the second. Caufield worked his way to another partial break, but was denied this time. Moments later Alex Tuch had a breakaway, but Carey Price made his best save of the game to keep it tied with 6:16 to go in the frame.

The Golden Knights again kept the Canadiens from a high quantity of chances, but the quality started to catch up. Montreal had just five shots on goal, but had four high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, the same amount as Vegas.

Vegas led 30-8 in shots on goal through two periods.

Golden Knights come out hot against Canadiens, but do not score in first

The Golden Knights did everything in the first period but score. After two games of allowing Montreal to dictate pace in the opening 20, Vegas dominated in the first, but did not score as the first period of Game 3 headed to intermission in a 0-0 tie at Bell Centre in Montreal.

The Golden Knights' troubles in the first two games stemmed from poor starts to the first period, and they flipped the script in Game 3. Vegas had the first 12 shots of the game, not allowing Montreal to challenge Marc-Andre Fleury until 11:27 into the game. Vegas even had the first power play, but did not score on five shots.

Montreal got its first shot on the power play, but the Golden Knights continued to maintain possession. They were clean on their breakouts, they forechecked well and clearly frustrated the Canadiens. THey're only real chance came on a Josh Anderson power move to the net, but Fleury made a save before getting knocked over.

The Golden Knights finished scoreless on two power-play tries, falling to 0-for-8 in the series and 4-for-36 in the playoffs. Shots ended 17-3 in Vegas' favor.

As hinted at during morning skate, the Golden Knights did line up Alex Tuch as the top-line center, his second time playing in the middle this season. Tomas Nosek also returned to the lineup for the first time sine Game 2 against the Minnesota Wild, skating in his usual spot on the fourth line.

Alex Tuch at center? Golden Knights experimenting ahead of Game 3

The loss of Chandler Stephenson was a major factor in the Golden Knights' 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 2. Any time a team loses its top-line center is tough, but Vegas didn't have an obvious replacement, starting the game with Nicolas Roy in the middle and moving Keegan Kolesar there by the second period.

The Golden Knights look like they might get even more unorthodox in Game 3, scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. today at Bell Centre in Montreal. Alex Tuch, a winger, lined up at center between Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone at morning skate. While Stephenson is considered "day-to-day" and coach Pete DeBoer didn't commit to Tuch playing center, that's the way things were trending.

"When you get NHL players, all these guys played center at different points in their careers," DeBoer said. "Best player on your team at whatever level you're at, you're usually playing center."

Tuch has played center this season, lining up there for a late-season game against the Coyotes. Before that, he said, he hadn't played there since he was a teenager, but players often insist it doesn't matter.

Faceoffs are the most obvious duty of a center, and Tuch has not been great in that area, with a 39.5% career win rate. The value of faceoffs is up for debate, though. Five goals this series have come immediately after a faceoff win, but data doesn't support the idea that draws matter in the long run. An individual faceoff can matter, but a good possession team often retrieves the puck anyway.

The Golden Knights like to talk about their system in terms of "F1, F2 and F3." It refers to which forward is the first to enter the zone on a forecheck and which duty is assigned to whom. Left wing or right wing matters less than who gets there first, so once the puck is dropped after a faceoff, there are not many differences between the team's forwards.

"Really for centermen, the only difference is taking faceoffs. First guy back in the zone is usually F1 and has those low duties," forward Reilly Smith said. "It shouldn't change too much if the lines are mixed up a little bit."

Outside of the positional letter next to his name, playing Tuch between Stone and Pacioretty makes plenty of sense on its surface. Stephenson is effective there in large part because of his speed, and Tuch matches that. Stephenson may be a better defensive option, but Tuch provides a greater scoring punch.

"He's a guy that can play anywhere in our lineup," DeBoer said.

The downside is Montreal, with the last line change at home, can deploy its shutdown line centered by Selke Trophy candidate Phillip Danault against Vegas' overloaded top line. It pulls Tuch off the third line, which could then become an area the Canadiens could look to exploit. DeBoer mentioned repeatedly during the Minnesota series that he liked having Tuch and Mattias Janmark as third-line forwards for that reason.

Stephenson's absence will be tough to overcome, but rare is the playoff series a team makes it through unscathed. This postseason, Pacioretty, Janmark, Brayden McNabb and Ryan Reaves have all missed multiple games. Stephenson is another bump in the road for the Golden Knights but one they feel they're ready to overcome.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 3

Series: Tied 1-1

TV: USA Network (DirecTV 242, Cox 34, CenturyLink 125)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-170, Canadiens plus-150; over/under: 5 (minus-140, plus-120)

Golden Knights (9-6, West Division No. 2 seed)

Coach: Pete DeBoer (second season)

Points leader: William Karlsson (13)

Goals leader: Jonathan Marchessault (6)

Assists leader: William Karlsson (9)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (1.92 GAA, .923 save percentage)

Canadiens (9-4, North Division No. 4 seed)

Coach: Dominique Ducharme (first season)

Points leader: Tyler Toffoli (12)

Goals leaders: Joel Armia, Tyler Toffoli (5)

Assists leaders: Tyler Toffoli (7)

Expected goalie: Carey Price (2.14 GAA, .930 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Max Pacioretty—Alex Tuch—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Mattias Janmark—Nicolas Roy—Keegan Kolesar

William Carrier—Patrick Brown—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Alec Martinez—Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb—Shea Theodore

Nick Holden—Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Robin Lehner