Golden Knights beat Avalanche in OT to keep hold of first place

By Justin Emerson

Published Saturday, March 27, 2021 | 2:47 p.m.

Updated Saturday, March 27, 2021 | 3:22 p.m.

The Golden Knights lost sole possession of first place in the West Division for the first time in more than a month on Thursday with a defeat at Colorado.

Two days later, they climbed back into the top spot with a thrilling victory in overtime.

Alex Tuch's initial shot in overtime hit the post, but the puck trickled back into the crease and Max Pacioretty was there to poke it home for a 3-2 Vegas victory.

"We know that first place is on the line against a team that would have jumped us and that's kind of a measuring-stick team around the league that everyone talks about," Pacioretty said. "We want to show that we can play with a team like that and I thought tonight, especially as the game went on, we were able to show that. That's more so what creeps into our minds more than the overall standings."

Vegas had another great chance early in overtime on a 3-to-1, but Shea Theodore was denied by a Philipp Grubauer glove save.

Vegas was better in overtime, but almost didn't need it. The Golden Knights had back-to-back power plays in the third period, going to the man advantage at the 4:39 and 9:02 marks. They fired five combined shots, but couldn’t score.

Vegas controlled the third period, in part because of the power plays but also because of strong 5-on-5 play. In the final 20 minutes of regulation, the Golden Knights led in shots (10-4) and scoring chances (14-4), according to stats website Natural Stat Trick.

All it did was set up another Pacioretty overtime winner. His team-best 18th goal of the year was also his fourth in overtime. The rest of the team combined has two overtime goals.

"I think goal-scorers have that innate ability to find holes and ramp things up at the right time," coach Pete DeBoer said. "He was at the end of his shift and a lot of guys might not have followed that play up, might have headed to the bench, but he sniffed a goal and that's an ability that's hard to teach."

Like the Golden Knights did on Thursday, the Avalanche scored early on Saturday when Joonas Donskoi scored on the first shot of the game at the 1:16 mark of the second period.

The Avalanche dominated much of the first period, but a power-play later in the frame opened the door for the Golden Knights and they took it. With six remaining on Gabriel Landeskog’s cross-checking minor, Chandler Stephenson slid the puck over Alec Martinez, who blasted it into the net to tie the game 1-1 with 3:28 left to go in the first.

The Avalanche though, used what little time they had left in the period to restore their lead. Mark Stone turned the puck over near his own net to Nathan MacKinnon, who made Vegas pay. He fed a streaking Devon Toews as he pinched from the blue line and Toews made it 2-1 just 1:03 after Martinez had tied the game.

The second period was the Golden Knights’ best at 5-on-5 in the two-game series. It was a change of pace from Thursday, where they were skated out of the building in the second, and this time scored the only goal.

That was William Carrier’s second of the season on a deflection from a Shea Theodore point shot. It was the cherry on top of a strong game from the fourth line, as Carrier, Tomas Nosek and Ryan Reaves combined for multiple scoring chances in the third period as well.

Marc-Andre Fleury started in net for Vegas and made 22 saves. It was his second start in a row and the first time since the Golden Knights acquired Robin Lehner last year that both goalies were healthy in the regular season and one played consecutive games.

"It was an easy decision," DeBoer said. "He's carried us here the last month and a half and he deserved to start the two most important games of the year so far."

Vegas led in shots on goal 34-24. The Golden Knights and Avalanche have split their six meetings this season, with two more set for April 26 and April 28 in Las Vegas.