Jeff Roberson / AP
St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) and Vegas Golden Knights’ Pavel Dorofeyev reach for a loose puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, March 12, 2023, in St. Louis.
Published Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 6:42 p.m.
Updated Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 8:13 p.m.
Two of the youngest Golden Knights players used their heads on Sunday.
More like they used their heads to each catch a flying puck, but that just added to the nights to remember for Jiri Patera and Pavel Dorofeyev.
Patera made 30 saves in his first NHL start, and Dorofeyev scored the game-winning goal and had an assist for his first two points in the league to help push the Golden Knights to a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
"I'm glad we got the win," Patera said on the AT&T SportsNet broadcast after the game. "Towards the end I was a little scared, but we got the job done and I'm sure we're all happy."
Just a week ago, Patera and Dorofeyev were playing key roles for the Henderson Silver Knights with the AHL affiliate trying to make a late charge for the playoffs.
Injuries crept up on the Golden Knights again, leading Vegas to call up the 22-year-old Dorofeyev and 24-year-old Patera in the midst of a tough five-game, East Coast road trip.
Patera was called up following a lower-body injury to presumptive starter Adin Hill. He got his shot in the crease 24 hours after Jonathan Quick had a 34-save shutout against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Dorofeyev was a late addition to the lineup with forward Keegan Kolesar out with an upper-body injury. He is day-to-day.
Both additions to the lineup were key to give the Golden Knights (41-20-6) their third straight victory and improved to 3-1-0 on the road trip that ends in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Patera said he looked up to Quick growing up, and having the future Hall-of-Famer backing him up was a surreal experience. He added the veteran gave him some advice.
"He told me some tips for what they were doing," Patera said. "Just staying in the moment and focusing on the next shot."
Not that the two Henderson players were asked to make an impact immediately, but it didn’t take long for either of them to provide an impact, albeit for different reasons.
Just two minutes into the game, Patera made his first save. Not with his glove, his pad, or his stick. A drive from Blues defenseman Colton Parayko bounced off Patera’s mask, causing a stoppage in play.
Stopping a powerful blast from Parayko is tough enough, let alone going off a goalie’s cage. Patera shook off the cobwebs and continued a strong start.
Just six minutes later, Dorofeyev recorded his first NHL point when he beat two Blues for a puck, found a cutting William Karlsson in the middle of the ice, and beat St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington with a backhand for the game’s first goal at 8:05.
Moments earlier, Dorofeyev nearly scored his first goal in a scrum near the crease, but his shot went across the blue paint.
"He was on the puck a lot," coach Bruce Cassidy said of Dorofeyev. "I thought he complemented those guys [Karlsson and Smith] a lot. He's also willing to shoot."
Dorofeyev got put on the second line with Karlsson and Reilly Smith, moving Michael Amadio to fourth-line right wing in place of Kolesar. Both moves proved fruitful when Amadio scored his career-high 11th goal at 2:10 of the second.
That goal came 1:42 after Jonathan Marchessault scored for the second straight game 28 seconds into the middle frame, resulting in a 3-1 Vegas lead.
St. Louis rallied to tie it 3-3 with goals from Jordan Kyrou and Tyler Pitlick, the latter coming 3:41 into the third.
It was Dorofeyev’s turn to put his head to use less than two minutes later when a shot from Karlsson bounced off Binnington, then deflected off Dorofeyev’s visor and into the net for a 4-3 lead.
"He's a really good kid. Really skilled," said forward Ivan Barbashev of Dorofeyev. Barbashev played 19:10 in his first game back in St. Louis after Vegas acquired him before the trade deadline. "He scored a pretty nice goal tonight off the head. It's really nice to see. He was working really hard today."
Karlsson and Smith each had two points, and former Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo also had a goal and an assist when he scored into an empty net with seven seconds remaining for the final score.
"We've had our third period issues at times this year," Cassidy said. "We just kept playing after [they tied it]."
Things didn’t look promising for the Golden Knights at the beginning of the road trip.
They let one get away against Florida in a 2-1 loss where the offense hardly generated anything of note. Hill goes down and Vegas is forced to throw Quick into the net against Eastern Conference powers Tampa Bay and Carolina, winning both games and looking like the vintage two-time Stanley Cup winner in the process.
Then comes Patera, the first goalie in line from Henderson but far down on the depth chart due to a crowded goalie room, and he plays well. Patera, a sixth-round pick by Vegas in 2017, became the fifth different goalie to win a game for the Golden Knights this season.
Add in the two biggest offensive plays of the game coming from a third-round pick from 2019, playing in his sixth career game, and the depth that was once an issue showed for one night that it wasn’t.
Reinforcements could be on the way soon. The AT&T SportsNet broadcast reported before the game that goalies Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit have begun skating, signaling a close return to action, and causing a four-way goalie carousel that will provide intrigue down the stretch.
For this night, though, Patera is the one that will get the spotlight. The Czech Republic native has likely called his parents back home, eight hours ahead, not caring if he wakes them up. It’s a moment he, and Dorofeyev, will remember forever.
And if they ever forget, they might have dents on their helmets to help jog the memory.
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
