Jeff McIntosh / AP
Vegas Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson scrambles to block the net during third-period action against the Calgary Flames in Calgary, Albera, Thursday, March 23, 2023.
Published Thursday, March 23, 2023 | 8:57 p.m.
Updated Thursday, March 23, 2023 | 10:28 p.m.
For the first time in over a month, Logan Thompson returned to the starter’s crease and got the win.
But at what cost?
Thompson’s return did not reach the finish line as the goalie left Thursday with an apparent injury. Coming in off the bench, Jonathan Quick made five saves in the final six minutes to preserve the Golden Knights’ 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.
After missing a month and a half with a lower-body injury, Thompson returned for the first time since Feb. 9 in Minnesota and looked back to form, finishing with 37 saves and looking comfortable in a must-win game.
But after making a save with 6:07 remaining, Thompson was slow to get up and skated straight for the tunnel.
Along with Thompson, forward Reilly Smith played just one shift in the third period and did not return due to a lower-body injury.
Coach Bruce Cassidy doesn’t envision either of them playing in Edmonton on Saturday.
“Right now, obviously concerned about Logan,” Cassidy said. “He missed a lot of time. Reilly, I think just a lower body that he couldn’t quite play through. Obviously, Logan missing that much time, we’ll have to really look closely at that one.”
This matchup against Calgary wasn’t going to impact the standings in a large way, but it was seven days ago when the Flames visited T-Mobile Arena and beat the Golden Knights 7-2.
Vegas needed to play better defensively, in front of Thompson to get him re-acclimated to game action, and that did happen.
Jonathan Marchessault and Michael Amadio scored in the first period, and Nicolas Roy scored in his first game since Feb. 21 for the Golden Knights (45-21-6), who won their third straight game and pushed their lead atop the Pacific Division back to four points with 10 games remaining.
The Golden Knights also hold a four-point lead on the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Western Conference.
At this point for the Golden Knights, it’s about getting to the finish line.
It appeared Vegas was turning the corner in the health department. With Roy and Thompson back, goalie Laurent Brossoit (lower body) also traveled with the team — an indication he, too, is close to returning — and forward Keegan Kolesar was a full participant at morning skate on Thursday.
The timing couldn’t be better, but it’s also yet another hurdle for the Golden Knights to overcome going into the home stretch.
“It’s been an interesting year in the goaltending area,” Cassidy said. “Good for Quickie to come in.
Things started well for the Golden Knights. They controlled pace of play for the second straight opening 20 minutes with clean breakouts in the defensive zone, leading to odd-man rushes and extended offensive zone time.
Marchessault had three straight chances in front of the crease in the first few minutes, but couldn’t capitalize. His payoff came 11:43 in the period for the 1-0 Vegas lead.
Amadio scored his career-high 12th goal of the season less than four minutes later for a 2-0 lead.
Yet for all the good that happened for Vegas, there were moments that could have flipped the game the other way.
Calgary had two goals called back — one in the first, the other in the third — after replay review. The first was a power-play goal taken off the board for Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane in the first period. That was later rectified for Calgary with Milan Lucic cutting the lead to 2-1 at 19:02.
In the third period, Lucic knocked the Vegas net out of position, which prompted Thompson to get off the ice for an extra attacker in the event of a stoppage in play. The whistle never blew, Thompson was well out of his net and the Flames scored to cut it to 3-2 early, but it was overturned after review.
Prior to that, Roy scored his 12th goal of the season in his first game centering a line with Chandler Stephenson and Phil Kessel. The latter two have produced the most consistent unit for Vegas since the All-Star break, and the emergence of the recently-acquired Teddy Blueger allowed Roy to move up the lineup.
“I felt really good coming into this game,” Roy said. “Playing with two great players in Kessel and Stevie, I felt good.”
The Golden Knights’ struggles against the Pacific Division have been warranted most of the season. But they’ve gone 5-1-0 in their last six after starting the season 5-7-2. Six of their final 10 games are against division opponents, including the next two against the third-place Oilers being a home-and-home.
Vegas was getting back on track with injuries. Then Thursday hit. Thursday was shaping up for Thompson to take back the starter’s net heading into the playoffs.
Now, those questions are up in the air once again.
“Really good win for us. Big win,” said forward Ivan Barbashev. “It got a little bit weird at the end with the goalies, but it tells you something about the depth of the team.”
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
