Three takeaways from Golden Knights' come-from-behind preseason win over Colorado

The Golden Knights killed their fifth penalty of the game early in the second period.

Bruce Cassidy checked his watch.

“We’re killing our fifth penalty, it wasn’t even 8 o’clock at night yet,” he said.

It started as that kind of night for Vegas, for the first 27 minutes. The final 33 were much better.

A three-goal third period, highlighted by goals from Pavel Dorofeyev and Paul Cotter, helped the Golden Knights overcome a three-goal deficit to win 4-3 over the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Dorofeyev scored his first of the preseason to begin the rally. Jonathan Marchessault tied it at the 12-minute mark, and Cotter capped off a strong game with the winning goal with 1:17 to go.

“Once we got past that and got to playing a little bit, you saw our game — a little more playing behind them, puck management between the blues, forcing them to turn and go back and get pucks,” Cassidy said. “It’s not always pretty or exciting, but once you get pucks back and now you’re wearing the team down, that’s when it starts to look good.”

The Golden Knights needed that comeback for just their second preseason win (2-3-1). It hasn’t been all good in that stretch.

But with Cassidy fielding the closest thing to what the opening night roster will look like Tuesday against Seattle, Vegas got to its game once penalties subsided and controlled the pace at even strength.

“It was about getting good habits. We put ourselves in a hole there with all the penalties,” Marchessault said. “We’re a great team 5-on-5 and it showed. Good teams find a way to win.”

Some takeaways as the preseason slowly winds down:

Dorofeyev sparks comeback, Cotter completes it

The battle for the final roster spot flips on a dime each game. Just when one contender emerges, another leads the next outing.

Dorofeyev and Cotter showed what they can bring to the table.

Dorofeyev kickstarted the Vegas rally at 5:58 in the third when he scored immediately off a faceoff from the left circle to make it 3-2.

That goal started a stretch of good play from the third line after being invisible for the first two periods. The trio of Dorofeyev, Brett Howden and Michael Amadio turned that goal into consecutive solid shifts in the offensive zone.

“It gave us some juice, for sure,” Cassidy said.

Killing penalties didn't help. Dorofeyev and Amadio aren’t penalty killers, unlike Howden. As the Golden Knights kept the game at even strength, that line got going.

Marchessault followed with the tying goal at 12:03 off a deflection from Shea Theodore.

“It was probably super hard for that line in the first half because we had so much penalty killing. It’s hard to do something,” Marchessault said. “Tip your hat to them because they want to get a big goal there. Happy to see them get rewarded.”

Cotter, skating with Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone, stated his case with his game-winning goal. 

Cotter finished a check on Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram to force the turnover. Stone gathered the puck and found Stephenson, whose shot was stopped. Cotter scored on the rebound with 1:17 remaining.

Cotter said Byram hit him good earlier in the game and he was returning the favor.

“I was on the forecheck, and he got me earlier in the game up high,” Cotter said. “As soon as I saw his numbers, I was going Mach 4 at him.”

With one more game to go — Saturday in Los Angeles — this lineup likely plays again. It was created because William Karlsson is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Thursday was a good dress rehearsal for the young forwards. Saturday is setting up for an interesting finale.

Penalties galore

It was a parade of Vegas players taking residence in the penalty box in the first period.

Alex Pietrangelo was called for the first of four first-period penalties, a high-sticking double minor less than two minutes in. Colorado center Ryan Johansen scored shortly after.

The Avalanche scored twice on the power play. Nathan MacKinnon scored the second with a one-timer from the left circle in the second period. That was the last penalty the Golden Knights committed, to much of their liking.

“It was just an unfortunate first period,” Marchessault said. “The second half of the game there, we dominated a lot. We’re a good team when we play in the o-zone, when we cycle the puck and support each other, play fast in the neutral zone. I thought it was positive.”

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights had three power plays and didn’t convert one.

Whitecloud’s absence

The Golden Knights announced before puck drop that defenseman Zach Whitecloud had surgery on an upper-body injury from the Sept. 25 game against Colorado and is week-to-week.

Vegas played four of its top six defensemen Thursday; the latter two are two that will compete for the spot in Whitecloud’s absence, Ben Hutton and Brayden Pachal.

Cassidy said Kaedan Korczak is also going to be in the discussion.

Cassidy added Whitecloud’s injury is not meant to be long term and that he will be back at some point.

"Let's revisit it in a little bit and see how he's recovering,” Cassidy said. “But at the end of the day, it opens the door for Pachal, Hutton, Korczak."

Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.