A pair of goals in 45 seconds were enough to tie the game and take the lead in the third period as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, in front of a full capacity crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Game 3 of their 2021 Second Round series on Friday.
17,504 fans were in attendance in the first full capacity crowd since the ongoing pandemic was declared in March 2020, as the Golden Knights cut Colorado’s series lead to 2-1.
Marc-Andre Fleury (5-4, 1.88 goals-against average, .922 save percentage in nine games played) made 18 saves on 20 shots against in the win for Vegas.
Avalanche goaltender, Philipp Grubauer (6-1, 1.86 goals-against average, .941 save percentage in seven games played), stopped 40 out of 43 shots faced in the loss.
Once more, Logan Thompson served as Fleury’s backup in Game 3 as he did for Game 2 with Robin Lehner (undisclosed) out of the lineup.
Nazem Kadri and Ryan Reaves continued to serve their own individual suspensions on Friday– with Reaves completing his two-game suspension in Game 3 (so he’ll be back for the Golden Knights in Game 4).
Kadri has three games remaining in his suspension for a blindside hit on St. Louis Blues defender, Justin Faulk, in Game 2 of the First Round.
Neither team managed to score a goal in the opening frame as Colorado presented Vegas with the first two power plays of the night.
First, Gabriel Landeskog cut a rut to the penalty box for hooking Max Pacioretty at 7:13 of the first period, then late in the opening frame, Patrik Nemeth was penalized for interference at 17:54.
The Golden Knights were unsuccessful on the power play in each case.
Entering the first intermission, the score still read, 0-0, despite Vegas outshooting the Avalanche, 14-3.
The Golden Knights also held the advantage in takeaways (4-3), giveaways (4-3) and faceoff win percentage (67-33), while the Avs led in blocked shots (8-5) and hits (21-19).
Vegas was 0/2 on the power play, while Colorado had yet to see any action on the skater advantage.
William Karlsson (3) pounced on a rebound with a backhand tap-in around Grubauer’s pad to give the Golden Knights a, 1-0, lead at 4:38 of the second period.
Alex Pietrangelo (4) and Alec Martinez (1) tallied the assists on the game’s first goal early in the middle frame, but Vegas didn’t hold onto the lead for long.
Almost 90 seconds after Karlsson put his team on the scoreboard first, Carl Soderberg (1) buried a rebound off of Fleury’s glove and into the twine– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (2) had the initial shot and recorded the primary assist, while Kiefer Sherwood (1) was credited with the secondary helper as Soderberg’s goal evened things up at 6:07 of the second period.
Late in the period, Shea Theodore sent the puck over the glass and out of play for an automatic delay of game infraction at 14:41.
The Avs were not successful on the ensuing skater advantage.
With about 1:50 remaining in the second period, Pacioretty had a breakaway that Grubauer denied– keeping the game even at, 1-1, as the second intermission got underway shortly thereafter.
Through 40 minutes of action at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights and Avalanche were tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard despite Vegas leading in shots on goal, 24-12, including a, 10-9, advantage in the second period alone.
Colorado held the advantage in blocked shots (16-12) and hits (38-37), while Vegas led in giveaways (8-6) and faceoff win% (65-35). Both teams had nine takeaways each heading into the final frame.
The Avs were 0/1 and the Golden Knights were 0/2 on the power play after two periods.
Nicolas Roy hooked Sherwood early at 4:56 of the third period and the Avalanche made quick work of the ensuing power play.
Colorado won the ensuing attacking zone faceoff and worked the puck around the zone before Mikko Rantanen (4) blasted a one-timer off of Fleury’s glove and into the back of the net while Joonas Donskoi served as a screen in front of the crease.
Cale Makar (7) and Landeskog (8) had the assists on Rantanen’s power-play goal as the Avs took their first lead of the night, 2-1, at 5:04 of the third period.
Rantanen’s goal extended his postseason point streak to 17 games dating back to the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Less than a minute later, Zach Whitecloud lost his own footing– perhaps with the ever so slight nudge or push from Landeskog– and crashed hard in the corner, clutching his right arm as he skated off the ice on his own power.
Late in the third, Jonathan Marchessault (2) stuck with a broken play, following up on his own mishandling before banking the puck off of Grubauer and into the net from behind the goal line.
Reilly Smith (3) and Nicolas Hague (1) notched the assists on Marchessault’s goal as the Golden Knights tied the game, 2-2, at 14:42.
Less than a minute later, Vegas capitalized on the momentum swing with their second goal in 45 seconds as Nick Holden sent a shot from the point that Pacioretty (2) deflected under Grubauer to put the Golden Knights back into the lead, 3-2, at 15:27 of the third period.
Holden (5) and Mark Stone (2) had the assists on Pacioretty’s deflection goal, which wound up becoming the game-winning goal as neither team could add to the scoreboard total as time winded down to the final horn.
Colorado couldn’t tie the game with Grubauer pulled for an extra attacker with 1:53 remaining, nor could they draw up the right plan to force overtime when Avalanche head coach, Jared Bednar, used his timeout with 44.1 seconds left on the clock.
At the final horn, Vegas had won, 3-2, and cut into Colorado’s series lead.
The Golden Knights wrapped up Friday’s effort leading in shots on goal, 43-20, including a, 19-8, advantage in the third period alone.
Vegas also led in givewaways (14-7), while Colorado finished the game leading in blocked shots (22-19).
The two clubs split hits, 50-50, and faceoff win%, 50-50, as well, while the Avs went 1/2 on the power play and the Golden Knights finished 0/2 on the skater advantage in Game 3.
The Avalanche lead the series 2-1 heading into Game 4 in Vegas on Sunday. Puck drop at T-Mobile Arena is scheduled for a little after 8:30 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune to NBCSN for game coverage, while fans in Canada can choose from SN or TVAS.
