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By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Just the facts: Vegas Golden Knights 3 Arizona Coyotes 2 in overtime
Goal scorers: William Karlsson (14), Mark Stone (20), Jonathan Marchessault (15)
West Division race for first: Golden Knights 36-12-2 for 74 points; Colorado 33-12-4 for 70 points
Chasing records: VGK goalie Marc-Andre Fleury notched his 489th career win, tying Robert Luongo for third all-time
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After Friday’s clunker of a 3-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes, the Vegas Golden Knights flushed that game down the drain and came away with two points Saturday with a 3-2 OT win.
The competition gets better for the next two games when the Knights travel to Minnesota for games against the third-place Wild on Monday and Wednesday.
When the Golden Knights return to Las Vegas for a possible playoff series preview with the St. Louis Blues next Friday and Saturday, there will be more fans in T-Mobile Arena. There is talk of a 50 percent attendance capacity, which would up the number of fans to 7,500-8,000 from the current 3,950, or 22 percent capacity.
“We are excited to welcome even more fans back to the Fortress four remaining May games,” VGK spokesman Eric Tosi said Saturday night. “Our home ice advantage has grown stronger and stronger through the course of the season as we have been able to add more and more fans.” Tosi said more details will be released to season ticketholders and fans.
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Speaking of fans, the Golden Knights faithful made another strong showing at the Gila River Arena.
The Knights controlled the first period and led, 1-0, after 20 minutes thanks to a goal by center William “Wild Bill” Karlsson.
In period two, it was Mark Stone’s turn to get on the scoresheet and the VGK led, 2-0, after two periods.
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Arizona made it a close game when the Coyotes’ Christian Fischer cut the VGK advantage to 2-1 in the third period. Arizona’s Christian Dvorak then knotted the game at two with a power play goal.
That’s how regulation ended — 2-2.
“They should get credit for coming back,” Karlsson said after the game.
It was off to overtime. The Knights had a spotless 6-0 record in OT, while Arizona was 1-3 in the extra session. The Knights were missing forward Max Pacioretty, who missed the third period. He had a league-leading four OT winners.
Marchessault scored the OT game-winner for the Knights with the assist to Alex Pietrangelo to beat Arizona netminder Darcy Kuemper. The Knights are now 7-0 in the OT session. They also won six of the eight games against Arizona.
At the end of his postgame presser, Fleury also congratulated Anaheim Ducks goalie Ryan Miller on his retirement.