Golden Knights’ Two Late Goals Deliver 3-2 Comeback Win Over Colorado Before 17,504 At T-Mobile Arena Friday; Avs Lead Series, 2-1, With Game 4 In Vegas Sunday

June 4, 2021June 4, 2021 Alan Snel Alex Pietrangelo, Cameron Hughes, Carl Soderberg, Fleury, Jonathan Marchessault, Max Pacioretty, Mikko Rantanen, Pete DeBoer, Philipp Grubauer, William Karlsson

Fleury soaking up the packed house tonight.

Story by Alan Snel Photos By J. Tyge O’Donnell

The Vegas Golden Knights were a mere 5:18 away from going down 3-0 in games in this high-powered Best-of-7 series with the Colorado Avalanche.

But then Knights snipers Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty scored unorthodox goals less than a minute apart on Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer and Vegas came away with a comeback 3-2 win before 17,504 insane and loud fans at T-Mobile Arena Friday evening.

The Golden Knights outplayed the Avalanche for most of the night as VGK outshot Colorado, 43-20.

Marchessault banked in a shot off Grubauer with 5:18 left in the final period and Pacioretty scored the game-winner with only 4:33 left in regulation by deflecting in a shot from defenseman Nick Holden.

“Now it’s all about next game,” Marchessault said after the game. “We can’t get too high or too low after games. Doesn’t matter if we lose 7-1 or win 3-2.”

Marchessault linemate William Karlsson explained the meaning of Marchy’s game-tying goal: “Time will tell how huge it’s going to be.”

The Avalanche had won six in a row in the postseason, with a sweep of St. Louis in round one and the first two games against the Knights at Bell Arena in Denver.

“We just stuck with it,” VGK coach Pete DeBoer said. “The crowd was so awesome . . . keeping the energy levels up.”

It was an electric atmosphere in a building that began with zero fans in the seats watching the season’s first games in January.

We kept our belief in our game which I think has been in a good place if you throw out Game 1. — VGK coach Pete DeBoer

The first fans attended Knights home games at T-Mobile Arena March 1 before the VGK got the green light for full capacity for Games 3 and 4 tonight and Sunday.

They were treated to a gritty effort by the Golden Knights and an emotional late-game rally that has made this VGK-COL showdown a competitive series with Game 4 scheduled for Sunday at 5:30PM Vegas time.

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr cranked the siren to get the game off and running. He tweeted after the game: “Vegas… if our Raiders games are anything like the intensity we just witnessed here at the Fortress it’s going to be a fun year!!! Go Knights Go!”

The Golden Knights dominated period one against Colorado.

But VGK did not score a goal off any of their 15 shots on Colorado netminder Philipp Grubauer.

The Avalanche managed only three shots on VGK’s Marc-Andre Fleury.

It was scoreless after one period.

In period two, Karlsson swatted in a backhander past Grubauer off a shot by Alex Pietrangelo and the Knights were on the scoreboard 4:38 into the middle stanza.

About a minute and a half later, Colorado tied the game when Carl Soderberg shot in a rebound and the game dominated by the Golden Knights was knotted at one.

After two periods, the Golden Knights outshot Colorado, 23-11. But the game was tied at one after two periods and the VGK season was on the line in the final 20 minutes.

Grubauer was outstanding. He stopped most everything the Knights threw at him during the first 40 minutes, including stopping Pacioretty on a breakaway in period two. Pacioretty did some shake-and-bake moves, but could not fake out Grubauer to score the go-ahead goal.

The Knights entered period three and faced the most important 20 minutes of the season.