Don’t Plan That VGK Stanley Cup Parade On Strip Yet; Florida Scores Late In Game To Force OT, Then Defeats Vegas, 3-2, In Overtime In Game 3 Thursday
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
We have a series.
Admit it. With less than three minutes left in the third period and the Vegas Golden Knights holding a 2-1 lead over the Florida Panthers, you were thinking the VGK were only minutes away from a commanding 3-0 lead in the Best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final.
Perhaps you were contemplating how the Golden Knights were going to have a Stanley Cup victory parade down the Strip with all those road-paving machines working on Las Vegas Boulevard for the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race.
But then Chucky and the flying rats struck for the never-say-die Florida Panthers before a packed house of 19,735 fans.
After getting blasted by a Keegan Kolesar check in the first period, Florida tough guy Matthew Tkachuk powered his way to the VGK net late in the third period and flipped a puck into an open net to rally the Panthers to a 2-2 tie with only two minutes and 13 seconds left in the final stanza.
“Before that we had a lot of chances to extend the lead,” VGK coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game. “They hung around . . . There was a lot to like tonight.”
Chucky’s goal sent Game 3 into overtime after the Golden Knights relied on power play goals by Mark Stone in the first period and Jonathan Marchessault in the second.
Marchessault’s one-timer from the left side off a gorgeous pass from Jack Eichel was his 13th goal of the playoffs, tying him with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for the postseason goal lead.
Then Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky took over the game.
Bob, who was rocked in Game 2 in Las Vegas three days ago in a 7-2 loss and was yanked by Panthers coach Paul Maurice, shut down the Knights with solid play. He did survive a shot late in the third that beat him that hit the post before Tkachuk’s tying goal.
The Knights’ power play was clicking and they nearly won the game in OT when Vegas was on the PP for the first 1:49 of the extra session.
But in the end, it was the Florida Panthers winning their seventh overtime game in the playoffs out of seven attempts when Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner.
The Knights now lead the series, two games to one, and have won three games in OT while losing two during the playoffs.
Vegas had a 2-1 lead in the second period and has been dominant in the middle stanza in the postseason, outscoring foes, 28-9, in the second period.
But the Knights could not close the deal. VGK goalie Adin Hill also played well. The chill goalie who replaced Laurent Brossoit when the Bro was injured in the Edmonton series during round two stopepd 20 of 23 shots on goal.
Game 4 is Saturday at the Panthers’ arena in Sunrise west of Fort Lauderdale.
The Panthers win forces a Game 5 back in Las Vegas at the Big Ice House by the Strip on Tuesday at 5 PM Vegas time.
