Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — This is Las Vegas and the Colorado Avalanche just got played.
The Vegas Golden Knights yielded three goals in the first period. The Avalanche were winning big on the Strip early in the evening.
But at the end of the night, the House always wins in Vegas and VGK had roared back with five straight goals to grasp a 5-3 win over the stunned Avalanche and a stranglehold on the Best-of-7 Western Conference Final with a 3-0 lead in games. VGK are one WCF win away from playing for the Stanley Cup championship for the second time in four seasons and the third time in nine years.
“This was a game where we showed some balls,” VGK coach John Tortorella said at his postgame presser. The team has an “uncanny ability to stay together,” he said.
Colorado finished with the most points in the NHL racking up 121 points including 55 wins. Vegas, meanwhile, had the fewest points of any division winner with 95, including 39 wins.
But that was the regular season. And the NHL playoffs are a different beast, with Vegas playing its most clutch hockey of the season.
After Tomas Hertl and Brett Howden scored goals in the third period to crack the 3-3 tie, the Knights will go for the four-game sweep at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar said a nine-minute stretch in the second period when VGK scored two goals to tie the game at three apiece was his team’s downfall.
“If you make mistake, they capitalize,” Bednar said at his postgame presser.
He noted, “Everyone is down in the dumps . . . there’s a tough hill to climb.”
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Where have we seen this before?
The Vegas Golden Knights trailed, 3-0, in the first period and were in chase mode to catch up.
Colorado came to Vegas tonight on a mission before a packed house of a reported 18,212 fans at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip.
The Avalanche outplayed VGK in the first period and cashed in on their opportunities.
Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury scored on VGK goaltender Carter Hart, who gave up three goals on 12 shots about 13:30 into the game. Vegas was outshot, 17-7, in the first period.
Vegas was trailing, 2-0, when Pavel Dorofeyev thought he scored a PP goal, but the official ruled no goal. Colorado’s Drury then beat Hart on a shorthanded breakaway for the 3-0 lead after one period.
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The Golden Knights are the master of the comebacks.
In period two, a power play goal by Mark Stone in the stanza’s first minute, William Karlsson’s loose change goal and Keegan Kolesar’s first of the playoffs turned Colorado’s 3-0 lead into a 3-3 deadlock.
Stone’s goal set the tone for the VGK rally.
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Hertl was in a scoring slump from the regular season into the playoffs. But he scored twice against Anaheim in Round 2 and scored the game-winner on a gorgeous backhander that beat Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood.
Howden, having a huge postseason, added an empty-netter to seal VGK’s 5-3 win.
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Kelly McCrimmon was strolling to the media dinner room on the event level at T-Mobile Arena where LVSportsBiz,com mentioned to the Saskatchewan-born VGK general manager that he and Boston native Tortorella should reboot the “Odd Couple” TV show after both of them yukked it up at a presser before Game 1 of the Vegas vs Colorado Western Conference Final in Denver last week.
“Hopefully we can do that one more time for the (Stanley Cup) final,” McCrimmon joked before today’s Game 3 matching the VGK and Avs. Vegas won both games in Denver Wednesday and Friday and led the Best-of-7 WCF two games to zero entering tonight’s game.
Tortorella is the not the happiest of campers when meeting his media availability obligations. He responses are typically short — or just a no comment.
It was 2:30 PM on game day today when Tortorella complied with his media availability gig.
Technically, Tortorella was there at the NH: presser. But he didn’t offer much of a response to any question except when asked about whether Stone would be playing later today at the 5:15 PM puck drop. Stone was injured in Game 3 against Anaheim at the Honda Center, missing the last five games.
Yes, Stone is playing, said Torts, who took over for former VGK coach Bruce Cassidy with a mere eight games left in the regular season.
While Tortorella was fined $100,000 for blowing off his media presser after the Knights knocked out Anaheim in Game 6 last week, VGK forward Keegan Kolesar said Torts offered comedy in the video room and has given the Knights back their swagger.
Indeed, Tortorella does have the capacity to be funny, but he’s not exactly chatty when complying with his media duties. He declined to answer some questions, while sometimes showing a surly attitude with responses provided in a churlish manner.
It’s not cheap to get into tonight’s game. The cheapest get-in price for Game 3 is $223 on Seat Geek.
The Knights have not been selling standing room tickets for the flight deck which is the level where the castle staging area is located.
Arena host Mark Shunock introduced 4X WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson before the game as Shunock tried to stoke the emotional fire of the packed arena and a disco ball blizzard was performed as part of the pregame entertainment.
PSA