Late goals help Golden Knights turn tables on Avs

Jonathan Marchessault of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates with teammates on the bench after scoring a third-period goal against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images/AFP)

Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty scored 45 seconds apart late in the third period to rally the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the West Division playoffs on Friday night in Las Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves and William Karlsson also scored a goal for Vegas, which still trails the best-of-seven series, 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday night, also in Las Vegas. Marchessault tied it, 2-2, with 5:18 to go when he banked in his own rebound from behind the goal line off Philipp Grubauer’s leg and into the net for his 17th career playoff goal. Pacioretty then made it 3-2 when he redirected Nick Holden’s shot from the left point under Grubauer for his second goal of the playoffs and the game-winner. Mikko Rantanen and Carl Soderberg scored goals for Colorado, which had its six-game postseason winning streak snapped. Rantanen, who scored the overtime winner in Game 2, extended his playoff point streak to 17 games. Only five players in NHL history have recorded a longer point streak that spanned multiple playoff years. Grubauer finished with 40 saves and had a 10-game postseason win streak snapped. Vegas, playing before its first sellout crowd at T-Mobile Arena since March 2020, came out strong as expected in the first period, outshooting the Avalanche, 14-3, and finishing with a 12-2 edge in scoring chances but couldn’t get a shot past Grubauer. The Golden Knights finally broke through at the 4:38 mark of the second period when Karlsson backhanded in a rebound of an Alex Pietrangelo shot to give Vegas its first lead of the series. It was the third goal of the playoffs for Karlsson. But Colorado tied it just 89 seconds later on Soderberg’s first goal since rejoining the Avalanche from the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline. The score came when Pierre-Edouard Bellemare fired a slap shot from the left circle that bounced off Fleury’s glove to the right side of the net, where Soderberg slapped in the rebound inside the right post. The Avalanche then took a 2-1 lead early in the third period on a power-play goal by Rantanen eight seconds after Nicolas Roy was called for a hooking penalty. Rantanen took a pass from Cale Makar in the high slot and then slapped a shot past a screen by Joonas Donskoi and Fleury’s glove side for Colorado’s fifth power-play goal of the series.Toffoli, Price lead Habs to 2-0 series lead over Jets Tyler Toffoli scored the game’s lone goal and goaltender Carey Price recorded his eighth career playoff shutout to give the visiting Montreal Canadiens a 1-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets and a surprising 2-0 lead in their Stanley Cup playoff series. Price made all 30 saves needed to earn his first shutout of this year’s playoffs. The underdog Canadiens will look to take a stranglehold on the best-of-seven, second-round series from the North Division when it resumes Sunday in Montreal, with Game 4 on Monday. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots for the Jets, who were without suspended top-line center Mark Scheifele after he was handed a four-game banishment for the charging major penalty he received after hitting Jake Evans in the series opener. Toffoli’s short-handed goal 101 seconds into the second period was the lone offensive production. After a Winnipeg chance missed the net and sprung him, Toffoli led a two-on-one rush that he ended by electing to shoot from the right circle. The Canadiens have opened the scoring in five consecutive outings, seven of their nine playoff games and all six they’ve played on the road. From there, it was on Price to hold the fort for the Canadiens, who have won five straight playoff games and haven’t trailed in any of them. Price did a masterful job, especially in the third period when the Jets pushed furiously for the equaliser. He turned aside Pierre-Luc Dubois early in the final frame and made his biggest late in the affair when he denied Nikolaj Ehlers from the slot. Hellebuyck did all he could to give the hosts a chance. He made a huge stop on Jesperi Kotkaniemi early in the third period and provided a clutch save on Paul Byron late in regulation to keep his team within one shot of tying the game, but he received no offensive support. With Evans out of action after the hellacious hit from Scheifele that required him to be carted off via stretcher, the Canadiens inserted Artturi Lehkonen in the lineup. Lehkonen collected an assist on Toffoli’s goal. On top of being without Scheifele, Winnipeg forward Paul Stastny and defenseman Dylan DeMelo also missed the game due to injury. In their place were forwards Jansen Harkins and Kristian Vesalainen and defenseman Jordie Benn.