In Denver, Max Pacioretty scored with 1:56 gone in extra time to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 win over the Avalanche on Saturday.
“Tonight was a bounce,” Pacioretty said. “We don’t go out in overtime to defend, we go out there to try and attack. When there’s a chance to go the other way, we want to take advantage of it. It was a great battle to win that battle, and I saw the battle, trusted the guys in there and kind of took off. Great play by [Tuch] to give it to me early enough so I could keep a little bit of speed, and that momentum is what ultimately allowed me to pick up that rebound.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for the victory.
“The goal was to play the way we’re capable of playing, executing the way we’re capable of executing, and the results take care of themselves,” Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer said. “To be honest with you, if we lost tonight in overtime, I would have been really happy with the response. That’s how you beat a good team on the road. For the believers out there, thanks for sticking with us. I know there were some doubters out there after the last game, but I knew our group would respond with a good effort.”
Devon Toews and Joonas Donskoi were the Avs strikers, both goals came in the frame when Colorado took a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
“I felt like we did not have our best game,” Donskoi said. “We spent too much time in our own end. We knew they were going to be better tonight, as they were. We were not physical enough. When they get the cycle going, it’s hard to stop it. We were battling for the first spot in our division, so obviously we wanted to get two points, but we were not able to do it.”
William Carrier and Alec Martinez scored for Vegas in regulation.
Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves in the loss.
“We had some breakdowns. I thought [Grubauer] was really good,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “The penalty kill stepped up big in the third period. … I didn’t love our third period, we didn’t get a lot going. It seemed like their checking ramped up a little bit. We just weren’t moving as well as in the first two periods.”
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