In Edmonton, the Vegas Golden Knights secured the top seed in the Western Conference with a 4-3 win in extra time time over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon.
“The one thing I learned about our group is how committed they are to trying to win a Stanley Cup,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “The number of guys that stayed engaged through the pause, even when it looked at times that we didn’t know if we would get to play again. It’s an exceptional opportunity to go out and compete for, at least in our minds, the greatest prize in pro sports.”
Alex Tuch struck for the game-winner with 16 seconds left in the overtime.
“It feels pretty good,” Tuch said. “Honestly, it was a big goal to get the first seed. I’m glad I could have had it, but I didn’t care who scored it as long as we did. To be able to get that first seed means a lot and I guess personally, it’s probably one of my bigger goals in the playoffs and I’m just trying to move forward and trying to continue that push.”
Robin Lehner had 32 saves for the win.
J.T. Compher, Joonas Donskoi and Nathan MacKinnon were the Avs’ strikers.
“It’s a huge challenge,” MacKinnon said. “They’re a very good team, well structured. They’ve got some good offense. It’s going to be a tough series and we’ll do our homework and we’ll be well prepared and ready to go for Game 1. Losing today [stinks], but we’re the No. 2 seed, we’re not in a bad spot and we’re feeling good heading into the first round.”
Compher scored with 62 seconds left in regulation and the extra attacker on the ice for the Avs.
“They’re a good team,” Shea Theodore, said . “I watched most of their games in the play-in round and they’re fast. They’ve got the skill, they’ve got the goaltending, they’ve got everything. It’s going to be a good matchup, but I think just for our group, the confidence boost playing through these couple of games and really finding our game, that was key for us and going forward we’re just going to focus on that.”
Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and Nicolas Roy added a single marker in regulation.
“That’s how you score goals, getting to the net,” Compher said. “At the end it was a great job moving around by our 6-on-5 unit and we were able to pop one in.”
[WATCH:Â All Golden Knights vs. Avalanche highlights]
Philipp Grubauer had 22 saves in the loss.
“I didn’t think it was our best game,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “It was a long feeling out process. I think we were okay, we had the right intentions, but it wasn’t our best game that we’ve played so far. I liked the stick-to-it-iveness to stay with it and to keep chipping away and finding a way at the end. We just weren’t as sharp as a group as we’ve been.”
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