05/24/26 11:53:00
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05/24 23:52 CDT Hertl's late winner caps Golden Knights' wild 5-3 rally, giving
them a 3-0 series lead on Avalanche
Hertl's late winner caps Golden Knights' wild 5-3 rally, giving them a 3-0
series lead on Avalanche
By MARK ANDERSON
AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) --- There are a number of adjectives that could be applied to
how the Golden Knights have found various ways to win in the regular season and
playoffs.
Vegas coach John Tortorella had his own description.
"This is a game where we showed some balls," the man known as Torts said after
the Golden Knights' latest Houdini act.
Tomas Hertl weaved his way toward the slot and broke a tie at 8:21 of the third
period as the Golden Knights overcame a three-goal deficit Sunday night to beat
Colorado 5-3 and move within a victory of their third Stanley Cup Final
appearance in nine years.
"It obviously feels really good right now, but we're playing a hell of a hockey
team," Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner said. "We know that the next game is
going to be even tougher now. Enjoy this for the next 10 minutes, 30 minutes,
go home and then try to take care of yourself, and do what you got to do to be
ready tomorrow."
The Golden Knights go for what would be a stunning sweep over the Presidents'
Trophy winners on Tuesday night. Chicago in 2013 was the last team to win the
Presidents' Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.
Colorado will try to become just the fifth team to win a series after falling
behind 3-0. Los Angeles in 2014 was the most recent team to accomplish that in
eliminating San Jose in their first-round series.
Vegas, which trailed 3-0 after the first period, was 0-19 in the playoffs when
behind that many goals. The Avalanche were 74-1 when holding such a lead.
"As low as it can get," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of the team's
emotions. "It's a big hill to climb. The next 24-to-36 hours is for ... you've
got to find a way to get over it, regroup and go again."
Colorado has other concerns because front-line center Nathan MacKinnon might
not be fully healthy going forward. MacKinnon, who has 15 points this
postseason and led the league in the regular season with 53 goals, took a puck
to his right knee in the second period and played through the injury.
That comes just as the Avalanche got back star defenseman Cale Makar, who
missed the first two games this series because of an upper-body injury.
Vegas keeps finding aways, going this deep into the postseason despite being
outshot in 11 of 15 games, including now nine in a row. The Golden Knights
erased deficits the past two games against Colorado, though Game 2 was just 1-0.
"We've been all season long many times down," Hertl said. "We've come back so
many times. Even after the first when we were down 3-0 we knew we could do it."
Hertl, Mark Stone and William Karlsson each had a goal and assist. Keegan
Kolesar and Brett Howden scored the other Golden Knights goals, and Mitch
Marner and Kaedan Korczak each tallied two assists. Carter Hart made 32 saves.
Stone's goal came on his first appearance since suffering a lower-body injury
in Game 3 of the second-round series against Anaheim. Kolesar, who had gone 37
playoff games without a goal, picked up his first point of the postseason.
Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury scored for the Avalanche, and
Devon Toews had two assists. Scott Wedgewood stopped 18 shots.
The Avalanche dominated the first period by taking a 3-0 lead, but the Golden
Knights thought they had cut the deficit to 2-1 when Pavel Dorofeyev appeared
to score a power-play goal with 7:26 left. Officials immediately waved it off
and the decision was upheld on video review.
Colorado then made the Golden Knights pay when Drury found himself alone on a
breakaway, deking Vegas goalie Hart to score the short-handed goal with 6:45
left for the three-goal lead.
But the Golden Knights didn't let the two-goal swing trouble them too much,
with Stone's power-play goal 19 seconds into the second period sparking a
three-goal answer to tie the game heading into the final period of regulation.
Then Hertl broke the deadlock --- and now the Golden Knights just need to win
one of four games.
"I want them to feel it for a little bit, as far as what they just did against
a really good hockey club," Tortorella said, "but then we get back to work
tomorrow."
There was a moment of silence before the game for two-time NASCAR champion
driver and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch. He died Thursday at 41 after severe
pneumonia developed into sepsis, according to a statement from Busch's family.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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