Golden Knights stage a comeback for the ages

LAS VEGAS — It was a comeback for the ages.

In a season for the Vegas Golden Knights that has been defined by come-from-behind victories, Sunday night may have been the most impressive of all.

Down 3-0 after 20 minutes in Game 3 to a Colorado Avalanche team that was playing with energy and desperation, the Knights dusted themselves off, regrouped and proceeded to put a stranglehold on the Western Conference Final with a 5-3 win at T-Mobile Arena and take a 3-0 series lead in the best-of-7 matchup with the NHL’s President’s Trophy winners.

Vegas will get a chance to wrap things up Tuesday night at home and earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Finale for the third time in the nine-year history of the franchise.

Think about that for a second. Three chances to play for hockey’s ultimate prize and an opportunity to win it for the second time after raising the Cup in 2023.

That simply doesn’t happen in sports, especially in today’s world of salary caps, free agency and world-wide talent pools from which to build rosters.

“This is a game where we showed some balls,” Knights coach John Tortorella said as Vegas won for the fifth time in the postseason coming from behind and the 26th for the overall regular season and playoffs. “Two good teams going at it. I’m proud of our club.”

While the Avs were welcoming back their star defenseman Cale Makar to the lineup, the Knights were doing likewise with their captain, Mark Stone, who had been battling a lower body injury sustained in Game 3 of the second round against Anaheim on May 8 and hadn’t played since.

As has been the case numerous times in the past, Stone returned without much, if any rust in his game. He scored the first Vegas goal 19 seconds into the second period on the power play and he assisted on what would be the game-winning goal as he made a nice feed to Tomas Hertl, who put a great move on the Colorado defense then lofted a backhand over Scott Edgewood’s shoulder and into the net with 11:39 remaining.

“I felt like (Saturday) there was no reason not to jump back in,” said Stone of the timing surrounding his return. “I felt pretty good and I always want to play. I don’t like sitting and watching.”

The Avs felt the same way about Makar, who played a team-high 28:34 and had three shots and six blocks. But he was unable to dent the scoresheet.

“Cale was good,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “He came back and did the things you expect him to do.”

But Makar didn’t seem 100 percent. He relied mostly on his wrist shot to get the puck goalward and it was noticeable that he didn’t get much lift using his stick.

And when the Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon went down after blocking Shea Theodore’s shot with his right knee in the second period and returned less than 100 percent himself, Colorado was at a distinct disadvantage. By then, the Knights had cut the deficit to 3-2 and had brought life back into the sellout crowd of 18,212.

Then Keegan Kolesar picked the most opportune time to score his first goal of the postseason, scoring in close to tie the game 3-3 after Dylan Coghlan and Kaedan Korczak set him up. Korczak would also start the process by which Hertl would score as he got the puck to Stone with a poised play from his own end that led to Stone setting up Hertl.

Brett Howden, who is having an amazing postseason, sealed the deal with an empty net goal with 57.9 seconds left. He has 10 goals, tying Pavel Dorofeyev for the team lead.

And while the Knights were ramping things up offensively, Carter Hart was closing the door on Colorado at the other end. He was blitzed for three goals in the first, then didn’t surrender another the rest of the way, finishing with 30 saves.

“We kept our composure and Carter made some big saves to keep us in it,” Tortorella said of his goaltender, who has started all 15 games in this year’s playoffs .

The one setback for Vegas may be forward Cole Smith who left the game after taking a hard hit from Brent Burns in the third period and did not return. It appeared Smith was holding his wrist or his hand as he headed down the tunnel. His availability for Game 4 Tuesday is not known.

If he can’t go, expect to see Brandon Saad return to the lineup though Reilly Smith, who hasn’t played since May 1 in the first-round series-clincher vs. Utah could be an option.

But it didn’t deter the Knights, who have gotten pretty good at this come-from-behind stuff.

“Falling behind 3-0 isn’t the ideal way to play,” Stone said. “But you’ve got to keep playing. Experience matters but we’ve ben in tough spots and managed to get out of them.”

Hertl said: “We’ve come back so many times. Even down 3-0 in the first we knew we could come back. We have so many great players. We just needed you play smarter and more aggressive.

“It’s always nice to score goals but it’s all about winning the game.”  

“They just got more competitive and we didn’t match their intensity,” Bender said of the second period when the Knights rallied. “If you make a mistake, they capitalize. It was not a good period for us.”
 
So while both teams deal with physical issues impacting their rosters heading into Tuesday, there’s a psychological factor at play too.

For Bednar, can he get his guys mentally ready knowing they have to win four straight to keep their season alive?

“It’s low. It’s as low as it can get,” he said of the mood in his locker room following the loss in Game 3. “We’ve got to find a way to get them up.”

For Tortorella, it’s about keeping his team on the same even keel it has been on throughout this run. He doesn’t want to hear talk about brooms and sweeps or anything like that.

“We can’t get carried away,” he said. “They’re a good team. They’re not going away. We’ll get together at 11 a.m., look at tape and get ready (for Tuesday).”