The Vegas Golden Knights overcame a three-goal deficit on Sunday night to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 at Las Vegas, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the playoff series and moving within one victory of the Stanley Cup Final.
Vegas trailed 3-0 after the opening frame, overcoming historical postseason odds of 0-19 when trailing by three goals, while snapping Colorado's 74-1 record when holding such an advantage.
Tomas Hertl broke the deadlock by weaving into the slot to score at 8:21 of the third period, compounding issues for Colorado who saw star center Nathan MacKinnon play through a second-period knee injury.
"This is a game where we showed some balls," said John Tortorella, Vegas coach.
The victory put the Golden Knights in position to secure a series sweep on Tuesday night against the Presidents' Trophy winners.
"I want them to feel it for a little bit, as far as what they just did against a really good hockey club, but then we get back to work tomorrow," said Tortorella.
The Golden Knights found a way to win despite being outshot for the ninth consecutive game, relying on two assists each from Mitch Marner and Kaedan Korczak alongside 32 saves from Carter Hart.
"It obviously feels really good right now, but we’re playing a hell of a hockey team," said Marner.
Vegas previously tied the match in the second period after Mark Stone scored a power-play goal 19 seconds into the frame during his first appearance since a second-round injury.
"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," said Marner.
William Karlsson, Keegan Kolesar, and Brett Howden scored the remaining Vegas goals, while Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri, and Jack Drury scored for Colorado.
"We’ve been all season long many times down," said Hertl.
Hertl and Stone both finished the night with a goal and an assist to fuel the comeback.
"We’ve come back so many times. Even after the first when we were down 3-0 we knew we could do it," said Hertl.
Colorado now faces the challenge of trying to become just the fifth team in NHL history to win a series after falling behind 3-0.
"As low as it can get," said Jared Bednar, Avalanche coach.
The Avalanche previously built their lead via a short-handed breakaway goal by Drury after video review overturned an apparent Vegas power-play goal by Pavel Dorofeyev.
"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," said Bednar.
Before the game, a moment of silence was held for two-time NASCAR champion and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch, who died Thursday at age 41 from sepsis.
