Golden Knights complete epic comeback on Flames

Epic comeback. That was the theme of the Golden Knights at the fortress against fellow Pacific Division foe Calgary. A thrilling overtime goal off the  stick of Alex Pietrangelo put the Golden Knights three points ahead of the Kings and Oilers for first place in the division.

Laurent Brossoit made his second straight start after making his season debut against the Chicago Blackhawks, resulting in a 3-2 shootout loss on Tuesday evening in Chicago. Since the All-Star break, the Golden Knights have cruised on a seven game point streak at 6-0-1.

Flames get red hot first period offense moving

Michael Amadio got the first shot of the game with 17:40 to go in the opening period resulting in a Dan Vladar save. Calgary would counter with a Blake Coleman tip in that was saved by Laurent Brossoit. With 14:31 left, Reilly Smith got a shot off that was blocked by Dennis Gilbert. With 12:47 left, the Flames lead the Golden Knights in shots and faceoff victories, but the contest remained scoreless.

Byron Froese was called for hooking against Coleman with 11:10 left in the period giving the Flames the first power play opportunity of the game. Tyler Toffoli and Elias Lindholm were able to get off a pair a shots in the man advantage before Dillon Dube fired off a one timer slap shot on Broissoit, who managed to make the stop. The Flames got off five shots on the first power play of the game, but the Golden Knights killed off the penalty.

A couple minutes after killing off the first power play, Shea Theodore was called for holding on Nazem Kadri giving the Flames a man advantage for the second time in the period. With 6:47 left, Jakob Pelletier put the Flames up 1-0. It is the first time, the Flames have had a lead at T-Mobile Arena since the Golden Knights entered the league.

With five minutes to go, William Karlsson got off a shot as Vladar managed to make the stop.  With 3:15 left, Zach Whitecloud got off a wrist shot and Vladar again made the stop. The play also resulted in a high sticking call on Jonathan Marchessault giving the Flames a third power play in the opening period. Calgary was limited to just one shot on the man advantage as Vegas killed off the penalty.

Breaking it down…

The first period resulted in a 18-8 shot advantage and a 1-0 lead in the first intermission. For Pelletier, it is his third goal of the season. The Golden Knights struggled to stay out of the penalty box and the result is about what you can expect. For the most part the defense did its job. The offense was there but puck possession is the key.

First Intermission: Flames 1, Golden Knights 0

Flames offense stays hot, Golden Knights snap cold streak

With 18:35 to go in the middle frame, Jonathan Huberdeau fired off a wrist shot off the stick of Pelletier for the second goal of the game, giving the Flames a 2-0 lead. The Golden Knights would get a power play a few seconds later with a MacKenzie Weegar delay of game call. The power play had plenty of chances for the Golden Knights to strike, but the struggle continues with no shots on goal with the man advantage.

Cotter would fire off a shot with 15:17 left bit Vladar continued to keep the Golden Knights off the board. With 11 minutes left in the period, Phil Kessel and Chandler Stephenson gave Vegas another golden opportunity to get on the board by crowding the net but Vladar again, remained hot in the net for the Flames. The Golden Knights kept the Flames shotless for almost seven minutes in the second period.

The Golden Knights would get anither power play opportunity with 6:21 left in the second as Walker Duehr was called for interference on Brossoit. Amadio fired off a shot early but the bad luck for the Golden Knights on the power play would soon come to an end. A minute into the man advantage, off the stick of Amadio, Jack Eichel scored a power play goal snapping an 0-25 scoreless streak. The goal was Eichel’s 19th of the season and second on the power play.

Calgary would soon get the goal back with Mikael Backlund getting a goal with 3:26 left. The goal gave the Flames a two goal lead for the second time in the game with Backlund scoring in his fourth straight game. The Golden Knights would soon get off a few more shots immediately after the initial face off but it resulted in no more goals for Vegas in the middle period.

Breaking it down…

The Golden Knights had much better energy in the second period and it showed. The good news is the power play slump is at long last over. The bad news is the Flames managed to counter with a pair of goals in the period despite being held shotless for a good portion of the period. The Golden Knights outshot the Flames 11-8 in the period.

Second Intermission: Flames 3, Golden Knights 1

Golden Knights take momentum and erase two goal deficit

With 14:51 left, Whitecloud scored his second goal of the season putting the Golden Knights within one of the Flames, The third period began with a back and forth series of possession and hits between the two Pacific Division rivals, Golden Knights defense kept the Flames offense from gaining any momentum. The Flames got their first official shot of the period with 10:15 left off a tip in attempt by Kadri with Brossoit making the save.

The first half of the period was filled with plenty of hits between the Flames and Golden Knights. Marchessault would give the Golden Knights their second shot of the period with 8:53 left to play in regulation. Cotter and Kessel  a minute later gave the Golden Knights anither pair of shots but Vladar was there to save them.

Off a Stephenson takeaway, William Carrier scored the game tying goal with 7:25 left to go,. The goal is Carrier’s 16th of the season. A half minute later Brett Howden would put the pressure on with a shot of his own. With 4:51 left, Howden would be called for high sticking on Nikita Zadorov giving the Flames their fourth power play of the game. At this point, the Golden Knights had outshot the Flames 8-1 in the period.  Rasmus Anderson blasted a slap shot from the close to blue line that hit the crossbar. The Golden Knights would kill off the penalty not allowing an official shot by the Flames.

After an icing call and a short Flames possession, the period ended with the Golden Knights erasing a two goal deficit  to send it to overtime.

End of Regulation: Golden Knights 3, Flames 3

Golden Knights Game Winner! Epic Comeback complete!

The overtime period started with Backlund getting off a shot that saw Brossoit get a backhanded save. Within seconds, Marchessault would garner off a shot that hit the crossbar and past Vladar but on the rebound, Eichel and Pietrangelo would crowd the net with Pietrangelo getting the game winning goal for the Golden Knights. The game winning goal for Pietrangelo would be his eighth of the season. The come from behind win would be the 12th of the season for the Golden Knights, which leads the NHL.

Breaking it down…

Finishing off strong and taking control of the narrative is what counts here. The Golden Knights remain strong out of the gate of the All-Star Break. Limiting the chances for the Flames is what gave Vegas a chance to make up ground. Giving credit where credit is due, the defense was nothing short of amazing for Bruce Cassidy’s squad.

Game Notes

• With the win, the Vegas Golden Knights improved to a 35-18-5 (75 points).
• The one shot allowed in the third period, is the fourth time in franchise history the Golden Knights have accomplished the feat. According to the Golden Knights, it is the first time since March 2020 it has happened.
• Next Game: vs Dallas on Saturday night at 10:00p ET/7:00p PT. Dallas is 30-16-12 (72 points) and leads the Central Division with a one point lead over Winnipeg.
• The win keeps the Golden Knights three points ahead of the Kings and Oilers (72 points) for first place in the Pacific Division. The Kings lost to the Devils 4-3 on Thursday night while the Oilers moved into a second place tie with a 7-2 win over Pittsburgh. The Seattle Kraken (70 points) lost a high scoring affair at home against the Bruins 6-5 on Thursday evening.
• If the playoffs were to start after the night’s activity, the Golden Knights would draw the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Calgary would be one point out of the playoffs.

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