Rapid Recap: Golden Knights 3, Avalanche 2 (Game 3)

The Vegas Golden Knights rallied to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena in Game 3 of the second round in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avalanche leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.
The Golden Knights scored twice in a matter of 45 seconds late in the third period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 advantage. Jonathan Marchessault banked a shot in at 14:52 and Max Pacioretty tallied the eventual game-winner on a redirection at 15:27.

William Karlsson opened the scoring for Vegas 4:38 into the second period, but the Avalanche answered back 89 seconds later as Carl Soderberg buried a shot off a rebound.
Mikko Rantanen gave Colorado a 2-1 lead with a power-play marker 5:03 into the third period to stretch his goal streak to four games and point streak to seven contests (17 in a row dating back to last year).
Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 40 saves, including all in the first period as the Golden Knights had a 14-3 edge in the stanza.
It was the first loss by Colorado this postseason.

THE GOALS

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
4:38 VGK (0-1) - After blocking a shot in front, William Karlsson kicked the puck onto his stick and tallied with a backhand shot to open the game's scoring.
6:07 COL (1-1) - Carl Soderberg knotted the contest less than 90 seconds after Karlsson scored as Pierre-Edouard Bellemare's original shot rebounded right to him.
3rd Period
5:02 COL (2-1) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen scored with one-timer off a pass from Cale Makar just eight seconds into a power play.
14:42 VGK (2-2) - Jonathan Marchessault banked a shot off the Avs goalie and into the cage.
15:27 VGK (2-3) - Max Pacioretty tallied off a redirection from a Nick Holden shot at the point
Final: Golden Knights - 3 | Avalanche - 2

3 STARS

Selected by AT&T Sports Net

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 2
Vegas: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer stopped 40 shots, including one from Max Pacioretty during a breakaway with 1:50 left in the second period.
Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury made 18-of-20 saves.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Carl Soderberg scored his third career playoff goal and first with the Avalanche since being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks on April 12 at the Trade Deadline. It was also his first in the postseason with Colorado (20 games).

NOTEBOOK

Kiefer Sherwood picked up his first career postseason point on Soderberg's tally… Mikko Rantanen is now on a four-game goal streak and a seven-game point streak. He also extended his franchise record with points in each of his last 17 playoff games dating back to last year. It's the longest streak by an NHL player including multiple postseasons since Al MacInnis (19 games) with Calgary from 1989 to 1990... Cale Makar is now on a four-game assist/point streak (one goal, six assists)… Brandon Saad had his career-long, five-game goal streak come to an end. It was the tied for the third longest in franchise playoff history... The franchise is now 19-27 all-time in Game 3s... When Colorado leads a best-of-seven series 2-1, it holds an all-time record of 14-7 (0.667)... It was just the second-ever NHL game contested in Las Vegas in June. The high temperature outside during the day was 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius).

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Friday Face-Off

ROSTER REPORT

Kiefer Sherwood made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut while skating on the team's fourth line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Carl Soderberg, who was playing his third contest of the postseason and his first since Game 4 of Round 1 versus the St. Louis Blues on May 23. Alex Newhook was scratched for the first time in the playoffs, while fellow rookie Sampo Ranta also sat after skating in the previous two contests. Forward Nazem Kadri, who is going through the appeal process, was serving the fifth outing of an eight-game suspension by the NHL.

INJURY UPDATE

• Matt Calvert (upper body): Out long term and is doubtful to return this year after having surgery; last played on March 23 at Arizona.
• Pavel Francouz (lower body): Expected to return fully healthy next season after having surgery earlier this year; hurt during practice on Jan. 18.
• Erik Johnson (upper body): Has been skating on his own or in small groups and could possibly return later in the playoffs depending on how he progresses; last played on Jan. 30 at Minnesota.
• Jayson Megna (COVID protocol): Has been in the league's COVID-19 protocol since May 26.
• Logan O'Connor (lower body): Has been skating with the Black Aces (practice squad) and joined the team for morning skate in Vegas, but there is still no timetable on his return as he recovers from surgery; last played on March 31 vs. Arizona.

UP NEXT

Game 4 between the Avalanche and Golden Knights is Sunday at 6:30 p.m. MT in Las Vegas. The series shifts back to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 17 Tyson Jost - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
95 Andre Burakovsky - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
34 Carl Soderberg - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 27 Ryan Graves
24 Patrik Nemeth - 22 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
40 Devan Dubnyk