The Vegas Golden Knights evened their First Round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-3 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 4 on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center. Here is what some Golden Knights players and Head Coach Bruce Cassidy had to say following the win.
Shea Theodore on the team’s experience going into overtime…
I think at this time of year experience is a big thing. We have a lot of guys that are still on the team from when we won. So, taking that and we've added some great pieces to continue building that. I think just to the experience, we like where we're at.
Theodore on what Game 4 meant for the team…
This was a pivotal game for our group to turn it around and just get rewarded for the play that we felt like we're having. So, this is a big game for us and it's going to go home. We were on our toes the whole the whole night. It seemed like we didn't really fell back, and I didn't think we really gave up much. Talking to the guys after, it felt like we could've went for another overtime. We felt fresh. We felt ready to go. I think that just shows the work that we put in off the ice for the last couple weeks gearing up for it. We're ready for a long stretch.
Nicolas Roy’s perspective of the game-winning overtime goal…
I think we jumped pretty good on the face-off there. Reilly\] [Smith had nice puck protection there. Those overtime goals are usually not that pretty. It's usually hard work, and, yeah, it was one of those. Ivan\] [Barbashev was there then. Good to have that one for sure.
Roy on what part of the game he is most proud of…
There was never a panic when they scored that goal right after we scored ours. We didn't change our game. I think we stuck with it. I think overall, we prepared a good time.
Ivan Barbashev on his game-winning goal to even the series…
Basically, it was just off the face-off. Then, it was in the middle of the committed turnover. I think it was [Reilly] Smith who picked up the puck. It’s pretty funny thinking about this play. Even in the third, me, Smith, and Nicolas [Roy] did the same play, just trying to put a puck on the net. Smith had a chance in the third period. Luckily, in overtime, it just started bouncing over there, and I don't remember what really happened. I just saw the puck lying there alone and just got it in.
Head Coach Bruce Cassidy’s thoughts on heading into the 3rd period…
Going into a third period, I think Minnesota's 31-0. They haven't lost a game. So, your experience has to say, ‘Hey, let's go just one shift at a time.’ We don't have to tie the game in the first five minutes. Just play and build your game. I thought we did a good job with that, and then all of a sudden, we're in out front, right? I don't think we gave up a lot. I know there was a breakaway, but I think the puck hopped over a stick. This wasn't like as big defensive breakdown on their goal. So, we're doing a good job knowing that we can't just open the floodgates.
Cassidy on the team’s five-on-five game…
You have to get going five-on-five scoring, right? We've been pretty good at that this year. It hasn't been a deficiency at least. So, that's something we're going to need if you're not getting on the power play tonight, but we did. We took advantage of some situations. But they've been scoring five-on-five, so we have to match that if we expect to win. And we were able to get going tonight on that and hopefully that carries over to Game 5.
