Golden Knights Continue To Overcome Adversity

Believing in the Vegas Golden Knights is difficult for some because there's no track record upon which to base a reasoned conclusion. With each passing game, however, the Golden Knights have cleared hurdle after hurdle. The latest is playoff adversity and it's a big one.
Losing a game in the post-season pushes a team closer to the brink of elimination and the emotional investment required to compete at this time of the year makes the bottoming out following a loss deeper and more destructive. Bouncing back is imperative for a team which has its hopes set on a long run.
"That's exactly what we're trying to do. You're going to have some highs in hockey games and you're going to have some lows," said Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant. "It could go from shift to shift. Forget about what's happened in the past and you move forward. That's what you can control. Control going forward and playing good hockey. What happened on the last shift, you can't worry about that."

So, just how would the Golden Knights react to a playoff loss was the question heading into Monday night's Game 3?
Vegas had won five straight in the post-season and everything had gone their way. But what would happen when they hit the inevitable speed bump?
That bump arrived Saturday night as the Golden Knights had a goal taken off the board in overtime due to a controversial goaltender interference challenge and eventually succumbed to the San Jose Sharks 4-3 which evened the series to 1-1.
So, they thought they had won the game and then they lost it. They went from being ahead in the series 2-0 to being tied with the series moving to San Jose. Game 3 was the opportunity to answer the adversity question. But fate wasn't done with the Golden Knights just yet.
Leading 3-1 heading into the third period, Vegas gave up a pair of goals to the Sharks and the game headed to overtime.
San Jose appeared to have all the momentum and when Logan Couture found himself all alone in the slot it appeared the Sharks would take another bite out of the Knights.
Enter Marc-Andre Fleury's glove hand and perhaps the save of the post-season. Fleury snared the puck with flash and flare and saved the game.
"We didn't lose in the first round, but I thought we were very good against L.A. when it came to making sure we were even-keeled," said Fleury. "Every night we started from scratch. After the Game 2 loss though, I didn't feel anybody being so down about it. It was a new day yesterday, a new game and we had the same mindset. Go back to our game and try our best."
Next up was William Karlsson who took a James Neal feed and then flew down the right side of the ice before whipping a wrist shot past Sharks goalie Martin Jones to make it 4-3 Vegas.
Adversity dealt. Adversity answered.