Over 19,000 stood in slack-jawed disbelief. After two games of everything going the way of the Minnesota Wild, their faithful were forced to witness Ivan Barbashev’s balloon-popping Game 4 overtime winner.
Deuces wild heading back to Vegas.
The ice was divided like a black and white cookie. Jubilation at one end of the ice and crushing disappointment at the other.
Barbashev stomped his way to the edge of the blue ice and finished off a heavy forecheck shift to shovel the puck past Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson for a 4-3 Vegas win.
“Basically, it was just off the face-off, and then (Jake) Middleton committed a turnover. I think it was Smitty [Reilly Smith] who picked up the puck and got it out front,” said Barbashev. “It is pretty funny thinking about this play. Even in the third, me, Smitty, and Roy [Nicolas Roy] did the same play, just trying to put a puck on the net. Smitty 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.”
After falling behind early and failing to get back to even in both Game 2 and 3, Vegas entered this match behind in the series and struggling to get to its game.
Shea Theodore put Vegas ahead 1-0 and then the Wild scored a pair to lead the game 2-1 heading into the third period.
Goals from Roy and Tomas Hertl put Vegas up 3-2 before Jared Spurgeon tied it up 3-3 forcing overtime.
Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill made a huge save early in the extra frame and Roy took a holding penalty which his teammates were able to kill.
“I think we played better. Just got to keep working. Our offense is going to come, and we should keep with it. It was nice to score more than a couple of goals, and we just have to keep working and try to create some good chances,” said Barbashev. “I feel like that game was very nerve-racking. There were a lot of ups and downs. They went up 2-1, then we went up 3-2, and they score one back. Then the penalty kill in overtime, just a lot of emotions and just got to forget about this one and get ready for the next one.”
Vegas checked off a lot of boxes in terms of finding its game. The power play clicked twice and they also scored a pair of 5v5 goals.
Barbashev, as well as captain Mark Stone and leading scorer Jack Eichel, all had points in the game. And Hill, who was lifted after two periods in Game 3, got better and better as the game went on and made the saves his team needed to secure the win.
“I think you're jumping on a plane feeling good about yourself, right? Maybe [the Wild] is jumping on the plane, not [feeling good]. There's an extra day now. When you get the second end of it, there's a little bit of that emotion, right? At the end of the day, it's 2-2. It’s best of three. We came here thinking, ‘Okay. It's a best-of-five. We lost home ice.’ We got it back. It's a best-of-three,” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. “It's been hard fought for every inch of ice out there. So, that's how I'm looking at it. Emotionally, we're going to enjoy it. But tomorrow, we'll rest and then get back to work on Monday. We need to fix some things. They're doing a good job in some areas that we need to get better at, so we'll focus on that and keep trying to get better every game.”
Cassidy jumbled his lines late in the second period and got the offensive bump he was hoping for as his team scored two in the third and then one more in overtime.
“Well, Jack Eichel\] and \[Mark\] Stone are two drivers, and we've said that many times that in a perfect world, they probably, if the year had it played out a certain way, they probably would have been split at some point. For whatever reason, weren't clicking. So sometimes a little time apart is a good thing. Putting [William Karlsson on the left wing was just something, that Eichel has killed penalties with Karlsson. I think they have good chemistry even though they're both centermen and probably won’t play together very often, if ever. It just gave Eichel a spark. They're matching Matt\] Boldy up against him, so now you have two centers, so it can work. It could be good on both ends,” said Cassidy. “Then the other lines, Nic Roy, [Reilly Smith had played together. When Smith first got here, I think Karlsson was hurt, right? So, the Columbus-Pittsburgh trip, I thought they played well together as a pair that we knew we could go to. Barbashev, when you drop him down with Roy and it is usually Keegan Kolesar, he's had some good games. I didn't mess with the Hertl line, and then it was like, “Well, what's left?” Whatever was left was going to play together. And then we had a player get a little bit sick between periods. So now Hertl is with Stone, we saw that last year in the playoffs. Didn't go as well as we'd like, but it's a new year now, and I think Hertl’s moving a lot better. So, maybe that's a pair. I know Hertl is good with big wingers. You saw him with Kolesar earlier this year and Nic Roy when we moved one of them out. So, anyway, that's where it all came from. Most of them had been together at some point. The Eichel and Karlsson one was a little bit of, let's see how this looks, and I thought they both helped each other.”
