Stone, Golden Knights defeat Avalanche in OT in Game 5, take series lead

DENVER -- Mark Stone scored 50 seconds into overtime, and the Vegas Golden Knights took the lead in the Stanley Cup Second Round with a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Stone scored with a high shot from above the left hash marks on a breakaway after a pass by Max Pacioretty from the Vegas zone.
The Golden Knights gained possession after Avalanche defenseman Ryan Graves had two consecutive shots blocked, including the first by Stone.
"I had a couple big shot blocks right before that," Stone said. "Sometimes when the D-man shoots it like that, they get flat-footed. Just took off, fortunate to end the game."
Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made saves against Gabriel Landeskog and J.T. Compher's rebound attempt 10 seconds into overtime.
"The game should've been over," Stone said. "We should've been going home, but 'Flower' made a huge save and kept us in it and gave me that opportunity to end it."
Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for the Golden Knights, the No. 2 seed in the Honda West Division, who rallied from down two goals in the third period for their third straight win after losing the first two games of the best-of-7 series.
"You've got the Presidents' Trophy-winning team on the other side," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "You look at the numbers, they're one of the best teams in the last 10 to 15 years from a regular-season point of view. There's going to be push and pull, and I thought we did a great job. It wasn't always perfect, but it was a great win, and our guys really dug in and found a way."

Brandon Saad and Joonas Donskoi scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for the Avalanche, the No. 1 seed.
Game 6 is at Vegas on Thursday.
"We showed tonight that we can play with Vegas and create the chances we need and still defend properly, and we made some mistakes," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Now we're in the situation we're in and we got to dig in and try to better that performance and go get the job done.
"It's a game of mistakes, and I'll say that I loved the way we played tonight, I loved it. I thought we were the aggressor, we were on our toes, we were playing to win the hockey game, we played to our identity."
Saad gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead with two seconds left in the first period, shooting over Fleury's right shoulder from outside the left face-off circle.
Donskoi made it 2-0 at 16:28 of the second period with a blocker-side shot from the right hash marks after a pass from Alex Newhook.
"They were really good, that was their push," Marchessault said. "We've been a team for four years that's been resilient. We don't sit back. We knew that we had a chance if we came out hard in the third period, and we did that. Good teams find a way to win a game."

Tuch pulled the Golden Knights to within 2-1 at 1:03 of the third period, driving to the net to bat Nicolas Roy's pass after a turnover by Avalanche forward Andre Burakovsky.
"That was very lucky," Tuch said. "[Roy] and [Mattias Janmark] made a really good play on the forecheck, I tried to provide some pressure, and they ended up stripping the guy. I saw them get possession, and I tried to break toward the net. [Roy] put it on a platter, and I was able to bat that into the net."
Marchessault tied it 2-2 at 4:07, flipping the puck over Grubauer's left pad from in front after a pass from William Karlsson, who gained possession when a pass by Landeskog caromed off Graves' skate.
"We don't have much time to do anything but rebound, forget about this one, and move on," Landeskog said. "We've got to go into Vegas and win a hockey game. It's as simple as that."
NOTES: Teams that win Game 5 in a series that was tied 2-2 are 215-58 (.788) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series. … It was Stone's first NHL playoff overtime goal. ... Janmark was plus-1 with an assist and two hits in 14:45 in his first game since sustaining an upper-body injury on a hit by Graves in Game 1. ... Marchessault has five goals and two assists during a five-game point streak. … Colorado had won 13 straight home games, four in the playoffs, and was 20-0-1 in its previous 21 at home. … Saad has scored seven goals in the past eight games. … Avalanche forward Logan O'Connor was minus-1 with three shots on goal and seven hits in 13:18 in his NHL playoff debut, his first game since sustaining a lower-body injury March 31. … Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri's appeal of his eight-game suspension from the NHL Department of Player Safety was denied in a binding ruling by an independent arbitrator. He served his seventh game Tuesday and will complete it Thursday.