Golden Knights engineer another comeback to take Game 2 against Avalanche

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche were 45-0-0 when leading after two periods -- 41-0-0 in the regular season, 4-0 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Then came Friday.

The Vegas Golden Knights came back in the third period to defeat them 3-1 in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final at Ball Arena, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

We’d call it shocking, except this is what Vegas does.

“I think we’ve been a really good third-period team all season long,” said forward Ivan Barbashev, who scored the winning goal at 11:22 of the third and an empty-net goal at 18:57. “We’ve had a lot of comebacks. We just stuck with that.”

The Golden Knights had a bad habit of falling behind in the regular season. It’s one of the reasons they replaced Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella as coach March 29.

They spent 1,965:10 trailing. The only team in the NHL that spent more time trailing was the Vancouver Canucks (2,200:10), who finished last in the League.

But the Golden Knights had 10 third-period comeback wins in the regular season, tied for second in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, two behind the Anaheim Ducks. That’s a big reason they won the Pacific Division.

And now they have four third-period comeback wins in the playoffs, two more than any other team in the postseason.

“Obviously, we’re very comfortable in the third periods,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “All year, we’ve had a lot of comebacks, so I thought we had a good game. Obviously, we knew they were going to push tonight after (a 4-2 Vegas win in Game 1). I thought we handled it well and stayed composed and had a great third period.”

This comeback is even more impressive when you consider the circumstances within the game.

Vegas lost defenseman Brayden McNabb to a lower-body injury at 13:40 of the first period, and Colorado took a 1-0 lead when forward Ross Colton scored at 16:59.

McNabb missed the entire second period, forcing the Golden Knights to use a five-man rotation on defense. The Avalanche blitzed the Golden Knights with a 25-11 advantage in shot attempts.

Still, the score remained 1-0, and the Golden Knights remained calm.

“I thought that was the key moment of the game,” Tortorella said. “We felt we were in a good spot going into the third. Down by a goal, in this building, Game 2, we wanted to just keep on playing.”

McNabb returned to start the third. The Golden Knights kept plugging away, and then center Jack Eichel fired a shot from the right circle past goalie Scott Wedgewood stick side to tie it 1-1 at 9:15. Barbashev took a pass from Eichel in the high slot and fired another shot past Wedgewood stick side at 11:22.

Just like that, Vegas led 2-1.

“I thought we played a patient game,” Eichel said. “We had some chances. We had some chances early. And credit their goalie: (He) made some big saves. Just want to try and defend hard and, when you get an opportunity, capitalize, and I thought we did a good job of that.”

The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022 and the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team this season. They went 8-1 through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

But they haven’t had star defenseman Cale Makar through the first two games of this series, and they’ve run into a team that won the Stanley Cup in 2023 and has won more games (72) and more series (14) in the playoffs than any other team since it joined the NHL in expansion in 2017-18.

Even without captain Mark Stone, who has missed the past five games with an injury, the Golden Knights are full of guys who know what it takes and will do whatever it takes. Even if they are outplayed, even when things go bad, they often find a way to make big plays at big times. 

“Our guys know what to do,” Tortorella said. “I am going to tell you that right now. Our room is good no matter what’s going on. We’re going to face some stuff next game as far as momentum, plays coming our way against us. We have a good room, so that’s what you rest on. At least that’s what I rest on. We trust them, and the biggest thing is, they trust themselves.”

Another team might get too high entering Game 3 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Not this one.

“We won’t,” Tortorella said. “I guarantee you we won’t. I don’t have to say anything to them. They just, they understand the situation. I’m not sure where the series goes. I’m not sure where Game 3 goes. But I know I’m not going to have to worry about that, because they get it.”