The Vegas Golden Knights overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to earn a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
It was their second straight win after a 3-1 win over the Devils in New Jersey on Thursday. It was the first time stringing together consecutive wins since Jan. 2-7, when the Golden Knights won three in a row.
Tomas Hertl scored the game-winner with 1:10 left in the game, and just one second left in a power play, just moments after what appeared to be Pavel Dorofeyev’s second goal. A coach’s challenge revealed goaltender’s interference on Mark Stone and wiped the goal off the board.
Stone, Zach Whitecloud and Dorofeyev scored in each period, respectively. Jack Eichel had two assists and tied a franchise record with his 50th helper of the season. Former Knight David Perron had 50 assists in the franchise’s inaugural season.
After a rough 4-8-3 stretch from Jan. 9 through Feb. 4, the Golden Knights take a much-needed two-game win streak into the 4 Nations Faceoff break.
“We have a tough record this month, and we want to get some wins, it doesn’t matter what kind, and that’s what we did,” said goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who got the win after making 21 saves. “It’s pretty good for us. After a hard month, the last two games, there’s a lot of positive energy right now in the locker room.
“And I think after the break we continue to work.”
Knights forward Victor Olofsson exited the contest with an upper-body injury. Olofsson took a puck up high in his first shift of the game, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported he would not return.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
KEY MOMENT: Vegas’ third-period surge could’ve been deflated quickly when the Bruins raced in on a 2-on-1 with the game tied, 3-3. Boston’s Pavel Zacha poked the puck past Alex Pietrangelo in the neutral zone to create an odd-man rush with David Pastrnak. After taking the pass into the zone, Pastrnak zipped a would-be assist past Stone to Zacha, whose one-timer was stopped by Samsonov, preserving momentum for the Knights.
“Every time you want to get better, but we have what we have right now,” said Samsonov, who is 2-1-1 in his last four starts. “I try to do my best. And I have a break (coming) too. A little bit rest for my head and I think about too, maybe working with a coach or something, for after the break to get better.”
HERTL POWER: In the battle of two of the hottest skaters over the past month – Hertl and Pastrnak – both earned a point in the game. But while Pastrnak’s assist on Morgan Geekie’s goal gave the Bruins a 3-1 lead late in the third period, Hertl got the last laugh when he gathered a pass from Eichel at the bumper spot, turned and fired past Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman. Hertl has 16 points since Jan. 11, with 10 goals and six assists. Pastrnak leads all skaters with 26 points in the same stretch.
“It was pretty exciting, especially the end, the disallowed goal, you come back again,” said Hertl, who is fourth on the team with 42 points (21 goals, 21 assists). “I think it was a good game. Obviously the start wasn’t way you want to do it but after that I think we played great hockey game, and finish the road trip strong.”
THIRD PERIOD LIFE: Vegas has outscored its opponents in the third period 75-44 this season after shutting out the Bruins, 2-0, in the final stanza on Saturday. But during their brutal slide from Jan. 9 until puck drop in Boston, the Knights were -1 in the final period, having been outscored, 14-13 during a the 15-game stretch.
“Our team is playing better than our record the last six weeks,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s a play here or there we weren’t making. Look at tonight, we make the play in the third to tie the game, and the power-play comes through for us. … We did make the plays tonight.”
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