Golden Knights Win Game 3 – Lead Series 2-1

Monday night was the hot and sweaty in Vegas last night, and the Golden Knights were equally as they took on the Winnipeg Jets for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Golden Knights took an early lead scoring only 35 seconds into the first period and setting the tone for what would give the Knights a 2-1 lead in the series going into Game 4.

The Jets would have their revenge, but one that was short lived after Mark Scheiflele scored at 5:28 of the second period after accepting a pass from Blake Wheeler and slipping the puck between his legs at the side of the net.

Less than a minute later, the Knights came in on a hard push that saw Hellebuyck outplayed and James Neal sending the puck in what virtually an empty net to give the Knights a 2-1 lead.

The Jets came out at a blistering pace in the Third period hoping to tie and take the lead in what looked like a repeat of the first period scoring only 18 seconds into the third. This put the Knights at notice as the next 30 minutes Winnipeg fought hard making many feel overtime would be coming.

Yet, for the Jets, they were denied.

Marc-André Fleury seemed to be enjoying the melee as it unfolded I front of him as the Golden Knights coach, Gerard Gallant was screaming at layers to tighten ranks only to look down the ice and find Marc-Andre Fleury having fun.

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The third period turned into an epic battle as the Knights manage to stop Mark Scheifele not one but twice, back to back in what will be talked about for years to come, that is unless the Jets win the and advance to the Stanley Cup.

Mark Scheifele has earned 11 goals in the post-season on the road and for Fleury, when facing Scheifele there is little room for error. However, last night, Fleury was just a little bit better.

Said Scheifele,

“You get your looks and you want them to go in, but they had a pretty good goalie in net.”

As the clock ticked down late in the third and the Knights up 3-2, Gallant breathed a sigh of relief as Marchessault sent the puck into the empty net with 10 seconds left on the clock making it 4-2 and giving the Vegas Golden Knights the win and lead in the series after tying the series 1-1 in Game 2.

After the game, Fluery commented that the night saw him having some fun saying,

“They were good chances for Scheifele and I was happy to get saves, especially that second one. It hit my toe and came right back into the slot, so that wasn’t ideal. He had a lot of time and some room to shoot so I just tried to get as much body in front of it and I got a piece.”

After joining the expansion team after helping the Pittsburgh Penguins go on to win the Stanley Cup last season, Fleury did not see the Knights in the position it is today.

“Like anybody else in the room, I don’t think anybody saw us here,” Fleury said. “I’m really proud of this team and the way these guys have been working. We deserve to be here.”

Speaking on Fleury’s performance in net last night, Gallant said,

“That’s Fleury, he made unbelievable saves. They were obviously important at a key time for us. He’s been good for us all year, all playoffs. He’s a guy that has fun out there.”

As for the Jets Captain Blake Wheeler, he is not worried, even if this is the first time in the playoffs they have been behind in a series. Commenting, Wheeler simply said,
“It’s 2-1. There’s a lot of series left, we’ll be just fine.”

When you look at conference final history, the one team who takes Game 3 moves on to the Stanley Cup over 80% of the time, and for Winnipeg’s coach, Paul Maurice, it’s a significant challenge adding,

“That’s an important challenge. We’re going to have to be able to handle that. It would be rare that you lead the [playoffs] straight through. We want to make sure that we deal with our loss, don’t carry it too heavily, and come up with our finest game of the postseason.”

The Golden Knights will play host to the Winnipeg Jets again on Wednesday night before moving back to Winnipeg for Game 5. For the Jets, Game 4 could be a make it or break it game – the pressure is definitely on.