SAN JOSE -- Vegas might not have any superstars, but a handful of star turns guided them to a 4-3 OT victory over San Jose in Game Three. The Golden Knights now wield a 2-1 series edge.
"I looked up once in the second period and shots were 27-10," noted Gerard Gallant. "They played really well. San Jose took it to us a little bit."
Actually, the Sharks were up 26-11 shots and one Timo Meier goal when Brenden Dillon went to the box eight minutes into the second period. Time for the Knights to shine, right?
1:24 into the man advantage, Vegas finally recorded its first shot attempt, as Nate Schmidt wristed it into Paul Martin.
"They're very aggressive on their penalty kill," acknowledged Schmidt.
But with about 30 seconds left in an aimless power play, the Golden Knights finally hit the mark.
Colin Miller chases down the cleared puck, sucks Marcus Sorensen deeper, then dusts Sorensen. Sorensen changes with Eric Fehr, who Miller also easily beats up the ice.
With the first layer blowing in the wind, the second layer of San Jose PK'ers is forced to back up. Miller's speed also assures that they won't stand up at the blueline. This was actually the Knights' first clean, uncontested entry of this entire power play.
Miller hands it off to Schmidt. Instead of attacking, Schmidt reads the situation and backs off toward the middle, drawing Fehr toward him. Like Miller's rush, this creates invaluable time and space for the Vegas power play by stretching out the Sharks PK.
"It's my job to create as much space for other guys as possible. [Ryan Craig] says all the time, make sure you get the middle and draw that guy in as far as you can," noted Schmidt.
Once Fehr is extended all the way out to the blueline, Schmidt can toss it to David Perron. With extra time and space -- Fehr is an extra beat or two away because of Schmidt's spatial awareness -- Perron can now create magic.
"It's really important for the other guys on the ice," said Schmidt of his fundamental work. "They can make their plays."
Perron slides it beneath Brent Burns's stick, James Neal gets a fortunate ricochet off Marc-Edouard Vlasic on his pass to Miller.
For a Vegas attack which had pretty much created nothing through 30 minutes, this goal was a life-saver.
Pluses
The Miller marker was the first of a three goals in 4:46 stretch for the Golden Knights. The next two would both prove to be highlight-reel material.
Here, Reilly Smith draws Chris Tierney to him before dropping it to Alex Tuch. An aggressive Sharks PK switches Melker Karlsson onto Tuch. Karlsson, however, doesn't take a direct route, as he's guessing what Tuch will do.
It appears that a patient Tuch makes a no-look pass through the seam for the Marchessault one-timer. There is a seam because Tuch keeps the PK guessing.
This might remind you of Logan Couture's Game Two game-winner, which was ignited by a Kevin Labanc no-looker.
"Deception is key," Marchessault observed. "Goalies, they read the play really well. If we're able to look at the net and just fake and pass it to the side, makes their job tougher."
Gallant noted, "You work on these plays everyday and sometimes they work. You find those seams. I guess it was like San Jose last time in our building when they scored those two beautiful power play goals. A lot of nights, they don't go into the back of the net."
Smith would make it 3-1, stunning the capacity crowd. But what stunned the press box was this William Karlsson deflection pass.
.@WKarlsson71 with a fantastic pass to find @reillysmith18 and it's 3-1. pic.twitter.com/PwEI6WHdvs
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) May 1, 2018
Karlsson confirms that he saw Smith from corner of his eye on his deflected pass, "I knew he was somewhere around there. Not to sound cocky, but it was intentional."
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) May 1, 2018
To their credit, San Jose managed to take it to OT, before Karlsson would break their hearts. However, this might have been the most heart-stopping moment of the night:
Fleury robs Couture. pic.twitter.com/W2mJSUiLc9
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) May 1, 2018
Minuses
Considering the disparity in shots and chances in the first half of the game -- I had it at Sharks 9-3 at 5v5 -- the Golden Knights have their work cut out for them in Game Four.
I'll get more into this tomorrow.
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