Hart’s heroics clinch playoffs for Golden Knights in Colorado
Apr 11, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart (79) against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. While the Denver Pioneers secured their dynasty with a national championship win in Las Vegas, the Vegas Golden Knights would earn a major victory of their own in the Mile High City. On Saturday, the Golden Knights completed what has been a pivotal final road trip of the season with a defining 3-2 overtime victory over the President’s Trophy winning Colorado Avalanche.
Special teams would dominate the first period for both teams. After a successful penalty kill, the Avalanche would get the scoring started after a Devon Toews shot from the point squeezed past Carter Hart to keep the Colorado power play hot. After the Golden Knights responded with a successful kill of their own, their power play would get the game back even.
Mark Stone would get all alone in the slot and deflect a puck from midair back to his stick. He would then beat Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood from his backhand to tie the game at a goal apiece. Hart would bounce back from the earlier goal to keep the game tied in the first period, stopping high-danger chances from Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin.
The second period would see a much more free-flowing game, and Vegas would take advantage early. Ivan Barbashev would win a puck battle behind the net and send it off to Pavel Dorofeyev, who beat Blackwood from the dot with a one-timer in the opposite corner. The goal would be a milestone for Dorofeyev, who beat last season’s career high with his 36th goal on the season.
Colorado would tie it back up on a seeing-eye goal that saw Nick Blankenburg’s long-range chance deflect off the post and off of Hart’s back into the net. The third period saw the teams unable to get the game-winning goal, with Hart and Blackwood making impressive saves in the final few minutes to force overtime. After the Avalanche missed a two-on-one rush early in overtime, Jack Eichel would get an odd-man rush going the other way.