Leaving Las Vegas … Up 3-2, Golden Knights Take Game 5 in Overtime Thriller

The Golden Knights took Game 5 in OT to take a 3-2 series lead. In a game that had more twists and turns than a Vegas Cirque du Soleil show, the Vegas Golden Knights (3-2) defeated the Anaheim Ducks (2-3) in overtime to win Game 5 and take a 3-2 series lead. This game had it all, power play goals, big hits, an ejection, big saves, and a legendary performance by Pavel Dorofeyev, returning to the ice to score the OT winner, his second of the game, after leaving with what seemed to be a serious injury.

Both teams lost a player for the remainder of the game just nine minutes into the fray, but for very different reasons. Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb checked and unsuspecting Ryan Poehling well away from the puck and knocked him out of the game. After the officials conducted a video review of the play, McNabb was assessed a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.

Meanwhile, Poehling was clearly dazed and needed help leaving the ice. Anaheim, then went to work on a five-minute power play. While the Golden Knights did an admirable job killing the first three-plus minutes of the major, Anaheim would eventually cash in on the extended man-advantage.

Cutter Gauthier made a nifty play to stop the puck along the right wall by flipping his stick over and stopping the puck with the toe of his stick vertical to the ice. He then gathered the puck and wristed it on Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart . The shot bounded off Hart’s right pad and caromed into the crease.