DENVER — They said it Friday morning, mere hours before a puck dropped in Game 2 of this Western Conference Final.
This wasn’t about being happy with a split. They wouldn’t be content with winning just one of two games and heading back to Las Vegas with home-ice advantage.
This just in: They’re happy.
Yeah. Something special could be happening here.
The Vegas Golden Knights indeed gained a sweep of games at Ball Arena, beating Colorado 3-1 on Friday evening.
You can imagine how rocking T-Mobile Arena will be for Game 3 on Sunday night. The Knights are two wins from a place in the Stanley Cup Final.
Lots of hockey left in this one, sure.
But let’s count the number of folks who had them winning both games here. You won’t need all 10 fingers.
Understands situation
“They won’t,” Knights coach John Tortorella said when asked about his team possibly getting caught up in leading the series 2-0. “I guarantee you we won’t. I don’t have to say anything to them. They understand the situation.
“I’m not sure where the series goes, I’m not sure where Game 3 goes, but I know I’m not going to have to worry about that. Because they get it.”
It’s strange. The Knights all season made it a habit of staging third-period comebacks, of making plays when they were absolutely necessary, of taking teams out down the stretch of games.
But if you watched the second period Friday — one the Avalanche dominated but still couldn’t grow a 1-0 lead — you would have been hard pressed to believe more late-game magic existed within Vegas. And yet, it did.
“Obviously we knew they were going to push tonight after (Game 1), and I thought we handled it well and stayed composed and had a great third period,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “Definitely something to build off of. We need to take advantage of home ice now.
“It’s far from over, and we know that. It’s a long series, and they’re a great team over there and we have to stay even-keeled. We need to dig in because Game 3 is going to be huge.”
They’re winning in different ways, and they’re not.
The Knights continue to make a volume shooting team like Colorado more than frustrated by getting in lanes and blocking shots. By sacrificing their bodies for the good of another stop.
Lots of hard work.
Lots of grit from those in front of goalie Carter Hart.
And when shots do find some air, Hart has been there to save the day. He was again on Friday, as much of a reason the score remained 1-0 after two periods than anything.
And on this night, Vegas also relied on a top line that outplayed their counterparts with the Avalanche.
Tortorella afterward called Jack Eichel the best 200-foot player in the game, but as sound as he is defensively, Eichel’s scoring touch has been amiss of late.
He hadn’t found net since Game 3 of the Utah series back in the first round of these playoffs.
He remedied that with 10:45 remaining Friday, tying things at 1-1 and giving life to a team that is full of confidence in these sorts of moments.
Eichel’s linemate, Ivan Barbashev, would then hand the Knights a lead they wouldn’t relinquish two minutes later. He then added an empty-netter for the final tally.
It’s the sort of game that defines the Knights, no?
They’re still without injured players in captain Mark Stone and Jeremy Lauzon. They lose defenseman Brayden McNabb for most of the first period and all of the second to injury and still forge ahead with five D-men. They need a big third period and again get it.
They’re just never out of things, no matter the situation.
Ridiculous stat
Are you sitting down?
Think about it: Colorado was 41-0 when leading after two periods in the regular season.
No, that is not a misprint.
“We found a way,” Tortorella said. “I thought the key part was when we were struggling in the second period, we still went into the locker room just down 1-0. We felt we were in a good spot.We just wanted to keep on playing.
“We faced a lot of pressure tonight. We’re just trying to play. We’re going to have to be better. They’re going to be better. There are a number of things we need to be better at.”
Translation: They won’t look ahead. They’re not resting on any laurels. They won’t get caught up in leading the series 2-0.
But, man, they wanted the sweep here.
This wasn’t about being happy with a split.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
