With a shootout looming to figure out the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and time ticking away, Alex Tuch scored 4:44 into overtime as the Vegas Golden Knights outlasted the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 to win the round-robin tournament in Edmonton on Saturday.
The Golden Knights, who made a coaching change with the team stuck at No. 7 in the West in January, bringing in Pete DeBoer to replace Gerard Gallant, went 3-0 in the round robin, defeating Dallas and St. Louis prior to the victory over Colorado. Vegas secured a first-round match with the No. 8 Chicago Blackhawks, a team that ended up the regular season 12th in the West prior to upsetting Edmonton in the certifying round.
The Philadelphia Flyers likewise have a new coach this season, though, unlike DeBoer, Alain Vigneault has actually been with the club because the offseason. He led the Flyers to the No. 4 area in the Eastern Conference round robin, and like Vegas, Philadelphia posted a 3-0 mark to also secure the No. 1 seed.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored two times and Carter Hart made 23 saves as the surprising Flyers– out of the playoffs last season– beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 in Toronto Saturday night to end up the round robin undefeated, earning a first-round series with the Montreal Canadiens, another unexpected No. 8 seed who outlived Pittsburgh in the certifying round.
” Weve played truly hard,” Hart stated in his postgame interview on NBC. “Its constantly tough to have a break like that– three or four months– however weve come back hard, and all four lines are rolling.”
2 RelatedThe Flyers outscored the Bruins, Lightning and Capitals, 11-3, in the Eastern Conference round robin.
” Theres a great deal of unforeseen with whats going on the planet, however we had a chance to come back, and we were all excited to come back,” Hart stated. “We got a great deal of work in, and its showing now.”
Tampa Bay, last seasons No. 1 seed in the East, will play either Columbus or Toronto in the preliminary. Heaven Jackets and Maple Leafs will play a choosing Game 5 on Sunday to conclude the certifying round.
Against Philadelphia, the Lightning lost star defenseman Victor Hedman after he appeared to twist his best ankle while going down untouched midway through the very first duration. And they are currently without captain Steven Stamkos indefinitely with a leg injury.
Vegas, which advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018, received two goals from Jonathan Marchessault, consisting of one on a penalty shot, in addition to another tally from Nicolas Roy, as the Knights finished their unbeaten tournament.
” We came here to take care of every obstacle ahead of us. We did an excellent task,” Marchessault stated. “We wanted the very first seed after the round robin and we got it done. I believe its pretty positive. Were really happy where our video game is at as a group.”
Goaltender Robin Lehner made 32 conserves en route to the win, establishing a distinct series versus the Blackhawks, who traded Lehner to Vegas prior to the sport stopped briefly in March. Numerous Blackhawks, a day after removing the Oilers in their house rink, watched the Knights triumph from the stands.
Tuch scored the winner on a shot over the shoulder of Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer. When J.T. Compher poked in the puck, the Avalanche connected the video game with 1:02 left in policy. It was Tuchs 3rd goal in round-robin play.
” Feels quite good,” Tuch stated. “Honestly, it was a huge objective to get the first seed. I didnt care who scored it as long as we did.”
“We wanted the very first seed after the round robin and we got it done. Tuch scored the winner on a shot over the shoulder of Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer. The Avalanche connected the game with 1:02 left in regulation when J.T. Compher poked in the puck. “Honestly, it was a big objective to get the first seed. Joonas Donskoi and Nathan MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche.
Joonas Donskoi and Nathan MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche. Grubauer was in net over Pavel Francouz, who stopped 27 shots in a shutout win over Dallas on Wednesday. The veteran Grubauer was solid in saving 22 shots.
With the loss, Colorado completed second in the round robin, and it will handle Arizona in the preliminary.
” Were talking like we lost and that our game was poor. I do not see it that way at all,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar stated. “If we were expecting this thing to be easy, were in the incorrect tournament.
The Associated Press added to this report.
