Victor Olofsson scored the game-winner late in the third period to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night at Rogers Arena. Nils Hoglander scored in his return to the lineup, and Aatu Raty knotted it at two in the second after Nick Roy gave the Golden Knights the lead, but as the Golden Knights have done all season, they rode a solid third period to a victory.
With the win, the Golden Knights move closer to clinching a Pacific Division championship, increasing their lead to five points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. They now sit at 102 points thanks to a record of 47-22-8. The Canucks, meanwhile, remain eight points behind the Minnesota Wild for the final wild card spot with only five games remaining. At this point, they would need a miracle to have any chance of making the playoffs. With that, here’s your game recap.
Game Recap
The Canucks opened the scoring early in the first with Hoglander’s seventh of the season off a scramble in front of Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill. The Golden Knights responded a little under four minutes later after a close play at the blue line that sent Ivan Barbashev in on a partial breakaway. He was able to get ahead of Filip Hronek and make a slick deke to the backhand to beat Kevin Lankinen for his 21st. The Golden Knights then took the lead at 13:15 on a lucky bounce off Canucks defenceman Victor Mancini after Lankinen made a save on a long shot by Roy. It ricocheted off the back of Mancini’s skate and just inside the post to gift wrap Roy’s 13th. The Canucks had a chance to tie it on the power play towards the end of the period, but couldn’t get the equalizer, sending the Golden Knights to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead.
The Canucks ended up getting that equalizer in the second period courtesy of Raty’s sixth of the season and fourth in the past six games. Similar to Hoglander’s goal in the first, he was able to chip a puck past Hill off a scramble in the crease. The Golden Knights challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal stood after the lengthy review from the officials. The Canucks couldn’t score on the ensuing power play, and killed another lethal Golden Knights advantage later on to keep the score tied at two going into second intermission.
It was only a matter of time with how much puck possession and zone time the Golden Knights had in the final frame before they scored to take the lead. The Canucks bent for almost the entire third period and eventually broke when Olofsson took a feed from behind the net from William Karlsson and buried his 14th past Lankinen to break the 2-2 tie. The Canucks couldn’t manufacture much after that, and ended up losing 3-2.
Lankinen did his best to give the Canucks a chance to steal some much-needed points in this game, particularly in the third period, where his team was outshot 12-2. He finished with a solid 32 saves on 35 shots, while his counterpart at the other end, Hill, stopped 19 of 21.
What’s Next for the Canucks & Golden Knights?
The Canucks will head onto the road for a quick two-game trip, which starts on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars. The Golden Knights also play on Tuesday as they will be in Colorado to take on the Avalanche.
