Jets and Knights Tied at One Heading into Game 3

I fully expected this would be one of those series for the ages and through just two games, it has. The Vegas Golden Knights were able to steal a victory in Winnipeg on Monday night to further prove that they are a better team than what the sports world have given them credit. Now with the series tied at 1-1, Vegas has the opportunity to go back home and use that home ice advantage that they have played with all season long. But first, let’s take a look back at Saturday night’s game one and Monday night’s Game 2.

Saturday: Coming off a dominating Game 7 in Nashville, Winnipeg had momentum on their side while the Vegas Golden Knights waited to book their tickets. The Jets earned home ice advantage in this series, and coming off the big Game 7 victory, they showed they were ready to play. After 65 seconds ticked off the clock to start Game 1, Dustin Byfuglien wound up and blasted a rocket goal past Marc-Andre Fleury thanks to a sweet drop pass by Mark Scheifele. When Big-Buf gets that opening goal just over a minute into the game you know the game is going Winnipeg’s way, and it did just that. Six and a half minutes later Vegas found themselves down 3-0. Patrik Laine sniped one over the shoulder of Fleury on a powerplay, then Joel Armia answered 46 seconds later. This is the start the Jets were looking to get, showing the first year Knights what its like to play in a Western Conference Final. But, 35 seconds after the Jets went up by three, Brayden McNabb scored to cut the lead down to two. Halfway through the second period McNabb ended up costing his team with a bad hooking call. This allowed Scheifele to score on the power play, and Blake Wheeler to pick up his third assist. With under five minutes to go in the middle frame William Karlsson kept doing his thing by scoring on the powerplay to once again, cut the lead in half. Connor Hellebuyck was able to stop all eight shots he faced in the third period and that sealed it for the Jets, as they took the 1-0 series lead. With all momentum on the Jets side in their white-out building, the Golden Knights knew they had to have a better start in game two, and they did just that.

Monday: From the drop of the puck you could see the Vegas team made some adjustments thanks to their Jack Adams finalist (Coach of the Year award) Gerard Gallant. Vegas didn’t allow the Jets to get through the neutral zone with ease, their forecheck was much more aggressive, and Marc-Andre Fleury was much sharper. While both teams took two penalties in the first 11 minutes of the first period (two of them by Jonathan Marchessault), things finally settled down towards the end period. With 7 minutes remaining, trade deadline acquisition Tomas Tatar ripped a shot that Hellebuyck denie. He followed up with another chance that got past the American netminder to give Vegas the 1-0 lead. Four minutes later, Jonathan Marchessault got his first of the game to give the Knights a 2-0 lead at the end of the first twenty minutes. Fleury continued to look the way he has for the majority of these Stanley Cup Playoffs and finished with 30 saves, allowing the only goal early in the third period to Kyle Connor. After that goal, the Knights settled back down and played excellent team defense which lead to Jonathan Marchessault scoring his second of the game which would tie the bow on Game 2.

Now, both teams head to Las Vegas for what should be an epic Game 3 on Wednesday night, and you just know T-Mobile Arena is going to be electric. Both teams have confidence in their respective teams, and both should, that’s why they are here duking it out for a bid at the Stanley Cup. This series has the potential go the distance. So sit back and buckle up for an epic series!