Dadonov scores in OT, Golden Knights rally to defeat Blackhawks

LAS VEGAS --
Evgenii Dadonov
scored 2:05 into overtime, and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 5-4 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

"I saw [Nicolas Roy] had the puck. He was like holding, holding, holding. I tried to open up," Dadonov said. "Finally, he passed to me. I moved to the middle and looked for the shot lane."
The forward has scored five points (two goals, three assists) in two games since his trade to the Anaheim Ducks was invalidated by the NHL on Wednesday.
"Like I said last time, it was a stressful couple of days. We should stop talking about it," he said. "All I'm thinking about is helping the team make the final push for the playoffs."

Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, Jonathan Marchessault had two assists, and Logan Thompson made 30 saves for the Golden Knights (36-28-4), who won for the fourth time in the past 11 games.
"It's a good character win. Sometimes, adversity is a good thing. It gets us some energy coming back home. It's a big win in front of our building," Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "We can build off of that. Those games are fun to win. … Any point right now is big for us."
Alex DeBrincat and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and an assist, Patrick Kane had two assists, and Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves for the Blackhawks (24-32-10), who won the first two games of the three-game road trip (4-2 at the Ducks on Wednesday; 4-3 in a shootout at the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday).
"We stopped and watched and they pushed and pushed," Chicago coach Derek King said. "We still could've won the game. Pretty good road trip, and something to learn from that is adding to our identity and what type of team we're going to be. We have to learn from that … when you get back on your heels, turn the tide and tilt the ice the other way."

The Golden Knights scored three goals in 1:52 in the third period to tie the game: Stephenson made it 3-1 with a wrist shot from the right circle at 1:24; William Karlsson scored 59 seconds later to make it 3-2; and Jack Eichel tied it 3-3 at 3:16.
"They just dug deep," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "We were running on some fumes tonight. … They recognized the importance of the moment. In the third, our best guys grabbed it and dragged us back into the game."

DeBrincat made it 4-3 at 8:53 with a shot from the right circle.
Pietrangelo tied it 4-4 at 9:40 when his point shot went off the leg of Chicago forward Kirby Dach.
"I don't score if [Mattias Janmark isn't] front of net like that," Pietrangelo said of his teammate creating a screen. "When you get inside there and start creating a little bit of chaos, teams have to think twice about who to cover."
Dominik Kubalik gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 10:02 of the first period on a one-timer that deflected off Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore. Toews made it 2-0 at 14:52 with a redirected shot, and Dylan Strome extended the lead to 3-0 at 18:16 from the left circle on a rebound of Caleb Jones' shot.
"I thought the first two periods were pretty good," Kubalik said.
NOTES: Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez had one shot on goal, three hits and two blocked shots in 13:48 of ice time after missing 53 games with a facial injury. He was struck by the skate blade of Minnesota Wild forward Brandon Duhaime on Nov. 11. … Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud had three hits and one blocked shot in 18:25 of ice time, and forward Michael Amadio had three hits in 14:38 of ice time after each missed three games in NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Vegas forward William Carrier left in the second period with a lower-body injury. ... Strome extended his point streak to five games (seven points; three goals, four assists). … Kane extended his point streak to five games (10 points; two goals, eight assists). … Chicago defenseman Seth Jones had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (five points; one goal, four assists). … In the trade of Dadonov, Vegas had received defenseman John Moore, forward Ryan Kesler and a conditional second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft or 2024 NHL Draft. It was invalidated because Dadonov's contract includes a limited no-trade clause that was not complied with.