Golden Knights get past Avalanche in OT, earn split

DENVER -- Max Pacioretty scored at 1:56 of overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Pacioretty's cross-ice pass for Alex Tuch deflected off the stick of Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews and hit the right post. Pacioretty was then able to poke the puck into the open net when Toews' blade broke as he was trying to clear it.
"Tonight was a bounce," Pacioretty said. "We don't go out in overtime to defend, we go out there to try and attack. When there's a chance to go the other way, we want to take advantage of it. It was a great battle to win that battle, and I saw the battle, trusted the guys in there and kind of took off. Great play by [Tuch] to give it to me early enough so I could keep a little bit of speed, and that momentum is what ultimately allowed me to pick up that rebound."
Toews said, "I intercepted that puck and it was sitting there. I was trying to play it with my stick and the next thing I know my blade is in the corner. I thought I had the leverage on it, I thought I had the play, and unfortunately the stick let me down a little bit there."
William Carrier and Alec Martinez scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for Vegas (23-8-1), which lost 5-1 here Thursday and leads Colorado by one point for first in the Honda West Division.
"The goal was to play the way we're capable of playing, executing the way we're capable of executing, and the results take care of themselves," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "To be honest with you, if we lost tonight in overtime, I would have been really happy with the response. That's how you beat a good team on the road. For the believers out there, thanks for sticking with us. I know there were some doubters out there after the last game, but I knew our group would respond with a good effort."

Toews and Joonas Donskoi scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves for Colorado (21-8-4), which extended its point streak to 10 games (8-0-2).
"I felt like we did not have our best game," Donskoi said. "We spent too much time in our own end. We knew they were going to be better tonight, as they were. We were not physical enough. When they get the cycle going, it's hard to stop it. We were battling for the first spot in our division, so obviously we wanted to get two points, but we were not able to do it."

Donskoi scored on the first shot of the game to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 1:16 of the first period. He toedragged around Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb before shooting short side from the right circle.
Martinez tied it 1-1 at 16:32, one-timing a pass from Chandler Stephenson in the right circle on the power play.
Toews put Colorado in front 2-1 at 17:35 from the top of the slot off a return pass from Nathan MacKinnon. Carrier tied it 2-2 at 3:40 of the second period on a redirection of Shea Theodore's shot.
The Golden Knights outshot the Avalanche in each period, including 10-4 in the third, when they weren't able to score on two power plays.
"We had some breakdowns. I thought [Grubauer] was really good," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "The penalty kill stepped up big in the third period. … I didn't love our third period, we didn't get a lot going. It seemed like their checking ramped up a little bit. We just weren't moving as well as in the first two periods."
NOTES:Fleury (483-273-80 with two ties) needs one win to tie Ed Belfour (484) for fourth in NHL history. … Pacioretty leads the NHL with four overtime goals and is two goals shy of 300 overall in his career. … Grubauer allowed more than one goal for the first time since March 8 (nine games). … Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram was scratched because of an upper-body injury. Bednar said Byram is day to day but that it could become week to week.