Recap: Vegas got off to quick start in Game 3 against the Chicago Blackhawks. William Karlsson did what he does best and gave Vegas the early 1-0 lead with his second career postseason shorthanded goal. Mark Stone fed a nice pass to the middle of the ice for Karlsson to scoop and score. Marc-Andre Fleury got the call in net and had a flawless 1st period.
Fleury was strong again in the second as he shut out a buzzing Chicago team. It took awhile but Vegas doubled their lead on Patrick Brown’s first career playoff goal. After two periods the Golden Knights held a 2-0 edge.
Chicago got on the scoresheet six minutes into the 3rd period but Vegas held them to only one goal. Fleury had a strong performance stopping 26 of 27 shots.
The Golden Knights win 2-1 and go up three games to none. Vegas can clinch the best-of-seven series tomorrow afternoon and be the first team to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Game 4 is slated to begin at 330P PT. Locally, the game will air on AT&T Sports Network. (Recap by Jason)
Analysis: The Golden Knights looked far from the #1 seed in the West through the first 50 minutes of action in this game. They got a classic William Karlsson shorthanded goal and then a hard-working goal by Patrick Brown with a lot of help from Alex Tuch. But overall, this is not at all the type of game the Golden Knights wanted to put in… until the last 10 minutes. In the final 10, they were terrific. Blocking shots, challenging entries, supressing just about all of Chicago’s offense. That was what Vegas looks like when they are at their best. They were lucky to have had such an incredible effort from Marc-Andre Fleury to stay ahead for the majority of the game. (Analysis by Ken)
Upcoming stories from Game 3 of the Vegas Golden Knights vs Chicago Blackhawks in Round 1 series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place in the NHL Bubble.
- It’s all about the neutral zone.
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** William Karlsson
** Zach Whitecloud
* Marc-Andre Fleury
"He had an incredible game. He stole this game for us." -William Karlsson on Fleury
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 16, 2020
They did exactly this!
Spectacular last 10 minutes of hockey for the Golden Knights.
They were far from perfect for the first 50, but they came through when they needed to. 3 down, 13 to go.#WontStopVegas https://t.co/fjlQwuKEJu
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 16, 2020
This Fleury performance is exactly why I found it so shocking that they didn't go with him in Game 1 and either make him the starter or keep the rotation.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 16, 2020
Half #PowerKill. (The other half is in the box)
VGK have very active sticks in the d-zone have challenged every shot. This one set up by Stone and Karlsson with a beauty of a backhand finish.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 16, 2020
Let's talk about being one win away from a 1st round sweep and an incredible performance by Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 3. https://t.co/F2por7Mvmy
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 16, 2020
Kodiak
Fluery showed you don’t have to be a genius or ever play hockey to understand he should never have had to prove who the starter should have been
Hdbiker7851
Kodiak your post about MAF and being the starter indicates why your not the coach. Vegas has two very good goalies who starts or doesn’t start is not the be all that ends all. They are a team and PDB was hired to make difficult decision not emotional ones. MAF like all great goalies has good games and bad no different for lehner who didn’t have the best game in 2. The team has two goalies to avoid repeat performances when not up to what the coach sees as acceptable and he adjusts accordingly. This is not a popularity contest this is winning emotions aside. Here’s to a win this afternoon regardless who tends goal.
hdbiker7851
Lucky to win – but win they did – guess it doesn’t matter how poorly they played – we will see if they can clean up their act tomorrow. They were in that lazy attitude they have a tendency to display at times and that can get them in trouble. Lead feet won’t cut it down the line. Hope they get a good nights rest 3 tomorrow afternoon will be coming around quickly.
Tim
I’m so impressed with Zach Whitecloud this guy gets better every game. Playoff hockey is tough everyone we play wants to knock off the top dog. Chicago may be the 8th seat but there a much improved team. Well you have to give there goalie a lot of credit he played a great game. Finish them off tomorrow and have a little break before the next round.
Doktor Hockey
Boys did it again. Very good game by Flower. We got caught up in Hawks track meet game. Panda will be in net today, so lets finish them off!!!!!
Daryl
Our defense has to step up at some point. At times it looks like they aren’t even trying… They are turning the puck over, failed to clear the puck, have made bad passes…. Schmidt has let players get behind him a couple times, Whitecloud still looks lost half the time on the PK and he’s been watching 88 too much as several times he’s let a player get behind him, Holden can’t hang on to the puck, Theo tries to use his speed too much… I’m just not impressed with our defense at all. Martinez and McNabb have looked pretty good