Vegas regained the emotional edge in their Stanley Cup playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night, after Nicolas Roy’s overtime winner capped a nail-biting 2-1 Golden Knights victory in Montreal.
Roy grabbed his own rebound and scored on a chip shot 78 seconds into the extra session as the Golden Knights levelled the best-of-seven NHL semi-finals series at 2-2.
Parked directly in front of the Canadiens’ net, Roy buried his second chance, moving to the right and deftly lofting the puck over a tangled mass of Montreal players from a sharp angle.
But the winner wouldn’t have been possible if shifty Vegas forward Max Pacioretty hadn’t circled the back of the net with the puck then made a spinning shot on goal which created enough confusion for Roy to find some open space and nine-iron it into the upper half of the cage.
Roy had a number of family members in attendance, including his dad on Father’s Day.
“That was unbelievable,” he said. “I got my family here. I know they were really happy and I know we wanted to win pretty bad here.”
Brayden McNabb also scored for the Golden Knights, while goaltender Robin Lehner made 27 saves in a surprise start in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of 3,500 at the Bell Centre arena.
Game five is Tuesday night in Nevada.
Paul Byron scored and goaltender Carey Price stopped 19 shots for the Canadiens, who were a perfect 4-0 in overtime games prior to Sunday night.
Montreal was without head coach Dominique Ducharme for a second consecutive game after he tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. Assistants Luke Richardson and Alexandre Burrows have taken over running the bench.
Vegas coach Peter DeBoer gambled and replaced starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with his backup and it paid off as Lehner made 27 saves.
A Fleury miscue led to the Knights losing to Montreal in game three. Fleury misplayed the puck behind his net, allowing it to carom off his skate to a Montreal player in front who scored.
Brayden McNabb also scored for the Golden Knights in the win in game four.