LAS VEGAS — Three wins separate the Vegas Golden Knights from the most improbable championship run in NHL history.
Vegas erased a third-period deficit and survived a late Washington flurry of chances to win 6-4 Monday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals in front of a raucous capacity crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
Tomas Nosek, the former Detroit Red Wings winger whom Vegas plucked in last summer's expansion draft, improbably scored the game-winner in the middle of the third period, then added the clincher with an empty-net goal in the final seconds.
Nosek also scored the winning goal in game one of the Calder Cup Finals last June.
Six observations from the opener:
LET’S PLAY A FEW MORE OF THOSE
Going up against perhaps the most intriguing NBA game of the season, a Game 7 in Houston, the NHL got everything it could have wanted from its Stanley Cup opener: Ten goals born from free-flowing hockey on the game’s biggest stage. Commissioner Gary Bettman and NBC executives must have loved it.
Vegas prevailed because it missed almost no chances while Washington hit a crossbar and whiffed on a perfect game-tying opportunity in the waning seconds. Capitals center Lars Eller will not sleep well after fanning on a feed in the slot with an open net with 43 seconds to go. (Imagine also getting overtime out of an instant classic like that.)
VEGAS TOP LINE REMAINS UNSTOPPABLE
Los Angeles, San Jose and Winnipeg provided little resistance to William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith. Judging by Monday night’s game, Washington will struggle with the group’s elite speed and tight forechecking just as the Western teams did.
The trio combined for 47 points in the first three rounds of the playoffs and added four more Monday. Karlsson scored the Golden Knights' second goal by stuffing home a rebound past the right pad of Washington goalie Braden Holtby to tie the game with 1:41 left in the first period, topping a shift when Vegas skated rings around the Capitals.
They received unlikely help from defenseman Deryk Engelland to take a 3-2 lead when Engelland jumped up to start a 3-on-2 rush that led to Smith pounding home an open look in front of Holtby at 3:21 of the second period.
FOURTH LINE ISN’T BAD EITHER
Ryan Reaves is best known as a fighter. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored eight points in 82 games in Philadelphia last year. Nosek battled onto the roster after playing 11 games last season with the Red Wings and has been a healthy scratch three times in the playoffs.
Yet for all the flash of the Golden Knights’ best line, Vegas’ fourth trio played as well as any group on the ice.
Reaves buried an open chance in front of the net for the tying goal 91 seconds after Washington grabbed the lead early in the third period on a Tom Wilson tally. Brought in from Pittsburgh at the trade deadline, Reaves also scored the series-clinching goal in WInnipeg on a deft tip of a point shot. Vegas fans enamored with their big man chanted his name every time he touched the puck.
Nosek one-timed home the winning goal from the right circle on a cross-ice feed from Shea Theodore at the 9:41 mark, then added an empty-netter with three seconds left. He previously had three points in 12 playoff games this season.
“That’s great when you see those guys get rewarded,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said of his fourth line. “They’re a huge part of our group.”
CAPS NOT INTIMIDATED IN VEGAS
The Golden Knights moved to 7-1 at home in the the playoffs before one of the league’s loudest crowds. Vegas also went 34-5-2 in the regular season when scoring first.
Neither mattered to Washington, which should bode well for them in a series where Vegas holds home-ice advantage. The Capitals twice came back after the Golden Knights grabbed the lead, going in front 4-3 early in the third period.
“I think we have another level to our game,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “That’s the exciting thing.”
NEITHER GOALIE IN TOP FORM
Marc-Andre Fleury will receive Conn Smythe consideration whether or not Vegas prevails. Holtby has already won two Game 7’s in these playoffs.
Both struggled Monday, and whichever recovers faster will give his team an enormous advantage. Both teams forced the opposing netminder to move laterally throughout the night, creating open-net chances from start to finish.
Holtby also allowed a number of sketchy rebounds, especially in the second period. Fleury stops Miller’s goal most nights in this postseason, but could not find the puck as it trickled through his legs.
CARLSON SHOWS OFF FULL ARSENAL
Capitals defenseman John Carlson ranks atop most free-agent lists for the coming offseason and he showed why again Monday.
Carlson tied the game at 3 on an exquisite give-and-go with T.J. Oshie at 8:29 of the second period. The defenseman dragged the puck between the circles and slid it to Oshie in the right circle, who wheeled it back to Carlson in the slot for the punch-in.
The Capitals likely hold an edge against Vegas in overall talent on the blue line. They will need that to show through more often in this series to raise the Cup.
