Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) saves the shot from Vegas Golden KnightsÕ William Karlsson (71) as Nate Schmidt (88) defends during second period NHL playoff action in Winnipeg on Saturday, April 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
WINNIPEG – Michael Amadio scored 3:40 into the second overtime period to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-4 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday that gave them a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Jets centre Adam Lowry tied the game 4-4 with 21.9 seconds remaining in regulation when he used a rebound to beat Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit. Lowry extended his series goal streak to four in three games.
Winnipeg went into the third period down 4-1, but goals by Nino Niederreiter at 2:04 and Mark Scheifele on the power play with under six minutes remaining closed the gap to 4-3 and had fans roaring for a comeback.
A sold-out crowd of 15,325 at Canada Life Centre continued the “whiteout” playoff tradition of wearing white and waving white towels. Game 4 of the Western Conference best-of-seven clash goes Monday.
Jack Eichel fired in a pair of power-play goals and added an assist for Vegas. Chandler Stephenson had a goal and one assist and Keegan Kolesar also scored. Alex Pietrangelo contributed a pair of assists.
Brossoit, who spent three seasons playing for the Jets, made 30 saves.
Kyle Connor notched a goal and one assist, and defenceman Neal Pionk had three helpers for Winnipeg.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 43 shots for the eighth-seeded Jets, who had won the first game in Vegas 5-1 last Tuesday before losing 5-2 on Thursday.
Winnipeg was minus a key player when all-star defenceman Josh Morrisey left the game four minutes into the first period with a lower-body injury.
The Golden Knights led 2-1 after an opening period that featured big hits and trips to the penalty box.
Vegas scored on its first two shots of the game.
Stephenson beat Hellebuyck with a low blast during four-on-four play at 2:52.
Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon and Kolesar were already in the penalty box for fighting 49 seconds into the game.
Kolesar returned to the box with Winnipeg centre Pierre-Luc Dubois for roughing, along with the Jets Scheifele for slashing Brossoit, at 5:09.
Eichel, who’s competing in his first playoffs, used a one-timer on the power play to make it 2-0 at 6:18.
Connor closed the gap to one after tipping in a Dylan DeMelo shot at 9:07.
When the horn ended the intense opening frame, Vegas led 10-6 on shots on goal but Winnipeg won 29-17 in the hits department.
Eichel tallied his second one-timer goal, and third marker of the series, on the power play at 10:46. Kolesar put a rebound past Hellebuyck with 2:15 remaining.
Niederreiter’s high shot went by Brossoit at 2:04 to make it 4-2. Scheifele recorded his first goal of the playoffs when he used Whitecloud as a screen and fired a high shot by Brossoit at 14:08.
Hellebuyck left the net for the extra attacker and Lowry got the equalizer at 19:38 to send it to overtime.
Vegas got six shots on goal in the first overtime. Winnipeg had five, including Dubois hitting the post.
ALL-STAR OUT
Morrissey collided knee-on-knee with Vegas defenceman Zach Whitecloud and appeared to be favouring his right knee when he went to the bench at 4:34 of the first and didn’t return.
The team announced he was out because of a lower-body injury.
Pionk shone in Morrissey’s absence, tying the Jets-Thrashers’ franchise record for points in a playoff game. He also became the second defenceman to accomplish the feat. Retired defenceman Dustin Byfuglien had a pair of goals and one assist in the 2018 playoffs.
NO FLY ZONE
Speedy Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers missed a third straight playoff game.
Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness told media before Saturday’s game that Ehlers hasn’t received medical clearance to play.
Ehlers was injured in an April 11 regular-season game against Minnesota when Wild forward Ryan Hartman hit the winger nicknamed “Fly” when he didn’t have the puck.
Ehlers cleared concussion protocol but missed the team’s final regular-season game. He practised with the team last week, but is still out with an upper-body injury.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2023.
