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VEGAS 2 MONTREAL 1 (OT) (The best-of-seven series is tied at 2-2)
Nicolas Roy scored the overtime winner to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 2-1 win over Montreal, tying the best of seven-series at 2 games apiece.
Roy’s original shot in front of the net was stopped by Carey Price but the rebound went right back and he made no mistake the second time around when he lifted the the puck over a fallen Price to give Vegas the win.
Vegas has three goals from forwards in the series and Roy has two of them. He has scored in each of the past two games.
The big surprise of the night was that Robin Lehner was between the pipes for the Golden Knights, as coach Peter DeBoer was rewarded by the decision to change goaltenders following a second straight loss by Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 3 on Friday. Lehner last played on May 30 when he gave up seven goals on 37 shots to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the second round.
But Lehner was on his game Sunday night, stopping 27-of-28 shots for his first win of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. He has certainly earned another look on Tuesday in Game 5 versus the Canadiens.
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The first period was completely different than Friday’s opening frame, as Montreal outshot Vegas 11-4 after the Golden Knights completely outplayed Montreal in Game 3, outshooting them 17-3.
The Canadiens had the best chances as Lehner stopped Eric Staal in close after a pass from Corey Perry and managed to keep the puck out of the net on the rebound as Joel Armia’s shot was stopped on the goal line. The shot was reviewed, but there was no definitive angle to see if the puck actually crossed the goal line, so there was no goal on the play.
Josh Anderson had the other good chance in the period as he worked his way in front of the net after beating Nick Holden but his glorious opportunity went just over the crossbar and the score remained tied at nil heading into the second.
The second period was fairly quiet until Nick Suzuki was called for hooking Alec Martinez at 16:44. The Golden Knights finally looked good on the power play, the closest call being Alex Pietrangelo beating Carey Price but clanging it off the goalpost.
The Canadiens killed off the penalty (their 26th in a row) as Vegas dropped to 4-of-39 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Montreal finally opened the scoring and although Shea Weber did not draw an assist, he was instrumental in the goal as he checked Nicolas Roy by the side of the net, when it appeared that Roy would have a wide-open net to shoot at. This occurred just as Suzuki left the penalty box.
The puck went to Suzuki who found Paul Byron on a breakaway. Byron went in and beat Lehner up high on the stick side to give Montreal the lead 1-0. Montreal outshot Vegas 9-8 in the second period.
The third period finally had the Golden Knights playing desperate hockey. The Habs almost made it 2-0 when Cole Caufield showed his wheels by breaking away from the Vegas blueline, but Lehner made the stop as Caufield tried to go five-hole.
The Golden Knights finally evened the score when Brayden McNabb’s first of the post-season, snuck through Price at the 10:37 mark of the third. William Karlsson and Shea Theodore drew the assists, sending the game into overtime and eventually Roy’s heroics.
Price stopped 19 shots as his Stanley Cup record fell to 10-5 with a 2.09 GAA and a .931 save percentage.
Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher each had five shots on goal.
Josh Anderson had 10 hits and Suzuki had seven.
Alex Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez and Jon Merrill had five blocked shots each.
Chandler Stephenson (upper body) was out of action for a third straight game.
Game 5 is Tuesday in Vegas with a 9:00 PM ET start time.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Paul Byron – 1
Brayden McNabb – 1
Nicolas Roy - 1
Assists
Nick Suzuki – 1
Shea Theodore – 1
Max Pacioretty – 1
William Karlsson – 1
Alex Tuch – 1
Shots on Goal
Max Pacioretty – 5
Hits
Josh Anderson – 10
Nick Suzuki – 7
Tomas Nosek - 6
Penalty Minutes
Tomas Nosek – 2
Alec Martinez – 2
Nick Suzuki – 2
Shea Weber - 2
