3 takeaways from Knights’ win: Depth delivers in double OT
It was Michael Amadio who quieted the wired “White Out” crowd Saturday at Canada Life Centre and was mobbed by his teammates along the glass. Of course it was.
The Golden Knights won the Pacific Division and the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed by relying on every player on their roster, no matter the situation, no matter the circumstances.
That meant it wasn’t a surprise when coach Bruce Cassidy sent a forward line of left wing Ivan Barbashev, center Brett Howden and Amadio — three players who ranked ninth, 15th and 17th among the Knights’ skaters in average ice time, respectively — over the boards early into the second overtime of Game 3 of the team’s first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets. It also wasn’t a shock when they delivered.
Defenseman Dylan Samberg’s attempted breakout pass when off Barbashev’s skate and into Amadio in the slot, and he fired the puck past goaltender Connor Hellebuyck 3:40 into the second extra session for the first playoff goal of his career. The Knights’ depth delivered again to provide a 5-4 win and 2-1 series lead.
The winner of Game 3 advances 66.8 percent of the time when the two teams enter tied 1-1.
“It was a pretty special feeling, obviously,” Amadio said. “We grinded all night for that.”
It didn’t look as if Amadio’s heroics would be necessary for much of the game.
The Knights entered the third period ahead 4-1 after two goals from center Jack Eichel and one apiece from right wing Keegan Kolesar and center Chandler Stephenson on his 29th birthday. Their regular-season record when leading after two was 34-1-2.
Winnipeg still found a way to come back.
The Jets scored three times on 17 shots against goaltender Laurent Brossoit in the third to force overtime. Center Adam Lowry provided the game-tying goal with 22 seconds remaining in regulation and Hellebuyck out of the net. It was the second time in Knights’ playoff history that they lost a three-goal lead in the third, after their 5-4 overtime Game 7 loss to San Jose on April 23, 2019.
This time it didn’t cost them the win.
Winnipeg controlled possession early in the first overtime, but its legs seemed to tire the longer the game went. It lost top defenseman Josh Morrissey for the series with a lower-body injury 4:34 into the first, which had a cascading effect on the rest of its lineup.
Seven of the game’s eight leaders in time on ice were Jets. The Knights, on the other hand, spread out the workload. Barbashev started the game on the fourth line and still got five shifts in the first overtime, the same number he had in the second period.
“They got a lot of depth over there,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness. “They got four lines coming at you, and when you’re down to five D that early in the game, it puts an awful lot of pressure on (Samberg), and all five of them played outstanding for us.”
Cassidy didn’t deviate from his plan when the Knights went to double OT for the fourth time in franchise history. Amadio, who went from getting picked up off waivers Oct. 30, 2021, to scoring a career-high 16 goals this season, kept getting his minutes. He became the fifth player in the past 25 years to get his first playoff goal in double overtime or later.
That’s been the Knights’ formula all season. It’s now gotten them halfway to a series victory.
“You look at the guys that are out there that scored the winning goal, they’re not our guys you’d first think of as high-minutes guys,” Cassidy said. “Happy for those three guys. Overtime is like that sometimes. It’s the guy you least suspect.”
Here are three takeaways from the win:
1. Eichel stars
It took Eichel eight seasons to reach the playoffs. It’s taken him only three games to start shining within them.
Eichel, the Knights’ leading scorer in the regular season, was all over the ice Saturday. He had two goals and an assist to become the second player in team history to record three points in a road playoff game, behind right wing Jonathan Marchessault.
Eichel’s speed and effort on the backcheck also made a difference. The Knights had a 25-12 edge in shot attempts with him on the ice at five-on-five, according to the website Natural Stat Trick.
2. Power play strikes
The Knights showed signs of life on the man advantage in Game 2. They got some much-needed results in Game 3.
The Knights scored on two of their five power-play opportunities to snap an 0-for-7 skid to begin the series. They ended an 0-for-25 drought in the playoffs that dated to Game 4 of their second-round matchup against the Colorado Avalanche on June 6, 2021.
The Jets still have a 3-2 lead in power-play goals in the series.
3. Late finish
Saturday was the fourth-longest game in Knights history.
They improved to 2-2 in double overtime games and 6-9 overall in overtime in a playoff series. The Knights’ last double-overtime game was a 2-1 loss in Game 6 of their first-round series against San Jose on April 21, 2019.
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.