Pavel Dorofeyev gave the Vegas Golden Knights quite a scare on Tuesday night when he went down in the second period after taking a slapshot to the inside of his right knee, writhing in pain before gingerly skating to the bench and limping down the tunnel. Concern grew when he missed his next shift, then another, and another, until he re-emerged late in the frame and got back in the game.
Soon after, the star forward gave the Golden Knights quite a celebration, thanks to his overtime winner to give Vegas a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks and a series lead to match.
Dorofeyev’s Game 5 performance was what post-season legacies are made of. Earlier in the game, the 25-year-old scored perhaps his nicest goal of the post-season — a stick-lifting, puck-stripping takeaway to prevent the Ducks from getting out of their zone, followed by a perfect wrist-shot to tie the game 1-1 on the power play.
Then, about 36 minutes of game action after the blocked shot that (temporarily) quieted T-Mobile Arena, and less than eight minutes after Anaheim’s Olen Zellweger tied the game 2-2 to force overtime, Dorofeyev potted a rebound, bar-down, to break the tie and wrench the momentum back in Vegas’ favour.
The Golden Knights’ 3-2 OT victory in Game 5 gives them a 3-2 series lead against Anaheim, with the chance to oust their second-round opponent Thursday night.
There’s a pattern here. After leading the Golden Knights in regular-season goals, Dorofeyev was slow to light the lamp against the Utah Mammoth in Round 1. After three goalless games to open the playoffs, he stepped up in Game 4 and then really grabbed hold of the series in Game 5 with a hat trick that handed Vegas a crucial 3-2 series lead. Against Anaheim, he was again slow to heat up in the goals department, held without a marker in the first three games before registering one in Game 4 on Sunday and setting himself up for a big, momentum-shifting Game 5 performance with his two-goal night on Tuesday.
Sennecke’s getting a head start on his legacy
Speaking of legacies… Ducks rookie Beckett Sennecke is playing like a veteran this post-season. You’d never know, based on his performances, that this is his first taste of playoff hockey. At just 20 years old, the rookie leads the Ducks in goals with five to his name.
His game-opening power-player marker Tuesday night extended his streak to four straight games with a goal and put him in very rare rookie company. Game 5 also brought his second straight game with a power-play goal — a great sign for a unit that stalled to start the series but appears to be heating up against Vegas’ staunch penalty kill. He leads all rookies in goals and points this spring.
Loss of Poehling looms large for Ducks
Anaheim was forced to adjust its lineup early after centre Ryan Poehling exited the game with an upper-body injury following a late, hard hit into the boards by Vegas defenceman Brayden McNabb. McNabb was issued a five-minute major and a game misconduct upon review for knocking Poehling out of the game, and while McNabb’s ejection led Vegas to make some lineup changes, too, the Ducks could be dealing with a longer absence.
Poehling stayed down after the hit, and while the team did not disclose specifics about his injury, replay showed his head making hard contact with the glass. When he did get up and skate off the ice, it was with the help of trainers and teammates. He was ruled out of a return shortly after.
His absence is quite a loss for the Ducks. Suiting up on the third line, he’s brought an important dose of depth scoring at big moments — particularly in Round 1 against Edmonton — and also plays a key role on the penalty kill. Should he miss time, that’s a tough slot to fill.
Tomas Hertl finally put an end to his 29-game goalless skid Sunday night, and two days later, he proved that wasn’t a fluke. The forward, whose scoring woes were well-documented through March and April — he scored just once in that two-month span — pounced on a rebound five minutes into the third period to give Vegas a 2-1 lead. That’s back-to-back games with a goal for Hertl, whose enthusiastic celebration Tuesday night certainly conveyed just how significant the marker was, both for himself and his squad.
He’s heating up, and his timing couldn’t be better. With the Golden Knights now one win away from closing out their second-round series, and with the team facing uncertainty when it comes to captain and top-line winger Mark Stone (he was injured in Game 3 and there’s no word yet on his return), the Golden Knights need all their stars to step up. Hertl is, and will continue to be, a huge part of that.
