Tomas Hertl scored a power-play goal with 12.8 seconds left in overtime as the Vegas Golden Knights rallied to defeat the host Winnipeg Jets, 4-3, on Tuesday night.
Hertl, stationed in front of the net, deflected Mitch Marner’s one-timer from the high slot off the right post. The puck then trickled across the goal line where Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, reaching back, knocked it across the line with his glove.
Mark Stone, Brett Howden and Reilly Smith also scored goals, Hertl finished with a goal and an assist and Marner had two assists for Vegas, which snapped a season-long five-game losing streak (0-3-2). Carter Hart finished with 17 saves.
Cole Perfetti, Luke Schenn and Kyle Connor scored goals and Gabriel Vilardi had two assists for Winnipeg, which lost its 10th straight game (0-6-4) and for the 13th time in the last 14 games (1-9-4). Hellebuyck made 27 saves as his personal winless streak reached nine games (0-5-4).
Winnipeg took a 1-0 lead at the 5:16 mark of the first period on the team’s first shot on goal, a backhand shot by Perfetti cutting in front of the crease off a no-look backhand pass by Jonathan Toews. It snapped a 16-game goal drought for Perfetti.
The Jets extended the lead midway through the second period when Schenn, playing in his 1,100th NHL game, fired a wrist shot from inside the blue line through traffic and past Hart’s glove for his first goal this season.
Vegas cut the lead to 2-1 with about a minute left in the second on a power-play goal by Stone, who shoveled in a rebound of a Pavel Dorofeyev shot to extend his goal streak to a career-best five games. The score came shortly after Stone was hit in the right jaw area on a flip-in from the point by teammate Ben Hutton.
The Golden Knights tied it midway through the third period when Howden one-timed a crossing pass from Noah Hanifin from the right circle inside the near post.
Connor put Winnipeg back in front 3-2 with 5:04 remaining with a wrist shot from the high slot inside the left post for his 20th goal, the ninth straight season he has hit the 20-goal mark.
Smith tied it at 3 just 59 seconds later when he chipped in a backhand shot on a rebound of a Brandon Saad shot, setting the stage for overtime.
Winnipeg’s Haydn Fleury was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher midway through the first period after taking an awkward fall into the end boards following a collision with Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar. No penalty was called. The Jets posted on social media that the 29-year-old defenseman was transported to the hospital via ambulance but was fully alert and was moving his extremities upon departure.
–Field Level Media
