Cooper Krigbaum
It was a strange night for the Vegas Golden Knights and Calgary Flames, not because of the result, but because of how it all unfolded.
During the second intermission, play was delayed for an unusual reason: an issue with the ice surface. Both captains, Mark Stone and Mikael Backlund, made multiple trips from the bench to inspect the conditions and talk with the referees.
Arena staff worked to fix the problem, while the in-game entertainment rolled on, staying true to the Las Vegas atmosphere. The delay lasted 26 minutes and disrupted the flow of an already back-and-forth game.
Despite that, the Golden Knights stayed perfect under head coach John Tortorella, continuing to build momentum late in the season, moving to 34-26-16 and beating the Flames 6-3.
Calgary opened the scoring with Morgan Frost netting his 19th goal of the season. Frost had time and space in front and beat Carter Hart cleanly. Hart finished the game with a .864 save percentage and 3.00 goals-against average.
The Golden Knights answered with Mitch Marner tying the game at 1-1, tipping a shot from Shea Theodore.
Less than three minutes later, Blake Coleman restored Calgary’s lead. After Theodore pinched, the Flames broke out on a two-on-one, and Coleman finished beating Hart’s blocker side.
However, Marner struck again, scoring his second of the night and 22nd of the season, coming off a clean passing sequence with Jack Eichel and Rasmus Andersson.
Before the second period ended, Coleman added his second goal of the game for Calgary. But once again, the Golden Knights had a response. Pavel Dorofeyev scored on the power play, notching his 35th goal of the season. He now sits eight shy of the franchise record of 43, set by William Karlsson in 2017-18.
After two unpredictable periods and a lengthy delay, the third belonged to the Golden Knights. Brett Howden gave the Golden Knights their first lead, scoring off the rush and beating Dustin Wolf.
Shortly after, Wolf misplayed the puck behind his net, and Ivan Barbashev capitalized, extending the lead to 5-3. Marner later sealed it, earning the hat trick and pushing the Golden Knights past the Flames.
Head coach John Tortorella is now 2-0-0 behind the bench with the Golden Knights as he looks to steer the team back on track.
The Golden Knights look to continue their winning ways against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night as they kick off a four-game road trip.
