Shea Theodore scored 2:05 into overtime to give the visiting Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.
Theodore took a pass from Jonathan Marchessault near the right side of the crease at the end of an odd-man break and slid a shot past goalie Thatcher Demko for his sixth career overtime goal and 11th goal of the season. It also marked the third straight game that Theodore scored, a franchise record for a defenseman.
Marchessault had a goal and an assist and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for Vegas (39-28-4, 82 points), which moved into a tie with idle Nashville for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Robin Lehner, playing for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury on March 8, made 26 saves as the Golden Knights extended their winning streak to five games, matching their season high.
J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat scored goals and Thatcher Demko finished with 27 saves for Vancouver (32-28-10, 74 points), which scored twice in the third period to force overtime.
Vegas jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 6:51 mark of the first period when Pietrangelo roofed a snap shot from the bottom of the right circle over Demko’s left shoulder for his 13th goal of the season.
Marchessault made it 2-0 at the 12:31 mark when he scooped up a loose puck in the neutral zone and then drove into the slot to fire a wrist shot past Demko’s glove side. It was his 28th goal of the season.
Vancouver, outshot 13-7 in the period, had a chance to cut the deficit in half later in the first when Horvat went on a breakaway during a penalty kill. But Lehner turned away Horvat’s low wrist shot with a stick save.
Miller made it 2-1 early in the third period with his 29th goal of the season, one-timing an Oliver Ekman-Larsson pass from the high slot. It was Miller’s 200th career point with the Canucks.
Horvat was then credited with the tying goal at the 9:42 mark. Vegas center William Karlsson pulled a faceoff in the right circle back toward the net and defenseman Alec Martinez redirected the puck through Lehner’s pads. Horvat, closest to Martinez on the play, was handed his 27th goal of the season, tying his career high.
Vancouver nearly won it at the buzzer at the end of regulation but defenseman Tyler Myers fired Tanner Pearson’s behind-the-net feed wide of the net.
–Field Level Media