Golden Knights at Kings
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? The Los Angeles Kings certainly hope this is the case. After dropping the first two games of their Western Conference first-round series to the expansion Golden Knights, the Kings hope a return home will enable them to turn the tables on the Pacific Division champions and avoid falling into a 3-0 hole on Sunday night at the Staples Center.
Vegas held serve in stirring fashion at T-Mobile Arena, following up a tense 1-0 victory in the series opener with an even more dramtic win in Game 2, prevailing 2-1 in double overtime on Erik Haula's goal. “It’s a fun series right now,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “Fun for us because we’re up 2-0 obviously. I’m sure they’re not too happy right now, but we’re going back to their building and we know it’s going to be a battle back there.” Star defenseman Drew Doughty will return from a one-game suspension for the Kings, who are not showing any signs of panic despite losing the longest game in franchise history. “It’s not devastating,” Los Angeles coach John Stevens said. “We expended a lot of energy but it doesn’t matter if you win in regulation or in quadruple overtime, it still counts as one. They won their two home games so we have to go home and get to work.”
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas), FS West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS: Haula scored a combined 29 goals over his previous two seasons with the Minnesota Wild and matched that in his first campaign with Vegas, but nothing could equal the feeling of the double-OT game-winner. "It's one of the best feelings in sports, I think, is finishing the game in that fashion," said Haula, the team's second-leading goal scorer. "It was a long game, and we had a lot of guys who played a lot of minutes. It's rewarding to come out on top." Alex Tuch scored the other goal, the Golden Knights' first on the power play against the Kings this season.
ABOUT THE KINGS: Los Angeles cannot ask for much more from goaltender Jonathan Quick, who turned aside 81 of 84 shots in Las Vegas and set a franchise playoff record with 54 saves in Game 2, breaking his own mark of 51. "In my opinion, he’s the best goalie in the world," said Kings defenseman Paul LaDue, who scored his team's lone goal. "That was unbelievable tonight and you know we’ve got to work harder to play better for him. He worked way to hard tonight and he saw way too many shots." Tyler Toffoli, a 24-goal scorer during the regular season, has one assist in his last seven playoff games.
OVERTIME
1. Vegas G Marc-Andre Fleury has stopped 59 of 60 shots in the series.
2. Doughty collected 35 of his 60 points at home this season.
3. Golden Knights C David Perron (undisclosed) told reporters Saturday that he felt better and hopes to play in the series.