Puck luck finally falls in Golden Knights’ favor in dramatic OT win over Red Wings

After a few games where nothing seemed to go right for the Vegas Golden Knights, it was refreshing to see the narrative finally change.

On Wednesday, the Golden Knights snapped a three-game losing streak in improbable fashion, coming from behind to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in overtime.

Within the first two minutes, the Golden Knights were able to break the script that had defined their previous efforts. Coming off of a Pavel Dorofeyev forecheck, Mitch Marner was able to find Reilly Smith in a good position by the net. The veteran forward was able to beat Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot on the short side to give the Golden Knights the first goal for the first time in four games.

Unfortunately, the same story would play out in a different way. Just a few minutes later, Red Wings rookie Emmitt Finnie beat a screened Adin Hill from a shot in the slot to tie the game. Another unfortunate bounce would see a Braeden Bowman backcheck be negated by Simon Edvinsson, who got a shot past Hill to give Detroit their first lead.

Disaster would soon strike for Hill later in the first period.

On a shot from Alex DeBrincat, Hill would misread the trajectory and move his glove low. The puck would wind up going over his shoulder and into the top left corner of the net to make it another first period where the Golden Knights surrendered three goals and continuing what has been a difficult campaign.

The second period would see the Golden Knights continue to be outplayed, but the Red Wings could not capitalize to keep the game at a two-goal deficit.

In the final ten minutes of the third, the push from the Golden Knights would finally come. A shot from Noah Hanifin would pinball towards the front of the net, deflecting off of Rasmus Andersson en route to Ivan Barbashev’s stick. The Russian winger would have a wide open net to fire the puck into, and the Golden Knights suddenly had hope.

Five minutes later, a shot from Shea Theodore would cause chaos in front of the net. An energized Golden Knights team would get the edge on the ensuing puck battle, with Tomas Hertl swinging around the net to find Mitch Marner in the slot. Marner, who was easily the best Golden Knight on the ice in this game, would score his 17th goal on the season to tie the game up and force overtime.

Hill would also bounce back after the DeBrincat goal, preventing the Red Wings from extending the lead on power plays and giving the Golden Knights the chance to regroup and charge back.

In overtime, Hertl redeemed himself from a pair of penalties in regulation by hitting an excellent shot from the slot during a power play to secure the comeback victory for the Golden Knights. 

The successful comeback gave Vegas their first win over a playoff opponent since Nov. 20 against the Utah Mammoth, giving them plenty of momentum moving forward.

With the results finally going their way, the Golden Knights now hope to keep the momentum going back in Vegas when they face the Minnesota Wild on Friday.