Mikko Rantanen on Wednesday scored a power-play goal in overtime as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Wednesday to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Rantanen found himself in the middle of an on-ice swarm from teammates after scoring the winner, but he wanted to make sure the real star of the show received his fair share of the credit, too — goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
“Grubi bailed us out today. He had a really, really good game,” Rantanen said. “He’s basically the reason why we got to OT.”
Photo: AP
Rantanen was the reason it ended in quick fashion. He took a cross-ice pass from Nathan MacKinnon and sent a liner over the shoulder of Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to set off a celebration in front of a boisterous crowd.
The goal came with Reilly Smith in the penalty box for slashing Rantanen.
“Not our best game, but still found a way,” Rantanen said. “That’s what we’ve been doing the whole year. Sometimes we haven’t been feeling it and Grubi’s been awesome and stealing some wins for us — like today. That’s what you need if you want to win the Cup.”
Game 3 is to be played in Las Vegas today.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Eric Staal scored early goals as Montreal beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 in Game 1 of their second-round series, a victory tempered by a scary late-game hit on Canadiens center Jake Evans.
Playing on his 25th birthday, Evans was taken off the ice on a stretcher with 57 seconds left after being crushed in the head and shoulder area by Jets center Mark Scheifele an instant after tucking in an empty-net goal.
Evans chased down the puck behind the net, tightly circled back around the goal cage and scored just before Scheifele’s sent him crashing to the ice.
Scheifele was given a major for charging and a game misconduct.
Montreal interim coach Dominique Ducharme called the hit “vicious” and “useless.”
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