Brett Howden scored a short-handed goal at 5:28 of the second overtime on Wednesday night, giving the Vegas Golden Knights a 5-4 win over the Utah Mammoth and moving Vegas to within one victory of clinching their first-round series.

With the victory, the Golden Knights now hold a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven NHL playoff series heading into Game 6 on Friday night in Salt Lake City, News.Az reports, citing AP.

Vegas forced overtime late in regulation when Pavel Dorofeyev scored with 52.7 seconds remaining while the Golden Knights were skating with a six-on-five advantage. That goal tied the game and also marked the sixth playoff hat trick in franchise history for Dorofeyev, who had recorded only two goals in his previous 13 career playoff games before this performance.

For Vegas, Shea Theodore contributed one goal and one assist, while Jack Eichel added two assists. Goaltender Carter Hart made 33 saves in the win.

For Utah, John Marino, Lawson Crouse, and Dylan Guenther each scored, while Clayton Keller registered two assists. Karel Vejmelka stopped 31 shots in net.

Utah mounted a third-period comeback, with Guenther tying the game at 5:54 on a rush play, followed by Michael Carcone scoring on a two-on-one opportunity with 7:18 remaining to put the Mammoth back in contention.

Both teams continued to struggle on the power play, combining to go just 1 for 10. Vegas finally snapped a power-play scoring drought of 13 opportunities when Dorofeyev scored from the right circle with 40.2 seconds left in the first period to make it 1-1. Across the series, the Golden Knights are now 3 for 18 on the power play, while Utah has gone 1 for 14.

Vegas also scored two short-handed goals in the series, including Howden’s game-winner from the slot in Game 5. The sequence leading to his goal began when Vegas pressured the puck and forced a faceoff in Utah’s defensive zone. The Golden Knights won the draw, which set up Howden’s decisive finish.

The Golden Knights also rallied twice across the first two periods. Goals scored 1:38 apart by Dorofeyev and Theodore late in the second period gave Vegas a 3-2 lead. It marked the first time in the series that Vegas carried a lead into the third period, even though the Golden Knights were the NHL’s strongest third-period team during the regular season, finishing with a league-best plus-47 goal differential in the final frame.

The game remained highly physical and resilient from both sides, with a combined total of 86 hits as each team attempted to assert control physically. However, the intensity also led to unnecessary penalties. Utah took three penalties in the first period: an open-ice interference call against Nick Schmaltz, a holding penalty on Logan Cooley for what was described as a clothesline takedown of Ivan Barbashev, and a boarding minor assessed to Mikhail Sergachev.

Vegas also committed penalties, including a double-minor for high-sticking taken by Cole Smith just 11 seconds into the third period. Despite the disadvantage, the Golden Knights successfully killed off the full four minutes.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev