*Photo from Knights on Ice*
It might have been a good thing for the Vegas Golden Knights that their attempted trade of Evgenii Dadonov was invalidated. Chandler Stephenson scored, Dadonov added the winning goal, and the Golden Knights defeated the Chicago Blackhawks with a 5-4 win in overtime on Saturday afternoon.
The trade that would have sent Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks for a package including John Moore and Ryan Kesler's contract was invalidated by the NHL after Dadonov had the Ducks on his no trade list, which the Golden Knights apparently did not know of.
The win for Vegas marks just their 4th in the last 11 games, as they try to get back to the playoffs. It was the first time in 58 games that Vegas has played, that they have won a game after trailing by 3 or more goals after two periods, with their record now at 1-57-0 in that category.
Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said of the comeback that "It's a good character win. Sometimes, adversity is a good thing. It gets us some energy coming back home. It's a big win in front of our building. We can build off of that. Those games are fun to win. Any point right now is big for us."
The only goal of the first period came from Dominik Kubalik, putting Chicago up 1-0 on his 12th goal of the season. Second period goals came from Jonathan Toews and Dylan Strome, with Toews scoring his 10th of the season, and Strome his 19th of the year, putting the Blackhawks ahead 3-0 after two.
Vegas started off the 3rd period with 3 consecutive goals in the span of 3:16 to begin the period. First, it was Stephenson at the 1:24 mark, followed by William Karlsson at 2:23 of the 3rd, and then Jack Eichel at the 3:16 mark. Alex DeBrincat scored to put the Blackhawks ahead 4-3, but Pietrangelo tied it less than a minute later, setting the stage for Dadonov scoring 2:05 into overtime.
Golden Knights head coach Pete Deboer said that "They just dug deep. We were running on some fumes tonight. They recognized the importance of the moment. In the third, our best guys grabbed it and dragged us back into the game."
Getting the start once again for Vegas was rookie Logan Thompson, who got the first comeback win of his career. Thompson turned aside 30 of the 34 shots on goal the Blackhawks had, posting a .882 save percentage, which was just enough for the win. Thompson's record improved to a 5-4-0 mark in 9 starts.
Across the ice, Kevin Lankinen got the start and loss as Chicago's road trip came to an end. Lankinen stopped 29 of 34 Vegas shots, good for a sub optimal .853 save percentage, being bested with one more save by Thompson. Lankinen's record drops to 4-8-0 on the season.
Blackhawks interim head coach Derek King said that "We stopped and watched and they pushed and pushed. We still could've won the game. Pretty good road trip, and something to learn from that is adding to our identity and what type of team we're going to be. We have to learn from that. When you get back on your heels, turn the tide and tilt the ice the other way."
The Blackhawks return home for a Monday matchup with the Buffalo Sabres, with Lankinen expected to start. Thompson is in line for the start when Vegas returns to action on Wednesday night against the Seattle Kraken.
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