Smith scores twice, lifts Golden Knights to 3-2 OT win over Flames

The Vegas Golden Knights secured a critical two points with a 3-2 overtime win against the Calgary Flames Saturday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Reilly Smith scored twice, including a fortuitous game-winner with 29 seconds remaining in overtime, to help the Golden Knights bounce back from back-to-back losses.

Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for Vegas, and Akira Schmid turned aside 21 of 23 shots in his first start and first win with the Golden Knights. He made a particularly crucial save at the end of regulation to help Vegas reach extra time and, ultimately, come away with two points.

The Golden Knights were completely dominant in the opening 20 minutes, leading 15-1 in scoring chances and 5-0 in high-danger chances. They were eventually rewarded on Dorofeyev’s 33rd of the season at 18:39, but it was the only tally of the period due to the strong play of Flames netminder Dustin Wolf, who stopped 11 of Vegas’ 12 first-period bids.

Vegas doubled its lead when Smith tipped a Shea Theodore shot to make it 2-0 midway through the second period. It was Theodore’s second primary assist of the game.

But in the span of 51 seconds of hockey (separated by an intermission), the Flames erased that two-goal cushion.

Calgary cut the deficit in half when Joel Hanley scored with just eight seconds left in the second period. It was the first Flames goals against Vegas this season after the Golden Knights shut out the Flames by a combined score of 8-0 in the previous two meetings.

However, it would not be the last, as Matt Coronato found twine 43 seconds into the third period to reset the score.

Schmid came up with a game-saving stop on Mikael Backlund in the final seconds of regulation. A careless play by Theodore led to a Backlund breakaway, but Schmid’s glove was up to the task.

After 29 seconds of carry-over time on an unsuccessful Vegas power play, the Golden Knights and Flames played the majority of overtime at 4-on-4. In the final minute, Smith carried the puck behind the net and tried to center it, but the puck hit MacKenzie Weegar’s skate and Wolf’s back before bouncing into the empty cage.

“I was just trying to get the puck in front to Brett [Howden],” Smith said. “It took a fortunate bounce.”

Though the favorable bounce helped Vegas ice the win, the Golden Knights were the better team for most of the night.

“I think we did enough in that game to win,” Smith said. “Sometimes bounces don’t go your way and teams claw back in. I don’t think there was any real panic in this locker room at all throughout the game. … You’re gonna get fortunate bounces every now and then, and that’s great for us right now.”

Overall, this was a much-needed response for a Golden Knights team that never challenged Winnipeg the other night. Though the Flames are not of the same caliber as the Jets, they are fighting for their playoff lives, adding a level of intensity to the competition. But the Golden Knights were in control for much of the contest and did an excellent job defending, particularly on the penalty kill, which finished the game 4-for-4 and was a key factor in the victory.

Another contributing factor was Vegas’ third line of Smith, William Karlsson and Victor Olofsson, which was by far the Golden Knights’ best.

The trio led 17-4 in shot attempts, 12-3 in shots, 11-4 in scoring chances and 6-1 in high-danger chances with a 1-0 edge in goals and an 86.17 percent expected goal share in 8:26. Additionally, the three players accounted for half of the Golden Knights’ shot output on the night with a combined 17; Olofsson led the way with nine, while Smith had five and Karlsson had three.

“I think we did a really good job finding space in the offensive zone,” Smith said. “It just seemed like every time we were turning pucks over, we were finding someone open in the middle for a clean shot. It’s probably not going to be there all the time, but I think just us keep trying to find that open space in those shooting angles is great for us right now. Just try to build as much chemistry as we can.”

Schmid also played an important role, even if he was largely untested. With Ilya Samsonov still sidelined, Vegas needed Schmid to step in for one half of the back-to-back set, and he stepped up in a big way at a pivotal juncture in the season. He finished the night with a .913 save percentage, saving his best save for last when he denied Backlund’s spoiler bid.

“If he doesn’t make that save at the end, we don’t get points,” Bruce Cassidy said. “I don’t think he was overly busy. I thought we did a really good job in front of him. But he made the saves he needed to make when he needed to, so good for him.”

Smith echoed those sentiments.

“That’s a huge save for us; saves the game,” he said. “We need goalies to make big saves this time of year, and he did a great job on that one and a few others tonight.”

Despite the fact that Vegas has won four straight on the road and dropped two straight at home, the Golden Knights have been a much better home team all year, making winning the division a vital task.

“I think you try to get every edge you can going into the playoffs; that’s our mindset,” Smith said. “Everything you can do to get a little bit of an advantage in playoff rounds goes a long way.”

Significantly, the two points Vegas collected in Calgary helped Vegas extend its lead over the surging Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division standings. That lead was down to just one point when the Kings defeated the Oilers 3-0 earlier on Saturday but is now back to three through 76 games. At 46-22-8, the Golden Knights have now reached the 100-point mark, doing so for the third time in franchise history.

“If we don’t win the title, can we still have a great playoff run? Absolutely,” Cassidy said. “If we win the title, we do guarantee less travel and home ice. We’ve been really good at home this year, and the travel can be a factor. … It’s something we’ve won, and our guys are competitive; they like to win. That’s why it’s important.

“But at the end of the day, we needed to get our game in order and play better than we did the previous two nights, which we did.”

The Golden Knights are back in action tomorrow against the Canucks; Adin Hill is expected to get the nod.