Tһіѕ mіgһt be Vіctor Olofѕѕon'ѕ greаteѕt work аѕ а Golden Knіgһt yet

So, right now, you can push the goalie down with a shoulder and score- while still in the blue paint- just so long as you wait a few seconds to put the puck in the net...gotcha! Nice to be able to be snarky about a blown call in a win instead of snarky and greatly annoyed (along with other feels) in a loss.

It had looked for a lot of the third period that the Vegas Golden Knights were about to go into a second straight overtime game for the first time since just before Thanksgiving. Victor Olofsson finally broke through the wall that was Kevin Lankinen. As a result, Vegas ends the weekend with a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The win boosts the gap for now in the Pacific Division to five points over the Los Angeles Kings with five games to go.

Heading into the weekend, this team needed to cleanse itself of the previous homestand and get back the flow from March. It’s safe to say that job has been completed most comfortably. Here are my three takeaways from a great Sunday night in Vancouver, with an ending to pump your fist high in victory.

Smith-Karlsson-Olofsson line the heroes for the Golden Knights

Once again, the line of Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, and Victor Olofsson pushed the team to victory. Karlsson broke a brief four-game scoreless drought with that nice setup on Olofsson’s game winner with 3:16 left in the game. As for Olofsson, he now has five points (three goals, two assists) and a +2 in his last six games, preceding a nine-game scoreless drought.

Barbie breaks the ice, and early first period funk for Vegas

As great as the game ended up being, there was a period (particularly the first 8:24 of the game) where it looked like it was gonna dip into a pretty dark place. In that time, Vegas was outshot 7-2 and down 1-0 thanks to Nils Höglander. Defensively, they looked much like the Piglins in “A Minecraft Movie.” Then came Ivan Barbashev, and this "Goal of the Year" contending beauty that broke a nine-game goalless drought for him.

After that goal that tied the game, Vegas outshot the Canucks 32-14. If not for Kevin Lankinen and that unfortunate crossbar Jack Eichel struck earlier in that third period, this could’ve been wrapped in a dainty bow much earlier than 16:46 into the third. All from a sweet breakaway and a slightly drifting Lankinen.

Speaking of the assistant Captain…

He actually had a pretty good game for going pointless for April so far, playing some solid defense and missing goal No. 28 by a matter of a few inches. But it does merit a mention given that it’s his longest goalless streak since a month ago.

Given his performance Sunday, I think he’s close to breaking out of this drought. I’d take seeing him get close to the rhythm we saw from him in mid-to-late March, especially as Tomas Hertl slowly claws his way back to action.

Next on the Marquee:

The road trip comes to an end with a trip to Denver on Tuesday night to take on the Colorado Avalanche at 6:30 P.M. The last time they were at Ball Arena, Adin Hill stood on his head and dragged the team to the loser point. In both games, Vegas has given up a combined 66 shots from Colorado. They got away with it because the Avalanche goaltending was a hot mess. If they do more of that on Tuesday, it’ll look like a flipped result of the first game. Until then…