Golden Knights Score Five Straight Goals to Defeat Avalanche 5-3

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 on Sunday night in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals after scoring five unanswered goals. Vegas trailed 3-0 after the first period. The Golden Knights had been 0-19 in the playoffs when behind by that margin, while the Avalanche were 74-1 when holding such a lead.

Hertl scored the tying goal at 8:21 of the third period. Hertl, Mark Stone and William Karlsson each recorded a goal and an assist. Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden added the other Vegas goals. Mitch Marner and Kaedan Korczak each had two assists. Stone returned after missing time with a lower-body injury. Kolesar scored his first playoff goal after 37 games without one.

Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury scored for Colorado. Devon Toews had two assists. Scott Wedgewood stopped 18 shots. Nathan MacKinnon took a puck to his right knee in the second period and played through the injury. Cale Makar returned after missing the first two games of the series with an upper-body injury.

The Golden Knights can complete a sweep on Tuesday night.

Colorado would need to become only the fifth team to win a series after falling behind 3-0. "This is a game where we showed some balls," Vegas coach John Tortorella said after the game. "It wasn't a great first period for us," Hertl told ESPN's Emily Kaplan. "But like all season, we knew we could do it. we just never quit.