Golden Knights grab opener
Expansion Knightswin back- and- forth game to grab series opener
LAS VEGAS — In a nineminute stretch of the third period, the Capitals dramatically took the lead before the Golden Knights replied with two goals of their own.
The Capitals’ Tom Wilson also flattened the Knights’ Jonathan Marchessault with a blindside hit that might reverberate through the Stanley Cup Final.
After 10 goals and a Final- record four lead changes in a fantastically entertaining opener, it’s tough to imagine what these unlikely opponents will do for an encore.
But the upstart Knights have spent their entire inaugural season speeding past all expectations, and their first Final game didn’t slow them down in the slightest.
Tomas Nosek scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, and the expansion Knights surged past the Capitals for a 6- 4 victory in Game 1 on Monday.
‘‘ We put fun ahead of everything, and you can tell,’’ said winger Ryan Reaves, who scored the tying goal for the Knights in the third period. ‘‘ Guys have are having fun, and they’re smiling.’’
The Eastern Conference champion Capitals hadn’t given up this many goals in 29 games since March 18, but they hadn’t seen anything like this charmed run by the Knights. With their sellout crowd at deafening volume all night, the Knights put their usual speed and relentlessness on full display while overcoming that third- period deficit to win the opener of a matchup between two franchises seeking their first Stanley Cup titles.
Knights goalie Marc- Andre Fleury made 24 saves in an occasionally shaky performance, but his teammates carried him like he so often had carried them.
‘‘ We’re a good defensive group, but we weren’t tonight,’’ Marchessault said. ‘‘ They’re a team that’s very fast in the neutral zone, and we gave them too much respect with the puck. We need to be faster in the defensive zone. We’re going to fix that in our game.’’
Braden Holtby stopped 28 shots for the Capitals, whose first Stanley Cup Final game in 20 years was a defensive nightmare. The Capitals played a strong offensive game and had chances to win, but they never slowed the Knights.
‘‘ I think next game is going to be different, and all the nervousness, all the bad things go away in this game,’’ said Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who had an assist.
Wilson got credit for the goal that put the Capitals ahead 4- 3 early in the third period when Fleury back- heeled a loose puck into his own net, but Reaves tied the score 91 seconds later for the Knights.
Nosek then put the Knights ahead after Shea Theodore kept the puck in the Capitals’ zone, sidestepped a defender and fired a beautiful cross- ice pass to him. Nosek buried a one- timer for his second goal of the playoffs.
Colin Miller, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith scored early goals before Nosek added an empty- netter for the Knights, who are three victories away from one of the most improbable championships in recent North American team sports history. Just 342 days after the Knights selected the backbone of their first roster in the expansion draft, they had another party on the Strip with their remarkable collection of castoffs.
Brett Connolly, Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson also scored for the Capitals, but their biggest stars failed to match the Knights’ outburst. Along with Ovechkin’s quiet night, Evgeny Kuznetsov — who amassed a whopping 24 points in the first three rounds of the playoffs— also was limited to an assist.
It was after Reaves’ tying goal that Wilson delivered his crushing open- ice hit to Marchessault. The Knights uniformly criticized it as late, but Wilson defended himself.
‘‘ I haven’t obviously slowed it down and looked at it, but I think he’d probably say he shouldn’t have admired his pass, and I’m just finishing my check,’’ Wilson said.