Tomáš Hertl scored the go-ahead goal at 8:21 of the third period and the Vegas Golden Knights completed a furious comeback, beating the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 in Game Three of the Western Conference Final on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.
The turning point came after Colorado had raced to a 3-0 lead. Gabriel Landeskog scored at 3:21 of the first period, Nazem Kadri added another at 7:03 and Jack Drury made it 3-0 with a shorthanded goal at 13:15. From there, Vegas scored five unanswered goals, starting with Mark Stone’s power-play goal 19 seconds into the second period.
William Karlsson cut the gap further at 4:05 of the second period, and Keegan Kolesar tied it at 12:46 before Hertl put Vegas ahead for good in the third. Brett Howden added an empty-net goal at 19:01 to seal it.
Devon Toews had two assists for Colorado, but the Avalanche could not hold the early edge. The loss leaves the series with another game immediately in front of it, and Vegas now has the momentum after surviving the Avalanche’s first-period surge and answering with a stretch that changed the night.
The teams are set to meet again in Game Four on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT, with Colorado facing the task of steadying a series that slipped away after it opened with control.
