Golden Knights say ‘we’ll be ready’ after playing double-OT game
Alex Pietrangelo had texts from his wife and mother waiting for him after the Golden Knights’ 5-4 win in double overtime Saturday at Winnipeg
He was hit in the face by a puck with 6:58 remaining in the third period and went to the bench to get checked. He said he came away with “a little swollen lip,” but is otherwise OK. He played 14:12 after being hit as part of his marathon 34:30 effort, tied for the fifth-longest of his career.
Pietrangelo probably wasn’t the only player who had loved ones concerned. Game 3, like most of the Knights’ first-round series against the Jets, was an intense, physical and exhausting game.
That doesn’t mean either side will get much time to rest. Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Monday at Canada Life Centre.
“It was a big-boy game last night,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “My guess is both teams will be licking their wounds a little bit today. We’re going to do it in a little better frame of mind than them, so that’s where you’re fortunate.”
Cassidy did say he thought the game could benefit the Knights in the long run.
Not only did they take a 2-1 series lead despite surrendering three third-period goals, they avoided taxing their top players as much as Winnipeg did. Pietrangelo was the only Knight to get more than 30 minutes. The Jets had five players hit that mark, and center Pierre-Luc Dubois played 29:42.
Some of that was circumstance. Winnipeg lost its No. 1 defenseman, Josh Morrissey, for the series 4:34 into the game with a lower-body injury. Some of that is the Knights’ egalitarian approach. Right wing Keegan Kolesar played a team-low 12:29, more than four Jets.
“I thought we did a great job of rolling the four lines over, the three D pairs and just (kept) playing our game,” captain Mark Stone said.
Spreading the workload should benefit the Knights in what has been perhaps the hardest-fought series of the first round. Winnipeg leads the playoff field through three games with 193 hits. The Knights are second with 168, 15 more than third-place Tampa Bay. Their 30 blocked shots Saturday were also a franchise record for a road game in the postseason.
The Knights appear to be none the worse for wear even after the fourth-longest game in team history. Cassidy said he expects everyone to be available for Game 4.
That should help the Knights as they try to ride the momentum and take a 3-1 series lead for the sixth time in franchise history. That doesn’t mean it’s a given. Minnesota won 3-2 in double overtime on the road against Dallas on April 17, then lost 7-3 two days later.
The Jets will be looking to do the same thing and avoid dropping two straight at Canada Life Centre and three in a row. The schedule should give both teams a bit of a reprieve.
Saturday’s game started at 1:11 p.m. in Winnipeg, so even with the late finish, the teams will have extra hours to regroup.
“It’s always going to add a toll on your body when you’re playing almost twice what a lot of guys are used to playing,” left wing Reilly Smith said. “We’ll be ready. You spend the whole season getting conditioned for things like this. It was a tough game. To come up with a win, it marks a world of difference.”
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.