Knights don’t blink in face of adversity for Game 3 victory
White Out.
It’s a tradition for the Winnipeg Jets since 1987. Fans are asked to wear white clothing to home playoff games. It’s supposed to create a menacing atmosphere for the visiting team.
It took the Golden Knights a few minutes Saturday to erase that theory.
Until they didn’t.
Until they did.
Michael Amadio’s goal in the second overtime gave the Knights a 5-4 win against the Jets at Canada Life Centre. The Knights lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game 4 in Winnipeg on Monday. It will take something special to match this one.
But this is them, the Golden Knights, right? This has been them. Use their depth. Find ways to win. And here’s another.
They blew a 4-1 lead in the third period, nearly getting bitten in the worst possible manner by trying to protect a lead. But you can also throw analytics off the ice — those numbers that suggest the Knights should be far worse than what they are.
This was a microcosm of how they earned the top seed in the Western Conference.
Adversity shows its face. The Knights don’t blink.
Making adjustments
“Obviously, we didn’t want to go to overtime, but I thought we stuck to the program,” captain Mark Stone said. “It’s hard to win hockey games in the playoffs, so we’ll take them any way we can get them. We want to close that game out, for sure.
“Just keep pushing. That has been our motto since training camp. Get to our game. We have a lot of guys who know how to win. … We’ll look at the good and the bad and make some adjustments.
“We obviously know they’ll make adjustments.”
They’ll have to. Winnipeg played with five defensemen for all but 4:34 of the first period, their best D-man in Josh Morrissey lost for the series with a lower body injury. That’s a whole lot of time to be playing short-handed.
So the Knights took advantage. Kept putting pucks behind the Jets, making them travel 200 feet, tiring them out enough that it likely would be a turnover in overtime that made the difference. And it did. And that’s when Amadio struck.
Things began so well and chippy for the Knights. It was Keegan Kolesar who got into a scrap with Brenden Dillon nearly right off the opening puck drop. It was the Knights who scored off their first two shots in the first 6:18. In control from the jump.
And then ultimately saw that 4-1 advantage disappear.
Say something for the type of scrambling Winnipeg did in the third period. The Knights forgot about the program Stone spoke about. They stopped pushing. They misplaced the motto. But also credit the Jets.
“I didn’t see any massive breakdowns,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “They pushed and capitalized on their looks.”
It’s the playoffs. Doesn’t matter how you get it done. Just that you do. And the depth the Knights have spoken about all season came through in the end.
We even saw playoff Jack Eichel again, the Knights’ star playing in his first postseason series. He was as good for most of the afternoon without the puck as he was with it. He scored twice and had an assist. Both were power-play goals.
No, that’s not a misprint.
And in double overtime, after the Knights had blown a three-goal advantage, Amadio came up the hero.
In, yes, a White Out.
Remembering the program
“It’s awesome,” Kolesar said of the atmosphere between periods. “They can talk all they want about the crowd being on their side, but we love these kinds of games. You always dream about playing in big games like this with the crowd chanting against you.”
They came out strong and never let up.
Until they did.
Until they didn’t.
Remembered the program. Got back to pushing. Did what they do when at their best.
Which is to keep playing. Which is to not blink.
Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.
