An incredible season of accomplishments has carried the Vegas Golden Knights to an almost improbable scenario: A first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings.
The Vegas Golden Knights continued their impressive inaugural play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 win over the Kings at the Staples Center on Sunday night. Their attempt at their first ever sweep will come Tuesday evening in Los Angeles. Knights goaltender Marc Andre Fleury made 37 saves on 39 Kings shots for the win.
In another tight contest, the Kings brought a 1-0 lead into the third period on a goal by Alex Iafallo, but Knights center Cody Eakin tied the game up in the third as this nail-biter continued.
Veteran James Neal scored with 5:37 remaining in the game to give Vegas a 2-1 lead. But the Knights weren’t done.
Knights center William Karlsson scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal off a great pass from Reilly Smith just 21 seconds later.
Twenty-one seconds is all it took for the Knights to set themselves up for another first in the organization’s first season.
Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar was finally able to find the back of the net as he scored his first goal of the season with just under two minutes to play in the contest, but that was as close as the Kings could get.
Elimination games are the hardest to win, on the road that task is even harder to complete. The Kings want to go back to T-Mobile Arena for a potential game 5 as they are now in the “one game at a time” mode.
The Vegas Golden Knights are an expansion team with plenty of veterans. They know how crucial it is not to let the Kings back into the series. Game 4 will be the biggest game this season for the organization.
There will surely be some brooms out in the Staples Center Tuesday night.
