CHICAGO – It finally took Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks to stop the invincibility of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Still perfect in seven games this season, the Golden Knights suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks on Friday night. There is no longer an undefeated team in the NHL this season, after the Bruins and Avalanche fell on Thursday.
Used for nearly 20 minutes of play, Bedard took advantage of the match to score his third goal of the season. He spent the entire overtime period on the ice.
In extra time, it was Philipp Kurashev who had the last word to allow Chicago to end a series of three losses in a row.
Ryan Donato and Taylor Raddysh also contributed to the Blackhawks’ victory by finding the back of the net. In front of the cage, Petr Mrzaek was not very busy and his 18 saves were enough to sign the victory.
Pavel Dorofeyev, William Karlsson and Shea Theodore scored big in Vegas’ defeat.
The Golden Knights wasted no time before imposing their law and they scored on each of their first two shots of the game. Dorofeyev first opened the scoring when he skillfully redirected a pass from Michael Amadio in overtime just 1:35 into the game.
Then less than two minutes later, Karlsson redirected a shot from Theodore’s blue line to double the Golden Knights’ lead.
However, the Blackhawks took advantage of the second half of the first period to close the gap and bring everyone back to square one. Donato was the first to score in the Hawks camp when he scored with a wrist shot from the slot.
Moments later, Nick Foligno’s effort in the offensive zone allowed him to put the puck back for Bedard, who scored with an excellent shot into the top of the net to tie the game 2-2.
The Blackhawks put the Golden Knights’ winning streak in jeopardy early in the third period. After only 71 seconds of play, Raddysh took advantage of a turnover from Theodore to grab the puck and vibrate the strings with a good wrist shot, to make it 3-2.
Far from having said their last word, the Golden Knights responded midway through the third period. Jonathan Marchessault first ended an offensive threat from the Blackhawks with a good check to separate Bedard from the puck. Moments later, Theodore capped this sequence with an excellent wrist shot that tied the game 3-3.
Then in overtime, Bedard caused a penalty to give the Blackhawks a numerical advantage. Moments later, Kurashev intercepted a clearing attempt from Alex Pietrangelo and played hero with a wrist shot from the top of the circles.
The Golden Knights have a meeting with the Kings on Saturday evening, before hosting the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. Chicago, for its part, will take advantage of two days off to prepare for their Monday duel against the Arizona Coyotes.
