Vegas Golden Knights rally, push Colorado Avalanche to brink - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — Tomas Hertl scored at the 8:21 mark of the third period, and the Vegas Golden Knights completed an impressive comeback with five straight goals en route to a 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche Sunday in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.

Keegan Kolesar, William Karlsson and Mark Stone also scored for Vegas, which placed Colorado, the NHL's top seed, in a surprising 3-0 hole after the Avalanche opened the postseason with an 8-1 record. Brett Howden sealed the rally with his 10th goal of the postseason into an empty net with 58 seconds remaining.

«It wasn't a great first period for us,» Hertl told ESPN's Emily Kaplan after the game on the Vegas bench. «But like all season, we knew we could do it. We've come back so many times. This team… we just never quit.»

The Golden Knights thought they had another tally, all the way back in the first period, but a disputed no-goal call helped result in a two-goal swing and give the Avalanche a 3-0 lead.

Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeyev appeared to score a power-play goal with 7:26 left in the first period, but officials immediately waved it off, and the decision was upheld on video review. The Golden Knights promptly celebrated despite the initial non-call with a run through the high-five line, believing it would be changed after officials checked the video.

Officials ruled on the ice that the puck went off Dorofeyev's glove, according to the ESPN broadcast, and found the video inconclusive. Dorofeyev's stick also might have been above the crossbar, but it was at least even with it.

The Avalanche then made the Golden Knights pay when Jack Drury found himself alone on a breakaway, deking Vegas goalie Carter Hart to score a short-handed goal with 6:45 left for the