But on Tuesday, the Golden Knights dug themselves out of their hole. Every game has critical moments, and they finally came out on the right side of those.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight, we ended up getting the tying goal,\u201d said head coach Bruce Cassidy postgame. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of times we haven\u2019t got the save, and we missed on our chance. Tonight it went the other way. So now you\u2019re leaving here in a good frame of mind, and sometimes it\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jets opened the scoring at 5:16 in the first period. Gabriel Vilardi won a board battle and worked the puck back to Josh Morrissey, who found Jonathan Toews between the hash marks. Toews threaded a pass to Cole Perfetti, who snuck behind the defense and stuffed the puck past Carter Hart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Jets doubled their lead at 12:04 in the second period. Braedan Bowman lost a board battle, and Gabriel Vilardi came away with the puck. Vilardi found Luke Schenn at the point, who drifted towards the middle of the ice and beat Carter Hart from distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Facing another two-goal deficit seemed to wake the Golden Knights up. They allowed just one more shot on goal for the remainder of the period, while recording eight of their own. In the second period, they generated six high-danger scoring chances and allowed just two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Golden Knights got on the board in the last minute of the period. On the power play, Mark Stone banged in Pavel Dorofeyev\u2019s rebound to extend his goal streak to five games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the third period, the Golden Knights played like they were tired of losing. They recorded the first nine shots of the period and controlled 70.68%<\/a> of the expected goal share.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Golden Knights found the equalizer at 8:13 in the third. Keegan Kolesar pressured the Jets into a turnover and chipped the puck deep for Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl below the goal line. Hertl found an activating Noah Hanifin, who blasted a shot on net, collected his own rebound, and set up Brett Howden for the one-time blast.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Jets responded and took the lead again at 14:56 in the third. Jeremy Lauzon couldn\u2019t clear the zone, and Gabriel Vilardi found Kyle Connor all alone in the slot.\u00a0<\/p>\n In weeks past, the Golden Knights have faced their fair share of late-game deficits. The only difference is that tonight, they rose to the task.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just 59 seconds after relinquishing the lead, the Golden Knights once again pulled even. Brandon Saad screened Connor Hellebuyck, and Reilly Smith banged in Ben Hutton\u2019s rebound.\u00a0<\/p>\n In overtime, both goaltenders made five saves. The Golden Knights gave up two good chances in the first seventeen seconds of overtime, but Carter Hart answered the bell.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mitch Marner drew a penalty with under a minute remaining, sending the Golden Knights to their fourth power play of the night.<\/p>\n With just 13 seconds remaining, Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl played hero, deflecting Marner\u2019s shot from the point past Connor Hellebuyck.\u00a0<\/p>\n Make Team Czechia for the 2026 Winter Olympics \u2705 BIG DAY for Tomas Hertl \ud83e\udd29 pic.twitter.com\/zwEbyh9h6i<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) January 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Three stars of the game: Luke Schenn, Brett Howden, Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t \t\tHannah Kirkell is a beat writer covering the Vegas Golden Knights for Vegas Hockey Now on Sportsnaut. She studied … More about Hannah Kirkell<\/a><\/p>\n \t
Score overtime winner \u2705
Record multipoint night \u2705<\/p>\n![\"avatar\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hannah-kirkell-bio-pic.jpg\")
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