Just 10 seconds into overtime and the Colorado Avalanche almost ended it.
Luckily for the Golden Knights, it didn’t go in, because they won it 40 seconds later, in the most Golden Knights way possible.
After blocking a Colorado shot, Mark Stone raced up ice and beat Philipp Grubauer just 50 seconds into overtime to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 win, and a 3-2 series lead heading back to Vegas for Game 6.
It’s the third win in a row for Vegas after dropping the first two games to the Avalanche, and it almost didn’t happen.
Colorado had a 2-0 lead before the Golden Knights scored twice in the span of 3:04 in the third period. Then, J.T. Compher nearly beat Marc-Andre Fleury 10 seconds into the extra frame.
He made the save, and the Golden Knights survived. They needed 40 more seconds to end it on their own.
Much like in their Game 3 win, it was a come-from-behind, sudden offensive surge that won it for the Golden Knights. Getting there, though, wasn’t pretty; Vegas blocked a whopping 26 shots en route to their win.
Early on, it looked like the Golden Knights would face an uphill battle.
Fleury gave up perhaps his worst goal of the postseason with the clock ticking down on the first period. Colorado’s Brandon Saad carried the puck across his offensive blue line and checked how much time he had before letting loose an off-angle shot, and it went past Fleury with 0.8 left in the frame.
That gave the Avalanche the first lead of the game heading into the second.
Joonas Donskoi gave Colorado an insurance tally off Alex Newhook’s first playoff assist, but as they’ve done this series, the Golden Knights stormed back.
Vegas scored two times in three minutes and four seconds to begin the third period. First it was Alex Tuch just 1:03 into the frame, then Jonathan Marchessault, fresh off his hat trick in the game prior.
Mikko Rantanen, and everyone around him, thought he gave the Avalanche the lead a few minutes later. He hit the crossbar, though, and it remained tied.
Vegas peppered Grubauer with 10 third period shots. The two that mattered went in at the right time.
The Avalanche earned a power play with just over nine minutes to play, just the second penalty of the entire game as Shea Theodore sat for flipping the puck over the glass. Vegas, though, stayed vigilant in their penalty kill for the game to remain tied.
Then, overtime, where the Avalanche nearly iced it off the stick of Compher. Instead, Fleury came up with the big save when the Golden Knights needed it the most.
Stone had the chance to fire his game winner 40 seconds later.
The Golden Knights now head home with the chance to clinch a trip to the Stanley Cup semi-finals and a date with the fellow red-hot Montreal Canadiens. It’s their first lead of the entire series, after they won both their previous home games.
AVALANCHE VS. GOLDEN KNIGHTS (Vegas leads series 3-2) - series livestream link
Game 1: Avalanche 7, Golden Knights 1
Game 2: Avalanche 3, Golden Knights 2 (OT)
Game 3: Golden Knights 3, Avalanche 2
Game 4: Golden Knights 5, Avalanche 1
Game 5: Golden Knights 3, Avalanche 2 (OT)
Game 6: Thurs. June 10: Avalanche at Golden Knights TBD
*Game 7: Sat. June 12: Golden Knights at Avalanche TBD
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Marisa Ingemi is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop her a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Ingemi.